Answer: Contributions from any individual and organization to UGMSAF would be thankfully accepted. Alumni, their nuclear families, individuals who wish to express their gratitude, appreciation and support for UGMS by endorsing the vision of UGMSAF are most welcome to donate generously to the endowment fund.

Answer: In order to quickly reach the goal of the foundation an initial minimum donation amount of $1000.00 or more is respectfully requested. Periodic or repeat donations to reach the initial minimum target of $1.0 million within a period of one year are welcome. One time or periodic individual Installment contributions of monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually to reach $1000.00 each within 12 months would be thankfully accepted.

Answer: The executive board of the Foundation is grateful for your desire to help in this endeavor. There are several ways you can help, including most importantly, discussions, and conversations with your contemporaries, classmates, associates and friends and directing interested individuals to the website of UGMSAF. The foundation would appreciate everyone spreading the message to as many people possible in each ones circle of relationships. A QR code is available on the website for easy access to the website and dissemination.

Answer: In fact every Ghanaian, personally or by extension (as in family members and dear friends), and the community in general and many individuals worldwide have been touched or benefited, in one way or another, from the work or actions of the products of the University of Ghana Medical School. In particular, graduates of the Medical school have had successful and extremely rewarding careers enabling many to rise to great heights in the medical field and raise successful happy families. As such, perhaps, the time has come, for alumni of the School to come together to leave a lasting legacy in the form of an enduring Endowment to help in producing the next generation of excellent physicians who will provide top quality healthcare to meet the needs of the community.

Answer: UGMSAF has a vision of building up as large a LEGACY fund as possible. The larger the legacy the more effective it will become. At this crucial initial roll out we have set ourselves an ambitious initial target of $1M. We believe this target can be reached and even surpassed if we tap into our numbers, and appeal to at least 1000 alumni to donate a minimum of $1000.00. We are confident with your help we can exceed our initial target and give our beloved medical school a big boost to last a lifetime.

We encourage continuation of class projects which have helped the School in many ways in the past, and over the ensuing years will continue to help the school. Additionally, class projects continue to encourage the camaraderie established amongst the year group members. But class projects alone may not resolve some of the major needs of the medical school. By building an enduring fund that perpetually continues to grow there will always be substantial available financial resource to meet some of these needs of the School.

Answer: The Bylaws are on the UGMSAF web site. Feel free to review and post your comments for future revisions.

Answer: The Foundation has a chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer etc etc. These are currently the initial alumni who have been deliberating over the past 18+ months and finally implemented the formation of the alumni Foundation. The officers have terms of service as per the bylaws, and we encourage other alumni, especially the younger ones to volunteer to be elected into office in the future to ensure viability and continuity of the Foundation.

Answer: The Foundation Officers control disbursement of funds from the endowment/ foundation account. Since the Foundation – a 501c(3) organization – is set up in the USA as a non profit, and contributions into the account are US tax deductible, it is subject to IRS review annually to ensure proper use of the funds. The medical school can submit requests for projects needed. The executive officers will review and approve or reject, in line will IRS guidelines. When a project is approved, the Foundation will supervise contract award and implementation.

Answer: There is no paid executive officer. If there is a need periodically for some service such as auditing of accounts etc. a paid expert would be contracted specifically for that assignment.

Answer: The website is designed to show how much has been donated as donations come in. Additionally, as per the requirement of the IRS, every donor will receive a receipt and at the end of the year, there will be a statement of the total amount the donor has given over the year. The bylaws mandate yearly audit report that will be posted on the website.

Answer: Built into the Bylaws is a process for nominating and electing other alumni to serve on the board. Please take a look at the By-laws for more details.

Answer: At the moment every donation goes into a Business Account at International Chase Bank. The yield is practically zero. When sufficient amount has been raised a professional entity would be contracted to invest the donated amount. The investment strategy directed by the Board would, most likely, seek to preserve assets and maximize return on investment through a balanced portfolio.