Charitable trusts
Why Meningitis UK needs your funding
Meningitis UK's sole focus is to develop a vaccine to eradicate all forms of meningitis and associated diseases. Since the charity started in 1999, we have invested £2.6 million into meningitis research in the UK.
Goal
Although successful vaccines exist to protect against certain forms of meningitis, there is still no vaccine for all forms of the disease including the most common in the UK - Meningitis B, which continues to devastate thousands of families every year. Meningitis UK are leading the search for this vaccine and in 2007 we launched the Search 4 a Vaccine Campaign to raise £7 million to drive our research forward and achieve this goal. Since the launch of the campaign, we have already invested £500,000, expanding our current research portfolio to over £1.2 million. The results of these projects will define the future of many families throughout the UK, and could potentially save thousands of young lives.
"Meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia can strike and overwhelm the human body in hours. Developing a vaccine to protect against these diseases remains one of the biggest challenges to modern medicine"
Professor Nigel Klein, Institute of Child Health
Requirements
However, medical research requires a long-term investment in terms of work and money. A typical week's work in one of our laboratories costs £1,285 so we greatly rely on grant giving bodies to help us maintain the level of financial support needed to achieve our goal.
Research Selection Process
All applications for funding undergo a rigorous peer review selection procedure, which ensures that only the most worthy research grants are awarded. Meningitis UK is also a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) - the leading umbrella organisation representing medical research charities.
Current Research
For further information about our current research, please read about our Current Projects and Research Strategy
Download a summary of our current research programme
Dedicated Projects
We would be happy to link grants of over £500 to a dedicated project of your choice, specific area of research, or location where the research is based, and will provide regular progress reports to keep you updated on how the project is progressing.
There are a number of other ways in which we would be pleased to recognise your generosity such as:
- Arranging a personal visit to the research study you are funding so that you can see our work first hand and talk directly to our research scientists and meet senior charity staff.
- Naming a piece of equipment which complements a grant award.
- Acknowledging your grant in our Annual Report or other publications.
The Future
Great advances have been made in the field of meningitis vaccine development over the last 20 years, with the development of the Hib vaccine in 1992, the Meningitis C vaccine in 1999 and most recently a vaccine to protect against the most common forms of pnemococcal meningitis. Based on these scientific discoveries we are confident that our goal is achievable. The more support we get, the sooner we can achieve our vision and the more lives we will be able to save.
If you would like to discuss funding options or would like further information on a particular research project please do not hesitate to contact Kate Rowland, Head of Development on 0117 303 33 40 or email katerowland@meningitisuk.org
Charity Accounts
Meningitis UK financial information
For further information on the charity's finances, see our financial information page.
Past Support
MeningitisUK · Registered Charity No.1076774