Is the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation Excluding HBCU’s From Research?

It's  a shame the the American Diabetes Association refuses to award  research grants to HBCU's, when 3.7 Million African American have  Diabetes. I always thought they were a good organization, until I dug  deep into their finances.  Check out the article posted in the Atlanta Post  

Is the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation Excluding HBCU’s From Research?

by L.N. Rock

Source: Atlanta Post 

According to the American Diabetes Association,  African Americans are disproportionately affected by diabetes as 3.7  million or 14.7 percent of all African Americans aged 20 years or older  have diabetes. In addition:

-African Americans are 1.8 times more likely to have diabetes as non Hispanic whites

-25 percent of African Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes.

-1 in 4 African American women over 55 years of age has diabetes.

The  American Diabetes Association (the Association) is a not-for-profit  voluntary health agency that works to prevent and cure diabetes and to  improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. In October 1994,  the Association’s Board of Directors established the American Diabetes  Association Research Foundation, Inc. (the Foundation), as a subsidiary  of the Association. The objective of the Foundation is to fund  diabetes-related research leading to the prevention and cure of  diabetes, the prevention and cure of the complications of diabetes, and  new and improved therapies for individuals affected by diabetes.

Get  this, the Foundation is exempt from income taxes under Section  501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) and charitable  contributions to the Foundation qualify for charitable tax deductions as  described in the code. The Foundation has been classified as an  organization that is not a private foundation under Section 509(a) of  the code. Even though they appear to have a bias against HBCU’s and  black researchers. More on this later…

Research grants awarded by  the Foundation generally extend over a period of one to three years,  subject to renewal on an annual basis.

Upon investigation and  review of the financial reports and records, this writer has found that  Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been totally left out  of the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation, Inc award  process as selected grantees.

Compared to the general population,  African American researchers and HBCU’s are not receiving grant research  dollars from the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation.

As an example, the Foundation provided over $33 million in research grants in 2010 without one gong to a HBCU. If one looks at their annual reports for ADA 2009 Research Foundation Financials and 2009 IRS Form 990 you will see the same challenge  in  the 2008 IRS Form 990, (check out the grantee  database for information on ADA-funded research grant awardees), 2007 IRS Form 990  and 2006 IRS Form 990, no black awardees, no HBCU's researchers. Read the full article, Is the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation Excluding HBCU’s From Research? 

L. N. Rock is a management consultant, Democratic strategist, and  2008 credentialed blogger at the Democratic National Convention. He  blogs at African American Pundit