The Memorial Fund

Abstract

In the last few years the critical need of organized medicine for some financial background has become increasingly apparent. Some have contended that the annual dues should be higher in order to support our medical societies. They can cite comparable organizations and even organizations of medical offshoots as examples. Medical organizations could and should do more for their members. They should be able to provide more material for their scientific meetings, their clinical sessions, and their post-graduate endeavors. Medical organizations should be able to endow worth-while research and to aid fellowships, such as that in the Registry of Radiological Pathology to which our Society is giving its support. These activities can be accomplished only by the co-ordinated efforts of the members and friends of the Radiological Society of North America. We have a Memorial Fund which was started by Dr. Robert H. Lafferty of Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1927. This Fund was created by the membership of the Society. I t is administered by the Board of Trustees of the Fund, which is composed of five men: the President and the Secretary-Treasurer of the Radiological Society of North America and three members, who shall be past Presidents of the Society and serve for six years. This Memorial Fund has remained static for several years. There are members donating to other foundations and organizations who probably do not know that we have such a Fund. I am sure that donations to this Fund are deductable from one's income tax, since the Radiological Society of North America is classified as a scientific organization. Radiology has advanced by the consistent efforts of those practising this specialty. The proof of such a statement is exemplified in their activities in all organizations in which they hold membership. It is also exemplified in the fight against socialized medicine. We should build a Fund that will aid the members of the Radiological Society of North America to achieve its aims. The Fund must attain a size that will make the responsibilities of the Society more flexible and accomplish its purposes without increasing the dues. Endowments should be left without restrictions, as these tend to make any fund stagnant. We cannot foresee changing conditions. I believe that the By-Laws should be changed to read that all income from the Fund “shall be used for charitable or educational purposes and the necessary expense incident thereto.” This places on the Fund a general limitation within the highest ideals of the medical profession. The term “educational” is legally broad enough to include, together with the term “charitable,” every altruistic endeavor of organized medicine. By placing these positive limitations upon the Fund, it falls within the legal status of those funds exempt from major income, inheritance, and gift taxes.