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WHEREDO OUR FUNDS GO?
100% of SAM/MDA donations are spent on research.*
We believe it is important to keep SAM/MDA supporters
aware of how their contributions are put to use.
The Seek A Miracle/MDA and FARA Collaboration
In 1998, SAM/MDA joined the Board of Directors of the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). FARA is a multifaceted organization bringing advocacy, education and research under one roof. Through biomedical research grants, support of clinical trials, and patient advocacy in the private and public sectors they have made great advances in the FA commuinity since their inception in 1998. FARA and Seek A Miracle/MDA (SAM/MDA) have established an arrangement whereby they draw from the resources of both organizations to award peer-reviewed grants to FRDA scientists.
This enables more funding to be made available every year to the doctors and scientists worldwide who are fighting to find a cure for FA. Time is valuable to patients fighting the battle of progression and to researchers who are ready to proceed with promising avenues of research. For those who donate to MDA, please consider making your donations payable to "Seek A Miracle/MDA," so your donations go to fund FA research in this collaborative way.
A summary of the process:
FARA receives grant applications at any time during the year from FRDA scientists around the world and submits them to FARA’s Scientific Review Committee for peer review. If the scientific peer review results in a favorable recommendation, that recommendation is submitted to FARA’s Board of Directors, which includes the three scientists serving on the Scientific Review Committee and ten lay Members.
If FARA’s Board of Directors votes to award the grant, it can request that SAM/MDA provide a portion of the funds required. In most cases, SAM/MDA has agreed and has provided up to half the total funds for the grant. FARA’s Board of Directors includes the founders of SAM/MDA, who were instrumental in concluding and implementing this arrangement that significantly increases the resources being devoted to promising FRDA research around the world. For further information contact Ron Bartek at fara@frda.org
To seek our miracle, FARA and SAM/MDA are working together to make a difference more quickly.
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