November 14th, 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of the creation of The DAISY Foundation. We never imagined that DAISY recognition of nurses' extraordinary compassionate care would spread as far and as wide as it has, thousands of healthcare organizations and schools of nursing around the world committed to celebrating their nurses with us. We kicked off that anniversary year with an announcement of yet another expression of our gratitude to nurses- a grant program offering funding to DAISY Honorees who want to share their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassion by participating in a medical mission.
Why Is DAISY Offering This Grant Program?
According to the World Health Organization, some 3.8 billion people lack access to basic healthcare services. Nurses who volunteer their time and expertise to medical mission trips, providing care in under-served areas, are making a significant difference to those populations. Often, medical mission trips require that volunteers pay their own expenses. From time to time, we have been asked to contribute to those expenses, and we have not, until now, had a means to do so.
Therefore, as a new benefit, The DAISY Foundation is offering grants to DAISY Honorees who require funding for their expenses to volunteer on medical missions. We hope this new initiative will encourage nurses who have demonstrated extraordinary compassion in their daily practice to contribute to patient care for the world’s most under-served and vulnerable people.
If you are planning to go on a medical mission and are hoping DAISY can help fund it, here are the guidelines for this grant program:
Grant Amount
Grants of up to $1,500 each will be funded for upcoming mission trips. Funding is not available for mission trips already completed.
Who is Eligible?
Applicants must be DAISY Award Honorees who have been registered with The DAISY Foundation. If you don’t know if you have been registered with us, please visit www.DAISYFoundation.org. Type your name into the search bar at the top of the home page. You should find your DAISY Spotlight page. You’ll need the URL for this page for the application. If your page does not appear, please ask your organization’s DAISY Coordinator to register you before you complete your application. Please note, you may not apply for and receive this grant more than three times.
What We Will Fund
Should your application be chosen, we will pay your direct costs to participate in a medical mission, not to exceed the grant amount of $1,500.00. An example of a direct cost would be your travel expenses, not indirect costs, such as wages and vacation days lost by your participation in the mission. For the purposes of this grant, your medical mission must be recognized as a provider of clinical and/or medical/health education services to populations in need.
Criteria for Selection
A team of Reviewers will review your statement through a blinded process and score based on four criteria:
1. Medical Mission purpose and alignment with your professional skills (Professional Perspective)
2. Why this mission is important to you (Personal Perspective)
3. Expected contributions and outcomes as a DAISY Nurse (Scope of Impact)
4. How you will share your story with others (Dissemination)
Funding Your Grant
Checks will be issued to our Grantees as individuals- not to your organization nor to the mission organization-
When you return from your mission and provide documentation that you participated. Please understand that we appreciate that sometimes, someone will commit to a mission trip, and then, unfortunately, have to cancel at the last minute. Our payment process ensures we are paying for missions actually taken.
Please check with your tax preparer to ensure this grant is not taxed as income. The DAISY Foundation is not responsible for any tax liability to this grant may incur.
Timeline:
To view details on previous Medical Mission Grant Recipients click here!
Next Application Cycle: August 3, 2023-September 30, 2023. Apply here!
Grant recipients will be notified by email whether or not their application is approved for funding.
If Your Application is Accepted
Grant recipients will be notified by email whether or not their application is approved for funding. All applications will require a waiver document with your signature to ensure that The DAISY Foundation has no liability for your safety in the medical mission that you will participate in, should you be selected for a grant.
Following Your Mission Trip
Within 30 days of your return from your mission trip, to receive reimbursement, you will complete a form on this website where you may describe the impact of your medical mission and your contribution to it. You will be able to upload photos for our use in the publicity of your experience and future promotion of this grant program. Also, through this form, you will provide the receipts for your expenses that we will reimburse.
DAISY looks forward to using your description and your photos in marketing the Foundation and the grant program in the future.
Finally, we require that you share the story of your mission experience as you described you would in your application.