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Protecting and Preserving Herbal Healthy Solutions
The American Botanical Council has launched a new initiative designed to help ensure that herbal medicine plays an expanded role in selfcare and healthcare. More than $60,000 in pledges and contributions were received at the launch of the new campaign, with more being received afterwards.
The campaign was formally launched during the American Botanical Celebration on March 8, 2007 at the close of the Nutracon conference and the beginning of the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California. Attendees received an overview of the initiative from key leaders in the natural products community.
The “Creating an Herbal Legacy” campaign will provide long-term financial support for ABC in three key areas. Individuals, companies, foundations and organizations can select the area that is of interest to them by designating support to one or more of the following funds:
1. ABC Endowment Fund - Establishes long-term stability of ABC and ensures its continued international impact.
2. ABC Scholarship Fund - Provides support to students participating in ABC’s educational programs including ABC onsite pharmacy and dietitian internships and ethnobotanical eco-tours.
3. ABC Green Development and Beautification Fund - Improves physical facilities and gardens at the ABC headquarters including rainwater harvesting, solar electric generation, plus maintenance of building exteriors, paving, herb gardens and more. At the Celebration, ABC Board of Trustee Morris (“Mo”) Shriftman set the stage for the reason that the Trustees decided to create this campaign of designated giving. Shriftman, Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Avalon Natural Products, said, “ABC has been at the center of the campaign for the recognition and acceptance of the efficacy of plant-based medicine and now seeks to put into place the initiatives to help insure its future.”
Neil Blomquist, an ABC Trustee and formerly the President & CEO of Spectrum Organic Products, outlined a description of the three funds and reasons that each was established. Blomquist said: “the Legacy campaign has the unique quality of giving the donor the opportunity to chose and control how they want to allocate their contribution.”
Finally, Loren Israelsen, president of the LDI Group and the Executive Director of the United Natural Products Alliance, challenged participants at the event to join together to insure a solid future for herbs and herbal medicine. Israelsen said, “The American herbal tradition has been passed along by generations of people who love plants, and now is our turn. Supporting ABC in its Legacy campaign will insure ABC’s unique role in offering reliable and useful information on herbs for generations to come.” Israelsen, a pioneer in working for the creation of a rational legal and regulatory environment for herbs in the United States explained to the group that ABC was a highly respected and unique organization whose persistent nonprofit educational activities and publications have been the primary driving force in helping to create a rational, science-based herbal movement in the United States.
Participants in this initiative select one or more funds and then decide whether to make a one-time tax-deductible gift, a multi-year pledge, or to make this giving a part of their own estate or planned giving efforts.
“Creating an Herbal Legacy is ABC’s effort to ensure a solid future for herbs and herbal medicine” said Mark Blumenthal, ABC Founder and Executive Director. “We are grateful for the magnitude of the support provided at the launch of this initiative and are grateful to our many friends and supporters in academia, the health professions and industry who helped us initiate this campaign.”
Although ABC receives much of its annual support for operating funds from its members as well as the other revenue-generating educational programs, the Legacy funds represent a new way of supporting the herbal medicine movement into the future. They are a way to make financial support to ABC count in very specific and tangible ways that will have an impact well into the future. In addition, some ABC supporters can use the Legacy fund as an opportunity to provide long-term support using instruments that are a part of their estate planning.
The following explains the details of each Legacy fund:
The Endowment Fund was established by the Board of Trustees in 2003 to provide a safety net for ABC’s long-term future. This “quasi-endowment fund” will build over time and the Trustees will determine the potential use of income from the fund. Trustees will have the discretion to use the principle if they determine that financial exigencies warrant such action. Once the fund begins to grow, the Trustees may form an Investment Advisory Committee to manage the assets of the fund.
The ABC Scholarship Fund has just been established to provide support for the extensive internship program that ABC has conducted since 1999 and to provide support for healthcare practitioners or students whose financial needs prevent them from participating in ABC’s annual ethnobotanical tours.
At the historic 2.5 acre ABC headquarters, also known as the historic Case Mill Homestead, ABC hosts both pharmacy doctoral candidates who participate in 6-week internships and dietitian interns who participate in 1-week rotations. These rotations involve teaching the students to many aspects of herbal research, including how to locate clinical research; creating educational materials (e.g., new overviews to the Healthy Ingredients database); assisting in research for ABC members; working in ABC’s medicinal gardens; creating herbal preparations from fresh-picked plants; and participating in other educational experiences. The interns are trained and supervised by ABC Education Coordinator Gayle Engels serving as the internship preceptor.
ABC has trained more than 100 interns and currently averages more than 20 per year. Three regional universities participate regularly and students have also come to ABC from other states and countries. Short visits are also conducted by medical residents from the University of Texas Medical Center at Galveston. Students in all programs have consistently communicated to ABC and their program coordinators that the rotation at ABC is one of the most meaningful of their rotations. Many have stayed in contact with ABC and have become professional members as they moved into their pharmacy and nutrition careers. Some students told ABC that they selected the university program based on the ABC internships
As former ABC interns move into the workplace, they are better able to answer patient and customer questions, they incorporate their knowledge into their work, and they are better able to advise their colleagues and other professionals regarding the responsible and appropriate use of herbal preparations. In a steady but quiet way, ABC has had an impact on the educational background of an ever-increasing number of conventional health practitioners.
ABC has never had adequate funding to provide stipends for housing and related other expenses. For the 3 regional universities, this has not presented a challenge, but ABC receives inquiries from many other locations and students are often unable to cover the costs on their own.
Also, ABC cosponsors annual ethnobotanical tours in Peru, and occasionally, other parts of the world. They are accredited continuing education for physicians and pharmacists. ABC would like to offer small amounts of financial support for those not able to fully fund their way, and to offer funding for students who will be entering healthcare professions. The healthcare practitioners and students who have attended ABC’s ethnobotanical tours over the past 13 years have consistently commented on the positive impact these tours have had on their own healthcare practice.
ABC Green Development and Beautification Fund - ABC is located on a historic site; the Case Mill Homestead, established in the 1850’s as a result of a 450-acre land grant from the Republic of Texas to build the first grist mill in the region. The original 150+ year-old house is where most of the ABC staff work. The 2 ½ acre campus consists of the Main Building where most staff have their offices, the Carriage House (originally for the horses) which is the warehouse for ABC educational materials along with the shipping/receiving functions, the Annex which is a meeting room and library, the Greenhouse where plants for the gardens are propagated and where tropical plants spend the winter, and 25 herbal demonstration gardens including medicinal and cultural themes, plus medicinal trees.
From the beginning, ABC has employed green building and restoration practices. All materials used to construct the Annex were made of either recycled or recyclable materials that were approved as either not producing out-gassing of potentially toxic compounds or not creating harmful future disposal problems. ABC received a partial grant from the City of Austin to install a rainwater harvesting system which has been functional through the years, but was limited to one-third of the designed capacity since funding was initially limited. Two more 10,000 gallon tanks would expand water-holding capacity significantly, especially during the summer. The 150+ year old main building is in need of maintenance and the paving around the facility needs upgrading. In addition, Austin is one of the most advanced cities in the country in providing funding for 80% for the installation of solar energy projects. ABC would like to take advantage of this benefit.
How to participate: ABC is requesting financial contributions to these funds in the form of one-time gifts, grants and multi-year pledges. In addition to direct financial contributions, simple estate planning or planned-giving instruments that could be applied to this fund are being requested. These include bequests in wills, assignment of or purchase of life insurance, donation of appreciated assets, and other methods.
By giving the supporters choices of where their funds can best be used, ABC is providing more control to those who wish to support ABC’s work and to those who want to be very specific about the use of their donations. Interested parties are encouraged to contact the Development Office (e-mail: ) to make a contribution or to inquire about the choices available for Creating an Herbal Legacy.
- Wayne Silverman
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