Your Questions, Our Answers
How is the hospital and MBA funded?
The hospital receives funding from the Government of Zambia. Since 2006 we are not allowed to accept patient fees from people that cannot afford to give, which is almosts everyone in our regions. The hospital receives funds from international grants via CHAZ which are earmarked for HIVAIDS, TB and Malaria or other projects. International support such as Pepfar funds means that we have a stable supply of medicines for these specific diseases as well as malaria nets to distribute to new mothers. There are restrictions on how these funds can be used as well as reporting requirements.
MBA is a non-profit but has several forms of income to support the work of the denomination and hospital. Income is generated from The Guest Houses, the Workshop, Rental fees for houses on the mission property, and from a farm that MBA owns and leases out. In addition church members of MBA give of their earnings. These funding sources alone are not near what is needed to fund operations, especially the cost of running the hospital. MBA is funded by the generosity of churches, denominations, corporations, community groups, individual donations and fundraisers. Donations are gratefully accepted and relied upon to keep the hospital open and provide support to church leaders. Information on where to give.
If this mission resonates with your heart, we welcome you to volunteer your time, services, resources, or fundraising ideas.
Does aid really reach those in need?
Yes! We keep earmarked funds separate and honour the strict reporting rules. These do add a level of bureaucracy that is burdening since much of our record keeping has been done manually. We are in the process of computerizing records. If you have a particular program you would like to fund talk to us so that we can discuss a plan that works for you.
Giving toward our general operating costs without complicated accounting and reporting requirements can be more cost effective and also meet vital needs. We would encourage you to give to general operating costs if you can. We have also worked hard to facilitate donors who prefer to purchases items locally. It is good to build our local economy but it is also a challenge as availability of goods locally is limited. If you would like to make a donation towards medicine we can assist you with the information you need to give directly toward our account at our medical supplier.
Do you work with microloans or microfinance?
We do not have a program of microloans set up currently. This will be considered for future development programs. We have in the past had a loan-in-kind program (with animals). These will also be considered. Our Women’s Wing is seeing how a loan can lead to the successful start of a project that leads to self sustainability and look forward to watching that program expand in coming years.
Do you have a Child Sponsorship Program?
We do not have a formal child sponsorship program set up. We have started to look at what we as churches can do and programs will be developed. Most families have taken in orphans. Church leaders identify families with extra need and can distribute food, cloths and shoes. As leaders emerge who can develop and coordinate a program we will consider how we can meet these needs in a more formal program. Check back for updates!
What are your systems for transparency and stewardship of resources?
MBA is committed to transparency and stewardship of financial resources. Accounting systems have been rudimentary and under development. MBA gets support from Interact and CHAZ in accounting.
- Accounting staff are being developed. Accounts have been kept manually but have become computerized 2006-2008 and accounting routines formalized.
- CHAZ and INTERACT give help in providing detailed financial reports in order to ease the information flow to all donors that provide earmarked financing.
- Audits are held by professionals.
- MBA has several projects that receive earmarked international funding (HIV/AIDs, ART-clinic, TB-Clinic and the SIDA/SMC Development Project) and there is a good understanding that earmarked funds cannot be used for other urgent needs.
- The leadership training the Board and Management received in 2007-2008 included using financial data in making decisions.
- There is full time support of advisory personnel from Sweden on site.
- Decisions regarding spending of funds at the hospital are handled by a procurement committee that evaluates the current needs and prioritizes.