Where our money comes from
Medic Malawi’s charitable objects are to empower and enable communities to create sustainable opportunities in three core areas:
- Health
- Education
- Relief of poverty
Fund types
All funds raised by Medic Malawi are used in the furtherance of its charitable objects. Funds are categorised into three types, as follows:
- Unrestricted funds are those that can be spent at the discretion of Medic Malawi’s trustees to achieve any of the charity’s charitable purposes.
- Restricted funds are raised on the basis that their use will be applied to specified projects, activities or areas of operation.
- Designated funds are unrestricted funds which have been set aside by the trustees for a particular use.
We aim for as much flexibility in our funding portfolio as we can achieve, working in partnership with those that fund us. In addition to generally unrestricted donations from our regular supporters there are three types of appeals that we may run as part of our work:
Unrestricted
For unrestricted appeals, the money raised can be spent wherever we choose, as long as it is in line with our charitable objectives, and we typically communicate this as “wherever the need is greatest”.
This may not always be in the specific project or area given as an example in the appeal, and we’ll make this very clear when we send out the appeal.
Vitally, any unrestricted funds raised can be spent on a wide range of needs, all of which are critical to Medic Malawi functioning effectively. This allows us to fill funding gaps in less popular projects, pay our building costs and rates, pay staff, or ensure long-term commitments to programmes where funding is sporadic or time-limited.
Restricted
In contrast, we can only use restricted funds for the projects stated in a specific appeal, for example, a response to a humanitarian emergency, or a funding request for support in a particular community.
Most often, this is restricted to an area within Malawi, and/or to a specific project or theme of work.
Since restricted funds are given for very specific purposes, sometimes we’re not able to use those funds as set out in the appeal. On such occasions we may need to return the donations to the donor as per the Charity Commission rules unless agreed in advance.
These are some instances when we may be unable to use restricted funds:
- Because the need has been met in other ways e.g. via other funding.
- Fulfilling the request will require significant administrative support or internal costs that we aren’t able to provide.
- The needs of the appeal have changed.
Part-restricted
It is also possible that appeals can be a combination of both restricted and unrestricted appeals – we call this part-restricted appeals.
In this case, it’s likely that the majority of the donation will go to the main subject of the appeal, but some funds may go towards either related needs (other types of work within that area), or unrelated, unrestricted costs to support Medic Malawi’s wider work.
This split will be clearly highlighted within the appeal literature so that donors will have complete knowledge and understanding of where their funds will be used. This gives us flexibility particularly where the final costs of a subject appeal could fluctuate, or when an appeal has received more funding than necessary.
How we use Gift Aid
As part of our fundraising appeals, we also suggest adding an optional Gift Aid contribution to your donation. Gift Aid lets charities claim back 25p from every £1 that you donate. At no extra cost to you, Medic Malawi can claim money from the Government from the basic tax that has already been paid on your donation.
We claim Gift Aid back from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and this will always be treated as unrestricted funding, even if the original donation is restricted.