Academy Foundation Blog

Happy New Year!

As we kick off the new year, I have been taking a moment to reflect on the incredible impact that the Foundation had in 2024: we provided over $1.7 million in funding to 390 individuals and projects in 2024.

From scholarships and awards to research grants and education, I am in awe of everything that was accomplished and grateful for each and every one of you who donated your time, funds, expertise, and enthusiasm to advance our profession and lift up dietetic students and fellow practitioners.

As we set 2025 goals and resolutions, I wanted to share just a few inspirational highlights from last year:

• The Foundation funded $818,650 in scholarships to 307 students for the 2024-2025 academic year, helping many deserving individuals continue to realize their dream of pursuing a career in dietetics.
• To honor members and support professional advancement, the Foundation awarded over $115,000 in awards to 51 individuals.
• As part of its efforts to support our members and dietetics students facing significant personal loss as the result of natural disasters, the Foundation provided $12,650 in disaster relief assistance to eight individuals, with significant additional funding to be disbursed early this year to those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
• Research grants continued to be a priority for the Foundation, with $164,000 awarded to 18 research projects through the Foundation’s competitive research grants program.
• Foundation Fellows continued to lead important research and educational programs of work, with over $600,000 allocated across six fellows and their projects.
• Many Academy-led and Foundation-funded research projects saw major milestones in 2024, including several important publications:
• The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics/American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Indicators (AAIM)
• A new Systematic Review on MNT for Hypertension and Prehypertension
• Prevention and Treatment of Malnutrition in Older Adults Living in Long-Term Care or the Community: An Evidence-based Nutrition Practice Guideline
• A robust umbrella review that showed the benefit of vegetarian eating to lower the risk of heart disease

None of these programs would be possible without the generous donations from our members and partners, so THANK YOU to everyone who donated as well as to those who helped us achieve these exciting milestones last year:

• Our Make It a Million campaign total rose to $890,509, bringing us to 89% of our goal. We are excited to take this campaign over the finish line this year to achieve our goal of $1 million, which will allow us to begin giving away $1 million in scholarships annually. We accomplished so much in 2024, but will need your help to close the gap in 2025.
• Our inaugural Foundation Give Day far exceeded our expectations when we raised $68,950 – more than double our goal! We are excited to already be planning for our 2025 Give Day, which will be held on March 20, 2025 during National Nutrition Month.

Thank you again to all our incredible donors and volunteers. I am looking forward to 2025 and all that it has in store.

Wishing you all a bright and productive 2025!

Sincerely,

Marcia Kyle, RDN, CDCES, LD, FAND
2024-2025 Academy Foundation Chair

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