The Donna McDermid Memorial Fund is an initiative of Australian Relief & Mercy Services Ltd (Australian Mercy). The fund has been set up to help address issues of gender injustice and sexual abuse in women in the Developing World. Through it, Australian Mercy seeks to perpetually fund projects it identifies as being within its funding guidelines. The fund operates inside of Australian Mercy aid and development framework and donations to it are tax deductible. The Donna McDermid Memorial Fund is subject to the provisions of Australian Mercy annual audit.
Donations to the fund are invested in ethical and conservative investments according to the Boards investment guidleines and the 70% of the dividend from those investments is used to fund or assist projects that are helping improve the status of women or assisting the victims of sexual abuse in poor communities within the Developing World.
20% of the investment dividend is re-invested into the fund to increase growth of the fund and to buffer it against inflation. 10% is used to cover the administrative costs of running the fund.
An advisory board has been set up for the Donna McDermid Memorial Fund. This board is made up of members from the Australian Mercy Board and the McDermid family. The advisory board will administer the distribution of funds. The first distributions are expected to be made in 2010 / 2011 financial year.
Donations to the Donna McDermid Memorial Fund can be made by Credit Card, PayPal, cheque or bank deposit. All details can be found at the Australian Mercy giving page. US and Canadian donors who are seeking tax deductibility for their donations will also find information about how to do that atAustralian Mercy giving page.
