The American Dietetic Association Political Action Committee was established in 1981 to supplement the ADA government relations program by providing an avenue for involvement in the political process.  ADAPAC is governed by bylaws and a 9-member Board of Directors oversees its activities. According to federal campaign finance law, the ADAPAC must be a separate segregated fund from the ADA, its sponsoring organization. ADAPAC may only accept personal contributions from individual ADA members.  Corporate funds are strictly prohibited from federal elections and ADAPAC funds cannot be commingled with any other ADA funds.

Due to low member participation, for many years the ADAPAC served only a limited role in ADA’s public policy strategy. The primary source of revenue for the ADAPAC had been a voluntary contribution line on the ADA annual dues renewal. This changed dramatically in 1997 as a result of the commitment of the ADAPAC Board of Directors to increase the value of this critical resource. Through the use of new fundraising techniques and the tremendous support of the ADA membership, the ADAPAC increased its total revenue by 570 percent to $513,000 in the 1997-1998 election cycle. The rapid rise in member contributions catapulted the ADAPAC to the upper echelon of all federal PACs in the United States.  

Today, ADAPAC remains competitve among health professional PACs in the country and has the goal of contributing $200,000 to political candidates in the 2007-2008 election cycle.  At this time, ADAPAC is on its way to achieving this ambitious goal.