The Foundation is devoted to fund raising and to supporting programmes that help to improve the quality and delivery of laboratory medicine services, in particular in emerging nations.
The Foundation aims to provide project funding to societies, groups or individuals provided that the project will lead to an outcome that:
Eligible projects will be educational in nature and may occur at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Suitable projects will be in line with the mission, aims and overall strategic direction of IFCC.
Laboratory medicine supports investigations across the full range of healthcare.
A high percentage of all clinical decisions are influenced by laboratory medicine results. Therefore, the quality of laboratory medicine services has a direct impact on patient safety and clinical outcomes.
The Foundation Board agreed that project funding from FEN could be made available to societies, groups or individuals provided that the project will lead to an outcome that:
Projects will be educational in nature and may occur at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Suitable projects will be in line with the mission, aims and overall strategic direction of IFCC. The following examples of projects may be suitable to attract Foundation support. The list is intended to be illustrative and not exclusive:
The Foundation Board does not envisage that the FEN will support individual scholarships to attend congresses.
Specific examples of projects eligible for FEN support can be found in the ‘Projects’ section of the website.
The Foundation Board has five members who have breadth of experience in laboratory medicine and in the operation of Charitable Foundations. Details of the Board members can be located under the ‘Board’ section of the website.
The Board undertakes the following statutory duties:
Designation of authorised signatories and determination of the nature of their signatory powers
In addition the Board should comply with its adopted By-laws.
The Board has as its main operational duties:
Fundraising to increase the finance in the FEN account and to support projects
Soliciting and evaluating project proposals
Approving, monitoring and securing reports from approved projects
Publicity and promotion of the Foundation
The initial Board will meet on a minimum of two occasions each year. Meetings will normally be held by Skype or conference call. All Board meetings will be recorded in formal Minutes.
IFCC, through its Executive Board, is the Founder of FEN; it recommends members to sit on the Foundation Board; and it has provided the start-up funding to enable FEN to function. In order to attract funding from FEN projects should be consistent with the mission, aims and overall strategic direction of IFCC. However, applicants do not require to be IFCC Members.
The business plan of The FEN has received approval from the IFCC Executive Board. The FEN operates independently from IFCC within the terms of the business plan. The Foundation Board sends copies of all Minutes and other relevant documents to the IFCC Secretary for information.
The FEN conducts all financial transactions through a designated FEN account, which has been established with Credit Suisse Bank and which is independently audited on an annual basis. The Foundation Board recommends that the signatories for the FEN account.
The FEN website (www.ifccfoundation.org) is the main vehicle for promoting and publicising the Foundation. In addition the Foundation Board has designed and produced simple leaflets that may be distributed to potential donors and applicants for funding.
The Foundation Board recognises that individual campaigns will be required to solicit major donations to the FEN. Wherever possible such campaigns will be conducted through personal contact with the potential donor.
Applications shall be submitted in a standard format and shall be sent by electronic mail directly to the Chair of the Foundation Board. There are two deadlines for the receipt of applications each year: 31 March and 30 September. Details are available from the ‘Apply for a Grant’ section of the website.
The Foundation Board uses external referees to assess applications according to a standard scoresheet and shall determine outcomes within two months of the closing date. The number of awards that can be made is determined by the quality of the applications and the available funding. Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application within two months of the closing date.
Successful applicants are funded from the FEN account. Payment is made by electronic transfer into a designated bank account. Evidence of receipt of the funding is required.
All projects funded by FEN are required to produce a final report, which includes:
The FEN will keep administration costs to a minimum. The Foundation Board has a target to distribute >90% of funding received to support projects. Initially, while funding is being accumulated, a lower target will apply.