Providing a reserve fund for the Public Health Accreditation Board to support operations

This grant provides a $1.2-million reserve fund for the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) as it processes applications and receives fees for accreditation of public health departments. As PHAB prepares to accept its first cohort of accreditation applications, it also seeks to take basic steps toward good governance and fiscal planning to ensure its organizational stability and long-term viability. As part of that process, PHAB has identified the need for a reserve fund to cover its essential operating costs in the event of unexpected deficits. Without this award, PHAB's best alternative for generating reserves would be to increase the accreditation fees charged to applicant public health departments by a substantial amount (roughly 28 percent to generate six months of essential operating support ), making the cost of applying for accreditation prohibitive for many health departments and potentially jeopardizing the success of the program and of the Foundation's goal of 60 percent of the population covered by an accredited health department by 2015. PHAB has committed to refrain from adding any "reserve premium" to its accreditation fees for at least four years. PHAB will develop policies governing investment of the reserve funds, use of the reserve fund, approval processes for accessing the reserve fund, and monitoring the reserve fund, which shall be approved by the Foundation. The PHAB Board's Finance Committee will oversee the reserve fund in accordance with these policies. If PHAB has not expended the reserve fund by the end of the four-year grant period, it will retain the unused balance, subject to the reserve-fund policies.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $1,200,000.00

Awarded on: 11/1/2011

Time frame: 11/1/2011 - 10/31/2015

Grant Number: 69361