The funds that medica mondiale uses to support women’s projects throughout the world come from three sources.

As a charitable association, medica mondiale is financed by donations for a large part – donations are one of the most important sources of income. Most of the donations are not given for specific projects, i.e. they are made without stating a purpose of use. This allows medica mondiale to be active even in forgotten war and crisis zones and use the funds where they are needed most. Many donors express their solidarity with our cause by making regular, long-term and unspecified donations. This enables long-term support of projects and thus sustainable changes.

In addition to donations, we also receive funds from public authorities. Public subsidies are an indispensable contribution to the total financing. They are usually sums of money earmarked for specific projects. Essentially, they come from the Auswärtiges Amt (German Foreign Office), the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), from individual German State governments and municipalities and the European Union. Even when projects are financed by funds from public authorities, medica mondiale must usually pay a share.

medica mondiale is also supported by non-governmental sponsors and institutions such as foundations and organisations of development co-operation including the British Sigrid Rausing Trust, ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (support through the Zivik - Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung and CrossCulture programmes), InWEnt – Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH and Women’s World Day of Prayer.

Making responsible and trustworthy use of the donations and private and public subsidies is paramount for us. Two thirds of the expenses go to our projects abroad and are thus for the direct benefit of the affected women. We use an annual average of up to 25 percent for advertising and administration. For comparison: in its test criteria for its seal of approval the Deutsche Institut für Soziale Fragen (German Institute for Social Issues) defines 35 percent of total spending as a ceiling for advertising and administration expenses, saying such use of funds is justifiable and effective.

We find it especially important to provide transparency regarding the use of our funds. The reports by word and image on our work, our success and our difficulties are truthful. We publish our annual report on our website each year.