Donor Connect: Our fortnightly updates to donors
Dear Donors - In case you have missed any of our mailers, you could check this page and catch up. And if you are someone who has stumbled upon this page for the first time, we invite you to join us in our journey. Give us a donation to sustain our work. Contribute your time/ expertise. Connect us with people who matter - in the National Medical Commission / ICMR or any of the Councils. Help us reach medical / nursing / dental / pharmacy and other colleges. In short - Become a part of the history we are creating! We welcome you!
Sep 26, 2022: Sharing a small story from our donor – NRK Raman
For long, we have shared stories about those who we have helped, about ourselves and about the context in which we work. How about a story from a donor?
I am happy to share something about NRK Raman an old friend. He was my husband’s colleague for several years and his family and ours still share a great rapport. I had attended his wedding, and his daughter’s wedding and he and his wife are proud grandparents too.
Raman was always interested in the work I did and once I set up the QMed Foundation he was even more interested. He has been a regular donor and has also been my sounding board off and on. I asked him if he would write about his interest in QMed and what makes him donate. He happily responded and this is what he says:
At some stage in life, everyone looks for opportunities to serve the society in various ways to bring positive change. I found my calling when my dear friend Vasumathi called long ago to share her enthusiasm, passion and story of QMed which was at its infancy then.
It struck me that QMed knowledge Foundation is one of its kind, with its unique programme to skill upcoming as well as established medical professionals to do their jobs much more efficiently, based on evidence and data. To search for the right medical info that a student or a research fellow or a doctor needs quickly in their day to day work can be mind boggling to say the least given the humongous data to sift through, it’s almost like searching for a needle in a haystack, that’s the problem QMed solves elegantly. If lakhs of medical professionals are armed with QMed’s tools and methodologies it can make a huge impact to the outcomes and benefit the society at large.
That is what I am drawn to and happy to be a staunch supporter of QMed’s vision over the years. Here profit is not the motive, results are; do join and be part of the QMed’s journey.
We at QMed thank Raman with all our heart and wish him and his family the very best. We wish every donor the best too!
Current appeal
Last fortnight, we had put out an appeal to help fund the purchase of a laptop for our Technology Head – Ms Fatima. We have estimated a cost of Rs 60,000/- One kind donor has sent us Rs 15,000/-
We hope to have more funds coming in towards this! Fatima continues to do great jobs with her current laptop, but we know that she could do much more, much faster if we could give her a new one.
Sep 15, 2022: Online courses or Fundraising – the dilemma
Money or Mission? For many not for profit organizations, this is a struggle! We are still struggling to find an answer to the question – Do we focus on our online (E-learning courses) or on fundraising? How do we balance both?
For QMed to be self-sufficient – the answer appears almost crazily simple! Our E-learning courses at www.qmedcourses.in – have had great reviews. We offer a full package to institutions at a very affordable cost. And to individuals for a reasonable donation.
If all medical colleges in the country (approximately 500) pay for access, we do not need to do any fundraising. We may even be able to give access at a lower fee! We’d be happiest if we could work on our mission and not worry about raising funds.
But getting a medical college to subscribe, is a challenge. There are lots of reasons for this – and they are based on a “They don’t know what they don’t know” scenario. Beliefs like
- Everyone really knows how to search because they are tech savvy
- The existing research methodology courses cover the topics (the reality is they do not)
- It is too heavy for medical students in their already overloaded curriculum (we have found that students learn it the fastest)
- Nothing new can be included in the curriculum without approvals. The reality is there IS a line in the current curriculum – every Indian medical graduate MUST know how to search online!
And so – as we work on these challenges, we still have bills to pay and salaries to fork out.
As you read this, how can you help?
- Ask us if you need to know more details about our work and our needs
- Continue to donate – we still need help
- Spread the word about us – it still makes a big difference!
- If you have done our courses – please talk about them. As often as you can. Convince others to do them
- If you are from an institution that has subscribed – spread the word – and ensure that lots of students and faculty go through the learning. So that the institution renews and the next incoming batch of students gets the opportunity to learn
- If you can introduce us to institution heads – please do
- And finally if you can create magic with the National Medical Commission – do help us out!
Note:
We are doing a LOT with minimal resources. And we do it very cheerfully. Yet, there are times we badly need more. Right now, we would like to get a new laptop for our technology-in-charge. We can make things so much better for her. We would like to raise around Rs 60,000/- for the same. Would you consider donating towards this? If you do, please click the Donate Now button below, fill in whatever amount you can give in the “General Fund” option. Once you add all details, in the Note Area please mention – “Towards the cost of a laptop”.