How the TMF Is Financed

The TMF is financed on a multi-pillar basis: It is funded by members' subscriptions, direct project funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and numerous third-party funding programs of various national and European funding organizations. An overview of the revenues and expenditure and of the project budgets is published regularly in the TMF annual reports.

Members' subscription

Subscriptions from members – medical research networks and institutes – account for a large portion of the financial resources that the TMF has at its disposal for its work.

TMF members' subscriptions are eligible for funding by the BMBF and by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

BMBF funding

Since the end of 2010 the TMF has received additional project funding from the BMBF, with which various specific support measures are to be expanded, cross-links with other fields are to be created, and new services are to be established.

The funding supports the exchange of medical network researchers in the working groups and forums and particularly also offers a opportunity to hold more workshops, training sessions, and other public events. In addition, contract funds can be granted for addressing specific methodological and infrastructural issues in the form of pilot projects.

Third-party funding

Over the last few years the TMF has also been receiving more and more third-party funding from various funding organizations: In this context the BMBF continues to play a key role but the TMF is also involved in third-party funded projects that are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) or by the German Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWi).

Since 2010 the TMF has also been receiving funding from the DFG. Since 2011 the TMF has additionally been a partner in two European projects that are being sponsored within the scope of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the European research infrastructures (ESFRI) respectively. In third-party funded projects, solutions can be developed for the community which in many cases could not be realized with the association budget on its own.