The Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America Seeks Corporate Partners to Sponsor Weight Loss Surgery Grants

This is an excellent opportunity for a company to create positive relationships with the weight loss surgery community and promote its products and services.

WESTERVILLE, OH, UNITED STATES, November 25, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Board of Directors of the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America (WLSFA), a nationally certified and registered 501(c)3 non-profit entity (www.WLSFA.org), announces an opportunity for businesses and organizations to become Surgery Grant Partners and share in the positive press and public relations that comes with helping someone qualify for life-saving weight loss surgery.

For 14 years, the WLSFA has raised funds to issue WLS grants to people referred to WLS by a bariatric surgeon but who do not have the funds to pay for it or insurance coverage. When sufficient funds are generated, the WLSFA documents the terms of the grant, puts out a call for applicants, accepts applications, reviews qualifications and compliance with grant rules, and after a grantee is selected, they coordinate with the surgeon and surgical center, issue funds to pay for the surgery and help the new patient with a year's worth of vitamins and other critical support.

To keep the cost of surgery as low as possible, the WLSFA will negotiate with the surgeon. Surgeons usually cut their fees substantially. The WLSFA is also able to get deep discounts from many surgical centers and some hospitals.

To date, the WLSFA has granted 35 surgeries, mostly funded by profits generated from annual conferences. For many years, 400 to 500 bariatric patients and bariatric medical specialists attended their conferences because there were few other conference options. Today, dozens of national and literally hundreds of local WLS conferences compete for the conference attendees' dollars. This has dropped attendance at all conferences to the point where the WLSFA can cover the cost of their conference, but they don't generate enough funds to pay for surgeries.

The WLSFA is transitioning to a working model with corporate "surgery sponsors," where they will team up with a business that becomes the public face of a surgery grant. The corporate surgery partner/sponsor receives all the positive media publicity of helping a person get Access to Care and a new lease on life via weight loss surgery. Local press and national media can be targeted for this feel-good story. The company can associate its products or services with the process.

The WLSFA handles all contracts with the grantee, the surgeon, and the surgical center while operating at "arm's length" from the corporate sponsor as the grant administrator. They use a tried-and-true "blind" process for reviewing grant applications and verifying qualifications before recommending awards.

Corporate Surgery Partners would either donate the required funds and/or conduct fundraisers involving their employees and/or public and customers (e.g., a 5k run/walk) to fund the grant. The Grant would be named in the sponsor's name.

This is demonstratively a form of Access to Care when you consider that over 50% of WLSFA grant recipients are from traditionally underrepresented groups and 100% from economically disadvantaged groups.

This is an excellent opportunity for a company or business to gain deep exposure to the communities of weight management, weight loss lifestyles, and bariatric surgery and to build an image within those communities. The details can be worked out and are not overly complicated—the WLSFA has been doing this for 14 years.

To learn more and explore how your company can benefit from becoming a weight loss surgery grant sponsor, contact the WLSFA at:

Bill Streetman
Board Member of the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America.
614-327-7440
bill@wlsfa.org

Laura Van Tuyl
President and Board Member of the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America
971-322-5281
laura@wlsfa.org

Bill Streetman
The Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America
+1 614-327-7440
bill@wlsfa.org
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