Target: £100,000
Donations: £47,587
Gift Aid: £8,525
Total: £56,112
(as at 30 April 2013)
Still to raise: £43,888
autumn appeal 2012
connecting members and fostering fellowship - £100,000 needed
Considering leaving a legacy to CMF?
Download our legacy leaflet here.
Since 1949 CMF has been providing much-needed fellowship for thousands of Christian doctors throughout the UK. NHS structures have changed and the old camaraderie has been lost in many places. In a recent Triple Helix article Naomi Pritchard described the lost sense of family in the firm when training, which has been replaced by rapidly changing rotations, relocation at each stage of training and 'super-firms' where juniors are working for a group of consultants spread out to cover the rota. In the face of all the changes, CMF has an ever-more important role to unite and inspire Christian doctors and medical students as we live and speak for Jesus.
Face-to-face fellowship takes place informally as well as through CMF conferences and through local or regional groups. But, increasingly, contact is maintained online. The internet provides many ways to keep in touch through email messages, websites or social networking sites such as Facebook, and technology is changing rapidly making it possible for us to do much more to build our fellowship.
Keeping junior doctors connected
This summer around 200 student members of CMF qualified - 100 have already been linked with a more senior colleague in their new place of work through CMF's Welcome Scheme.
Making the Welcome Scheme connections was a time-consuming labour of love for CMF volunteer Dr Rupert Rea. He comes into CMF's Marshalsea Road office a day a week to make the connections between junior doctors and more senior colleagues through what used to be called the Pastoral Care Scheme. Last year 40 connections were made - this year the number has more than doubled. In the past, CMF has seen vulnerable young doctors fall away from fellowship and from faith in these pressured foundation years. The Welcome Scheme is already making a difference, keeping members connected - but the task is completed manually, which limits the opportunities to expand it much further.
CMF's Buddy Scheme
Already online connections help our members serving overseas. Dr Francesca Elloway is one member who has seen the benefits. Francesca is a medical missionary and palliative care specialist working in the Democratic Republic of Congo. CMF has linked her with Dr Howard Friend through our 'Buddy Scheme'. Howard is one of a number of CMF Buddies paired with someone in their specialty working aborad, helping overseas members keep up to date with developments in their specialty.
When Francesca returned to the UK on furlough recently, Howard offered advice and contacts helping Francesca to find a hospice job. CMF has also given her advice about relevant courses, accommodation and the appraisal/ revalidation process.
Francesca says: 'I work pretty much on my own as an ex-pat doctor. It has been so much less isolating to feel that there are doctors back in the UK who understand the idiosyncrasies and challenges of working overseas in resource-poor settings, and are willing to do what they can to support, assist and give advice.'
Deepening fellowship
In the coming year we want to use the resources available to extend the network of CMF connections, building our online community and deepening fellowship. Rupert's manual systems won't be adequate to help 5,000 members to connect effectively. We are recruiting CMF links in every locality, workplace, specialty, church and medical school to foster these links; online connections and easy access to information will be vital.
Fundamental to the success of this project is a new integrated website and database to allow more personal contact with password-protected areas for all CMF members. Personalised pages will also enable members to receive customised information about their personal interests and specialty.
New integrated website and database
The new integrated website and database, which will enable effective and secure connections between our members, costs around £100,000 to build. The lasting impact on the strength of CMF as a fellowship will be significantly more than if the same amount was used to fund staff sessions.
Your gift this autumn will help us to make the connections between members that are vital to keep our fellowship functioning in the internet age.
Some costs of the new integrated website and database with all the fellowship-building capacity we need:
- Software licenses £16,750
- Installation and set-up consultancy £34,000
- Additional annual running costs - 2012 to 2017 £54,774
- TOTAL £100,000
Autumn appeal
Only a third of CMF's annual income comes from subscriptions To help students get established, their membership fee is a nominal £6 so we continue to rely heavily on the 4,000 qualified members who are able to make gifts over and above their subscription through regular giving and the annual Autumn Appeal.
The CMF Board of Trustees meets on 1 December to agree budgets for 2013. Your prompt response will help us to plan responsibly and wisely for next year. Would you be able to help us by making a special gift to the ministry of CMF today?
If you would like to give regularly by direct debit then this allows us to plan our ministries even more effectively. Of course, if your gift is eligible for Gift Aid then we can claim your tax back as well, at not extra cost to you.
Thank you for prayerfully considering this request.