Why You Can Trust Us

Your trust matters to us.  The Marie Keating Foundation cannot survive without the generous support of the general public and our corporate partners. When you donate to the Marie Keating Foundation, we know that it is important to you that the funds are spent wisely.  At the Foundation, we are and have always been scrupulous with every euro that is entrusted to us to spend on our cancer awareness and support mission.  We ensure that every activity we undertake is measurable, realistic and properly accounted for. We have best-of-class corporate governance structures and standards, which are constantly reviewed by our Board and independently by our external auditors.   We have an exceptionally committed Board of Directors, none of whom take fees or expenses for their work or time. Each year, we have our accounts independently audited by Mazars and post them on our website as part of our annual report.

View our  Annual Reports :

2022 Annual Report

2021 Annual Report

 2020 Annual Report

2019 Annual Report

2018 Annual Report

2017 Annual Report

2016 Annual Report 

2015 Annual Report

2014 Annual Report

2013 Annual Report

2012 Annual Report 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triple Lock of Good Governance

Since 2016, the Foundation has achieved the Triple Lock of Good Governance for the Charity Sector, which means that it is in full compliance with the 1) Charities Governance Code 2) the Charities Regulator’s Guidelines for Charitable Organisations on Fundraising from the Public and 3) Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for its annual accounts.

The Triple Lock Standard is the gold standard of the Charity sector. The Marie Keating Foundation is proud to be fully compliant with all three pillars of the Triple Lock as best practice and good governance is of utmost importance to us. In October 2021 the Marie Keating Foundation won award for its 2020 Annual Report at the Good Governance awards.

The Marie Keating Foundation is a Company Limited by Guarantee and is registered with the Companies Registration Office Number 342695.

We are a registered charity (CHY 12916) and the Marie Keating Foundation is also listed on the Charities Register of the Charities Regulatory Authority (RCN Number 20038953).

Further information about our efforts to be as transparent and accountable as possible are outlined below.  If you would like more information about our governance, please contact [email protected] as we seek to be as open as transparent as possible.

 

How we spend the donations we receive

For every €1 the Marie Keating Foundation receives, we strive to spend as much as possible on our services, such as cancer awareness and support programmes. We have prioritised service delivery and minimised overheads as much as possible to obtain this goal. Remaining funds are spent on generating future funds and on administration and governance.

 

The funds we receive allow us to provide the following services:

  • Mobile Information Units– The Foundation has three mobile information units, each staffed by a registered nurse. The units are equipped with take-home information leaflets on each of the key cancers, and the nurses also provide practical advice on healthy lifestyle choices. Because of the donations we receive, this service is available free of charge to both men and women, nationwide. For more information, click here.
  • Cancer Awareness Campaigns such as information on how to spot the main symptoms around the key cancers including breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, bowel cancer, testicular cancer and prostate cancer.
  • Schools Cancer Awareness Programme– This programme aims to promote awareness among students at post-primary level about various forms of cancer and to help them understand the importance of detecting cancer at an early stage. By making cancer ‘less frightening by enlightening’ for students, the programme endeavours to engage students with age-appropriate, interactive and informative material. The eight-module programme is available free of charge for teachers. For more information, click here.
  •  Comfort Fund– The Marie Keating Foundation provides financial assistance to people who are currently receiving treatment for any kind of cancer and who, as a result, find themselves in financial difficulty. Each grant is based on each individual case and is a one-off payment. It is intended that the fund will help to alleviate difficulty with transport costs, additional childcare charges or any other costs directly related to the treatment period. The fund is administered and accessed in association with Medical Social Workers at each hospital. For more information, click here.

 

Why does the Marie Keating Foundation need to use funds to generate future funds?

Because the Marie Keating Foundation receives very little government funding, it is vital that we continuously fundraise so that we can continue to provide cancer awareness and support services to the general public.

The Marie Keating Foundation has to raise in the region of €2 million each year to maintain its cancer awareness and support services which are provided free of charge. Whilst there are inevitable costs associated with our fundraising events and activities, we do our very best to ensure these are kept to an absolute minimum. These costs include, for example, venue hire and promotional costs for fundraising events such as balls, cycles and walks. The Foundation also faces all the other costs that every organisation faces such as staff, office rent, utility costs, computers, insurance and bank charges. However, here again, we do our utmost to ensure that any costs are kept to a minimum and we only spend what is necessary in order to do our work well.

 

Why does the Marie Keating Foundation spend any money on administration?

In order to run as effectively and professionally as possible, the Marie Keating Foundation needs a strong organisational structure in place. Under the guidance of our Board of Directors and senior management team, we have become as lean as possible so that we can continue to provide our services with the minimum of overheads. We think carefully about every euro we spend to ensure that we are getting the best value for money.

 

Being accountable

The Marie Keating Foundation welcomes the fact that the Charities Regulator has been given new powers of investigation and enforcement from September 2016. It is vital that all members of the charity sector are held to the same high standards and that these are enforced so that the general public can have the highest levels of trust in the not-for-profit sector.

Your trust means the world to us and we want all our supporters to feel confident that they can continue to believe in us.

The Marie Keating Foundation has a Donor Charter, which sets out its commitments to donors and prospective donors, and  has best-of-class corporate governance structures having attained the Triple Lock best practice governance standards.

If you would like to learn about our Board of Directors, please click here.

 

Our impact in 2020:

  • Our nurses reached over 13,435 people through our mobile units and community outreach service in 2020. Over 177 venues were visited, from schools and shopping centers, to offices and community centers. However, these visits were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Though paused for the majority of the year due to COVID-19’s impact on the Foundation’s income, through our Comfort Fund  we were still able to support over 141 individuals and families struggling financially because of cancer.
  • MKF nurses made 54 visits to schools and colleges in 2020, both on-site and online, to give presentations on various cancer-related topics to over 2,832 students as part of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) In-Service Training Programme.
  • Over 556,923 people visited the Marie Keating Foundation website in 2020.
  • Support services like our Positive Living Community and our Survive & Thrive programme grew immensely in 2020, growing by 68% and 25% respectively as we transitioned to an online format. As a result, our services provided regular support and education to over 680 cancer survivors in 2020.
  • We implemented national cancer awareness campaigns on bladder cancer, breast cancer,  bowel cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and skin cancer and healthy lifestyle choices to educate the general public on the signs, symptoms and prevention measures of these common cancers.