July 19, 2010
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) is proud of our efforts to protect the intent of our donors. It is for that reason that we, regretfully, are currently involved in a lawsuit against the Alzheimer’s Association.
We want to update you on the current legal matters facing AFA.
In order to protect the intent of our donors, AFA recently filed a lawsuit against the Alzheimer’s Association, and last week, we filed an amended complaint. Our case is straightforward – the Alzheimer’s Association has time and again deposited checks into its own accounts from donors who intended to give money to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The Alzheimer’s Association’s chief operating officer has admitted as much under oath, saying that the Alzheimer’s Association will deposit any check that has “Alzheimer’s” as part of the organization’s name.
Despite our requests that the association rectify this situation, the Alzheimer’s Association still has not implemented safeguards that protect the intent of its donors and donors to other charitable organizations. Our own investigation has shown that the Alzheimer’s Association continues to deposit funds directed to the Alzheimer’s Foundation into its own accounts. This must stop.
In sharp contrast, the Alzheimer’s Foundation has policies in place to protect the intent of our donors. If we receive a check that is not directed specifically to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, we send that check back to the donor with a letter explaining that the donor has sent a donation that was actually written to a different organization. We firmly believe that this is the only honorable course of action for a respectable non-profit institution.
In response to our lawsuit, the Alzheimer’s Association has sued our organization, contending that we have somehow infringed on its copyright. This lawsuit comes eight years after we registered our trademarks and have been providing programs and services nationwide to serve the dementia population. Since that time, the Alzheimer’s Association has never contested our name or our trademarks. Its lawsuit is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the real issues at hand, and we are sorry the association has responded in this fashion.
Our work at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America is quite different from the work of the Alzheimer’s Association. While we respect its mission, it is not ours. And when donors are kind and generous enough to fund the work that we do, we need to fight to ensure that the money they intend for us in fact gets to us. Until and unless the Alzheimer’s Association agrees to safeguards that protect both their donors and our own, we will continue to fight to protect your intent and your money.
Meanwhile, please know that the Alzheimer’s Foundation’s board of trustees and staff are committed to conducting our operations as usual. We will continue to provide the high level of service to our donors, clients and member organizations that has been AFA’s hallmark since our inception, doing our utmost to meet the current and emerging needs of the dementia population across the country. Nothing will deter us from our mission.
Regards,
Eric J. Hall
Founding CEO and President