The Fetal Heart Society (FHS, the “Society”) is increasing its position and renown within the community
as a respected professional organization dedicated to the mission of advancing fetal cardiovascular
research and education. As such, the Society has been and will likely continue to receive requests to
support or endorse various endeavors such as grant applications, projects, clinical programs, educational
conferences/seminar or other such efforts or products that originate from outside, but are possibly
related to the mission of, the Society. As such, it is important that a thoughtful and unbiased mechanism
for offering such official endorsement be created, with the principle of endorsement offered solely based
on merit and of significant benefit to the mission of the Society. Endorsements should be offered
sparingly and with good judgment, through transparency and without bias, and only for endeavors/items
that are clearly in line with the mission of the FHS.
Therefore, the following mechanism for FHS endorsement is proposed:
• A one page “application of request for FHS endorsement” should be completed and submitted to the
President for consideration. The request should include a clear and cogent argument as to the purpose
of the request and the potential benefit to the mission of the Society
• If considered of merit by the President through an initial screen for appropriateness, the President will
ask the Vice-President to designate, assign, and oversee a member of the Board of Directors of the FHS
to formally review the request (the “reviewer”). For grant application support this reviewer will
typically be the RCC chair. For educational event support, this reviewer will typically be the Conference
Committee chair.
• Following investigation, the reviewer will present the case for the request of endorsement to the Board
of Directors, with a recommendation (yes or no) with open discussion and debate to follow.
The Board of Directors will then vote on whether:
To offer the endorsement - Unanimous for endorsement
To announce educational events - Only the Executive Committee will need to vote for approval - 3/4 majority for announcement
Members of the Board of Directors who have a conflict of interest concerning the endorsement, should
make full disclosure to the Board of Directors of any such conflicts – financial or otherwise – and refrain
from the review discussion and recuse herself/himself from the vote.
• Letter outlining 1) Support or 2) Decline of Support should be signed by at minimum by the President.
Please fill out the form below for Board consideration.