As an MSF donor, you fuel the delivery of medical aid to the people who need it most, no matter where they are.
Your money pays for millions of consultations, operations, treatments and vaccinations every year. As an organisation, we work to spend your money in the most efficient way and to help those in greatest need. Here is an overview of MSF's lifesaving work in 2022:
in response to outbreaks
malnourished children admitted
to inpatient feeding programmes
But how do we do it? At MSF we deliver care directly rather than through local partner organisations. We set up and run medical services, train staff and respond to fast-moving emergencies, as well as longer-term crises. This means the money you trust to MSF is spent by MSF.
When you donate to MSF-Hong Kong, the money is banked and then directed to the country where the need is greatest. This is coordinated across the MSF offices and our projects in more than 70 countries.
Essential costs
There are essential costs for any organisation and a small percentage of the money we raise – just 5.4% as of 2022– is used for office running costs in Hong Kong.
Another 8.9% is reinvested in fundraising to keep the money coming in for our medical action. That goes to pay for healthcare.
Every aspect of the way we operate from our Hong Kong office is designed to keep these essential costs low. We rent inexpensive office space, we buy only the lowest fares for travel and stay in budget hotels when travelling abroad.
Money for emergencies
When an emergency breaks – such as an earthquake, an epidemic or a conflict – MSF can respond immediately. This is because we encourage donors to give unrestricted funds, which means we can spend them where the need is greatest.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, MSF has an emergency reserve fund that is usually equivalent to the cost of our activities for a few months. This means there is no delay in mobilising, no wait for government funds to be released and no lag as donation appeals are launched; we can act immediately and then replenish this fund with new, unrestricted donations for future emergencies.
Once the money reaches the medical programmes it is carefully managed by the project team. It is subject to a rigorous accounting system, with every penny logged and all the information flowing back to the headquarters and our donors – transparency and accountability are essential.
We only launch an emergency appeal if we are certain we can spend the money on that specific crisis; there are no asterisks or hidden disclaimers diverting money to other parts of the organisation
Allocation of funds within MSF to support fieldwork
Each MSF office is attached to one of the five operational centres that manages our humanitarian action in the field and decide when, where, and what medical care is needed. MSF HK, as one of the MSF offices, also plays a part in providing the staff, resources and budget to the MSF Operational Centres, so that they can maintain MSF's field projects and to ensure we are working where we are needed most.
Each MSF project is managed and delivered by an Operational Centre with corresponding budget shared by offices, including MSF HK, and set success measures that reflect the nature of the particular project. These are reviewed and revised at regular intervals to ensure that our response is effectively improving our patients' situation.
Where MSF HK funds were allocated in 2022
Each year an audited financial report for MSF HK is made public together with our HK Activity Report to give details on our activities and expenditure in each country and region and reflects on the major challenges we faced over the year.
In 2022, a total of HKD 236,576,054 has been allocated from MSF HK for MSF emergency and medical programmes globally. The countries that received the largest fund from MSF HK were Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Myanmar and Ethiopia. MSF has been around in these countries for decades as chronic armed conflicts and disease outbreaks have made it difficult for the population to get vital medical care.
We have also enhanced the content of MSF mental health website “How are you”, and suggested coping tips for post-pandemic psychological trauma were proactively promoted to the general public through social media . Three webinars on child anxiety were organised for the public in January 2022, followed by another two public webinars on post-pandemic psychological trauma in October 2022 and 505 people attended in total. anxiety were proactively promoted on social media.
MSF principles
The way we raise and spend money upholds our core principles – independence, neutrality and impartiality. MSF Hong Kong does not receive funding from the China or Hong Kong governments; 99.7 percent of our donations come from private donors, like you.
This means they come with no strings attached and allow us to provide medical care where the need is greatest. It is you, our donors, who fuel MSF's work. Thank you.
We are open to receive your feedback and suggestions to improve our work.
For details of our worldwide projects, please refers to our Activity Report.
