Donation programmes

Our children are our future

Giving our children the best start in life is both, a task and an obligation for our society. The right environment, care and support for the babies and their parents from the first moment on and during the early years makes a crucial difference to a child’s good health and life.

Silke Mader
Chairwoman of the
Executive Board
EFCNI
silke.mader@efcni.org
(+49) 89 89 0 83 26-20

Thanks to your donation, EFCNI is able to help!

There are many ways to make donations. Find out which one is the most suitable for you. Your support will help EFCNI to work towards our common vision – the best start in life for every baby.

We will be glad to answer your questions regarding your donations for EFCNI: donations@efcni.org or call us at: +49 (0)89 8908326 -20

Parents next to their baby

With one single donation, you will improve the situation for preterm and ill born babies in many ways.

Every donation, big or small, helps us to provide support where it is needed most.

Give children a chance for a better future!

Donate now

With a monthly donation or with a one-time annual donation of at least 50 Euros you become member of the EFCNI I-Care Programme. Your non-earmarked donation will be used for our projects in Europe and worldwide. This guarantees us a flexibility to help where the need is the greatest.

Monthly donations are extremely sustainable and allow us to promote specific ideas throughout an entire period of time and gives us security for our future plans. Please join our I-Care Programme and become a supporting member today!

You can donate as long as you want and your membership can be cancelled at any time.

For monthly donations, we kindly ask you to send your contribution to the following account:

Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Account number: 88 10 900
Sort code: 700 205 00
BIC: BFSWDE 33 MUE
IBAN: DE 66 700 205 00 000 88 10 900

Members of the EFCNI I-Care Programme

Silke Bahr, Training Manager Neonatal Care at Dräger Academy, Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA
“During my career, I have visited many hospitals around the world teaching how to use medical devices in the NICU. I know how important the aims and objectives of EFCNI are and I feel passionate about supporting them in any way I can.”

Oliver Ulbrich, father of a preterm born baby
“My son was born 10 weeks too soon during our vacation in the South of Italy. My family and I experienced a very competent local healthcare that nonetheless was not aimed to a strong parent-child bond. With the help of Silke Mader and the EFCNI team we were able to get in touch with relevant contacts from their international network and received the encouragement that was necessary to go through this difficult time. Today, I am a proud member of the EFCNI I-Care programm in order to promote family-centred care and the vital role parents play for their children.”

preterm baby in an incubator

With a donation of 1,000 Euros or more, you can become a Bodyguard for the smallest children. If you wish, you can also implement your very own project and help preterm and ill born babies.

It is up to you to decide: Would you like to support a current project of EFCNI or would you like to realize a charity project of your choice and close to your heart?

You have a special cause in mind or you have a project close to your heart, but so far missed the right partner to realize it? We very much welcome your own ideas and will help you to implement your individual projects. Please contact us directly: Together, we tailor your project of the heart with a sustainable, best possible outcome:
donations@efcni.org or call us at: +49 (0)89 8908326 -20.

It goes without saying that you will be informed about every step of the project.

Our Bodyguards

Dr Jörg Peter Heimel, Chairman of the Board of Wörner Medizinprodukte Holding GmbH and Chairman EMVIA LIVING Gruppe
“The most vulnerable of all human beings are preterm infants, who sometimes are born with a weight of only 1,000 grams, 500 grams or even less. Some recover fully, others remain disabled for the rest of their lives. For these little babies the most intensive care in the hours, weeks, months or even years after birth is not only necessary for their immediate survival but also crucial to their disposition for their entire lives.
My wife and I founded the “Carry Each Other Foundation for Preterm Children” to help a little bit in this very process through the financing of particular medical and social projects. The foundation mainly supports EFCNI, the first organisation which not only initiates outstanding projects for the children but also gives this extremely important matter a voice on a European level.”

Dr. med. Till Dresbach, Senior physician at the University Hospital of Bonn and EFCNI Bodyguard
As a neonatologist I know how important it is for our smallest patients to have a strong advocacy group – like the foundation EFCNI. Silke Mader and her team do an outstanding job representing the interests of preterm and newborn infants and their families. Their limitless enthusiasm is infectious to many people. To support their dedicated work, my team and I donated parts of our proceeds from our project of the heart “Kindernotfallbox (Children’s emergency box)” to EFCNI.

Donation for a special occasion

Joyful moments but also sad occasions are part of everyone’s life. These moments can be reason to think about people in need.

If you want to send a message of hope and use your special occasion with your beloved ones to help preterm and ill born babies and their families, please do not hesitate to contact us: donations@efcni.org; phone: +49 (0)89 8908326 -20.

Together, we can find a suitable solution for your donation.

speaker

Donate the proceeds of your event to EFCNI and demonstrate your social commitment! There are various ways that your organisation and team can contribute:

• Organising corporate fundraising activities, challenges or events (Christmas event, marathon, breakfast, etc.)
• Celebrating a special corporate event (round anniversary of the organisation, corporate function, etc.)
• Celebrating World Prematurity Day, 17 November
• Encouraging Payroll Giving
• Participating with your philantrophy programmes
• Donating in lieu of client gifts

Corporate Partnership Programme

The support we receive from our corporate partners is essential, as it allows us to continuously pursue our aims and to make a meaningful impact to maternal and newborn health, to preterm and ill born babies and their families around the world.

We are thankful for the long, valued partnership and recognise our corporate partners

We believe in good collaboration and fruitful partnerships for both parties. If you would like to support our work and thus help us improving maternal and newborn health on an on-going basis, we would love to hear from you.

For more information on our Corporate Parthership program please read here or contact us: silke.mader@efcni.org; phone: +49 (0)89 8908326 -20.

The Collaborative Consultation for Family Centred Care programme is established in memory of Zack Boukydis, Ph.D.

Dr Boukydis believed his work was a calling. Collaborative Consultation for Family Centred Care expresses the hope to carry on his work and everything he believed in.

All funds and donations we receive through this programme will entirely be used to support projects such as the Close Collaboration with Parents training, but also organisations, professionials or activities that support the parent-infant relationship in the perinatal period.

Dr Boukydis, psychologist by training, was a highly esteemed colleague, an expert in early infant development and support of infants and parents, editor, co-editor and author of different publications and books (among them the book “Collaborative Consultationi with Parents and Infants in the Perinatal Period”) and one of the three developers of the Close Collaboration with Parents training for the multiprofessional healthcare teams of neonatal intensive care units. The goal of the training is to change the care culture in a unit in order to include parents as partners in the care of a hospitalized newborn.

Read more information about Dr Boukydis’ life and his training programme Close Collaboration with Parents.

If you want to support his idea and belief, you can make a donation to the Collaborative Consultation for Family Centred Care programme here.

No matter how big or small, every donation does make a difference to what we can achieve for our “Little Heroes” – the preterm and ill born babies and their families around the world! The following projects are examples of how your donation can impact the life of many babies, families, and also healthcare teams.

But we simply couldn’t do it without your help. Thank you!

Kangaroo chairs for the tiniest in Kyrgyzstan

Skin-to-skin contact between parents and child are without a doubt extremely important for their bonding process – for preterm babies, kangarooing is vital for the improvement of their physical and psychological development. In the central paediatric clinic in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, there was – until November 2016 – no protected area for mothers to give their preterm babies warmth and parental love. Thanks to EFCNI in cooperation with the organisation Uplift-Aufwind e.V., the clinic now owns three Kangaroo chairs with little footstools. These are the first and only chairs of this kind in the country. But above all they are highly sought after, so that mothers even have to queue before they can relax in one of the chairs with their baby. Currently, 29 babies are being cared for in the neonatal unit. Among them are seven preterm babies that weigh less than 1,500 grams. All mothers of preterm babies use the chairs on a daily basis and doctors also advise using the skin-to-skin therapy in the Kangaroo chairs for other weak and ill babies.

 

Maren Ernst, CEO Uplift-Aufwind e.V., Berlin / Bischkek

“EFCNI offers sustainable support! We receive very fast professional help and can enjoy a wide network of important partner organisations. There are no territories of knowledge and information. EFCNI is open and transparent. This trustful cooperation creates constructive synergies. With EFCNI’s support we can act unbureaucratically and accurately on urgent requirements for our preterm infants and their parents.”

 

FINE training at the children‘s hospital Dritter Orden in Munich, Germany

The preterm born baby is one of the most fragile patients in our hospitals. In addition to the importance of medical treatment and care, we also must support the psychological processes of bonding and attachment between parents and their newborn, which is so crucial for the child’s long-term health and development. The right support for the baby and the family through a specialised, well-trained healthcare team during this vulnerable period is crucial. Thanks to a large donation, the entire staff (120 healthcare professionals) of both neonatal units at the children‘s hospital Dritter Orden in Munich, Germany, received a three step training. The training programme FINE – Family and Infant Neuro-Developmental Education includes the understanding and interpretation of the child’s individual needs through precise observation. Further, training participants received more insight on the situation of parents and families of preterm or ill born babies, on how to help these families based on case studies, as well as on how familiy-centered developmentally supportive care should be structured.

FINE training and kangaroo chairs for the Helena Venizelou District Hospital in Athens, Greece

In 2015, the Helena Venizelou district Hospital in Athens, Greece, decided to train their midwives, nurses, and further healthcare professionals in the Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education (FINE) programme. Thanks to the financial support by EFCNI and the Greek parent organization Ilitominon, many staff members could be trained. Now, the family-centred care approach is practiced by conviction. With the support of Ilitominon, the hospital was able to change many further things in the NICU. Chairs were placed next to incubators and a special lighting equipment was installed to reduce the light in the NICU. In 2017, with a donation by EFCNI, two kangaroo chairs were purchased. These chairs allow extensive skin-to-skin care and are well frequented by the parents.

 

 

 

Parents’ room in a children‘s hospital in Hamburg, Germany

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is not the first home of a newborn baby that parents hope for. Parents of preterm babies usually spend weeks or even months on a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, often without any place of retreat, without easy access to food, drinks or privacy. EFCNI used the price money Silke Mader received as an awardee of the Prix Courage to create the new parent room „Kleine Auszeit“ (Small Break) at the German Catholic Children‘s Hospital Wilhelmsstift in Hamburg. This room gives parents a space and place on their own, where they can rest, regain energy and exchange.

 

Dr Sönke Siefert, Chief Physician, Kath. Kinderkrankenhaus Wilhelmstift and Managing Director, Foundation SeeYou, Hamburg, Germany

“The parent room in close proximity to the neonatal intensive care unit offers parents a moment of privacy and rest. It is lovingly furnished and creates a homely atmosphere and a pleasant contrast to the medical technology on the ward. It has become indispensable for us, thank you very much to EFCNI for this great support!”

 

Kangaroo chairs for parents at the NICU in Nicosia, Cyprus

These chairs allow parents to cuddle with their babies for many hours. It is meanwhile broadly acknowledged and medically proven that physical (skin to skin) contact is very important and improves the bond between parents and child. Kangaroo chairs must comply with hygenic requirements of an intensive care unit. In Cyprus, EFCNI was able to furnish the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with two special Kangaroo chairs!

A new parents’ room in a children’s hospital in Munich, Germany

Joint with other private donors as well as foundations and associations, EFCNI supported the funding of a parent’s room at the Klinikum Dritter Orden in Munich, South Germany. The lush and comfortable room gives parents an opportunity to recharge their batteries while staying close to their baby at the same time. The room celebrated its opening just in time for World Prematurity Day 2017!

How does EFCNI decide about the application of your donation?

Based on a comprehensive requirement analysis, our Executive Board decides which projects needs your donation the most and how EFCNI can spring into action. Your proposed ideas will be discussed thoroughly within EFCNI.

Depending on the scope and nature of the project, we work closely together with our network of experts, healthcare professionals and parent organisations. Find out more about our comprehensive network.

We count on maximum transpareny and openness. In our financial reports, you can find detailed information on EFCNI‘s yearly sources of income and how this money is spent.

Data security

Your donation is administered by the Bank fuer Sozialwirtschaft and donors will be redirected to their website. To make a donation you will be asked for your name, surname, e-mail address, physical address in order to locate whether the donation comes from Germany or another country, the project you wish to support, the amount you would like to donate and bank data. The legal basis for this data processing is articel 6 paragraph 1b) GDPR. For further information please consult our privacy settings.

Tax benefits

Your donation is tax-deductable. EFCNI is a registered charity certified by the Munich Tax Office as eligible for support, tax reference number 143/235/22619 and therefore can issue donation receipts.

Please note: for donations via individual credit transfer please state your address information as intended purpose.

We kindly ask you to send your contribution to the following account:

Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
IBAN: DE18 3702 0500 0008 8109 00
BIC/SWIFT: BFSW DE33 XXX

If you wish to transfer part of your inheritance to EFCNI, there will not arise any taxes as long as your contribution of your inheritance will be transferred to EFCNI 24 months after the time of death.

For donations from Germany

Our donation receipt template is officially accepted by the German tax authorities. To reduce administration, EFCNI will issue donation receipts from 25 Euros or more (annual donation amount). Nevertheless, if you need a donation receipt for a smaller donation from us, please do not hesitate to contact us: donations@efcni.org

For donations from a country other than Germany

EFCNI can issue donation receipts in English but cannot guarantee an acceptance of this receipt by your designated tax authority.