Community Grants

AO Trauma Community Grants—New Concept

In 2014, the AO Trauma Community Development Commission (AO TCDC) implemented a system to allocate funds to AO Trauma country chapters to strengthen AO Trauma community development activities at the local level.

During 2023, the AO Trauma Community Grant concept was revised for 2024 projects submission.

What are the goals?

• To enhance the awareness and recognition of AO Trauma as the global leader for excellence in musculoskeletal orthopedic trauma care.
• To expand and enrich the AO Trauma community of health care professionals committed to personal and professional development. 
  
  

What needs to be considered in 2024?

AO Trauma will support high-priority community development projects that focus on retaining the current AO Trauma members and emphasizing on:

• Promoting AO Family Spirit.
• Strengthening our community locally, regionally and/or globally.
  
  

Who can apply?

Every AO Trauma country chapter may be entitled to submit project(s) for funding that fit the objectives. Countries with less than 25 members can also apply. It is at the discretion of the region to further define submission criteria. We ask country chapters to coordinate themselves to ensure that only one officer - ideally the chairperson of the respective country or a representative officer (community development, education, or research) - works on and submits the application for the 2024 project funding.

Countries that have dedicated community development budget (i.e. Germany, UK, Austria, etc.) cannot apply for AO Trauma Community Grants. Furthermore, countries that are banned from the world bank cannot apply.

The application process has been changed and is now handled regionally with a new application form. Find more information in the section Project Application.

What are the selection criteria?

All completed AO Trauma Community Grants 2024 applications will be carefully reviewed by the AO Trauma Regional CD Chair in cooperation with the AO Trauma Regional Manager and evaluated based on the following guidelines:

• The projects should be strategically aligned with the overall objectives.
• Project transparency is required.
• Countries with allocated community development budget cannot apply.
• Educational events cannot be funded by the AO Trauma Community Grants program (including standard Faculty Development programs). Workshops / summits related to non-technical skills development may be supported.
• Social activities should always be connected to a formal AO activity (non-technical skills’ event, task force, country council meeting, etc.).
• Purely marketing or merchandise related projects will be declined. These initiatives may only be approved if they are part of a project with another in-scope focus (e.g. member networking event).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• A final project report (report form available) must be filled out upon execution of the event. Successful stories should be published and shared, so that others can learn from it.

Here are some examples of funded projects:

1. Organization of member-exclusive networking events.
2. Local networking events for current and/or past AO Trauma Fellows.
3. Any other activity that strengthens the local/regional/global AO Trauma community.
4. Non-technical skills workshop.

Project evaluation and confirmation

Submitted projects will be evaluated and the submitter will be informed by the region whether the project is confirmed or not.

The regional AO Trauma Community Grants budget is allocated to the regions based on the average number of members per region in the past year. The AO Trauma regional manager and the AO Trauma regional CDC chair decide the amount of the fund granted to each project. Community projects involving several countries or targeted to the entire region are possible.

Downloads:

• AO Trauma Community Grants: Next steps after project approval
• AO Trauma Community Grants: Invoice Example