The ME/CFS Research Foundation is recognised by the tax office as a non-profit organisation. This means that donations to us can be claimed for tax purposes. In order to claim the donation in your tax return, a payment receipt (e.g. payment receipt, bank statement) is sufficient for donations up to €300 per year.

We automatically issue donation receipts for donations of €300 or more per annum at the end of the year. For donations of less than €300, we are happy to issue donation receipts on request – if necessary, please contact us via our donation form.

* The Federal Central Tax Office maintains the German register of recipients of donations. This register records all organisations throughout Germany that are authorised to issue donation receipts. You can find our entry via the register's search function (search for "ME/CFS Research Foundation", please note that the search is case-sensitive).

For Donations up to € 300 per year the payment receipt (bank or PayPal) is sufficient as tax documentation. For donations over € 300 per year, we automatically issue donation receipts, provided we have the donor's details (name, address, email).

• Donations via PayPal or credit card: donor data is usually transmitted automatically. 
• Donations by bank transfer: please provide the donor details using our donor data form. .

We issue donation receipts approximately every two months by email. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at: donation@mecfs-research.org 

We very much appreciate regular support. Thank you very much!

• Donations by bank transfer: simply set up a standing order to our donation account, e.g. monthly.
• Donations via PayPal or credit card: Here you can choose between a one-off, monthly or annual donation.

For a donation receipt, please provide us with your donor details (name, address, email) via our donor data form. , especially if you donate by standing order. Thank you very much!

The established funding structures for medical research are not (yet) working for ME/CFS and Long COVID. Former Health Minister Prof. Karl Lauterbach described this situation in the summer of 2025 as a "failure of the state" (Source).

In addition to our commitment to research funding and networking among researchers, we also advocate for more sustainable government research funding, together with other organisations and initiatives. For example, our study on the prevalence and costs of Long COVID and ME/CFS in Germany highlights the enormous social costs involved in order to justify the urgent need for research from an economic perspective. However, there is still a lack of sufficient public funding, particularly in the field of biomedical research. 

At the same time, current research shows that it should be possible to better diagnose ME/CFS and Long COVID and, at least in part, treat them within a few years. At the same time, the large number of people affected (1.5 million people have ME/CFS or Long COVID in Germany) could, as a community, finance a great deal of research themselves with even small contributions per capita.  

That is why we believe that as long as the state "fails" in this area, joint action by the affected community is needed. This is not ideal, but it is the only feasible way to enable more research in the short term.

For our charitable commitment to promoting biomedical research, we appeal to those affected, their families and friends, as well as people outside the affected community, to make donations.  

But one thing is clear: no one should donate at the expense of their own health or care! However, those who are unable to contribute financially themselvescan ask family, friends or others for support. This is demonstrated time and again by many fundraising campaigns organised by those affected. Fundraising campaigns by those affected immer wieder. 

Thank you for your support! 

We guarantee that 100% of your donation will be used to support biomedical ME/CFS research. The administrative costs of the ME/CFS Research Foundation are fully funded by the founder Joerg Heydecke. Further details can be found in our activity report. 

Donations via the ME/CFS Research Foundation flow 100% into the research projects or to the working groups (i.e. without the usual flat-rate deductions made by universities for administration). We agree appropriate regulations with the institutes concerned.

For the sake of completeness, however, we would like to point out that every research project involves a certain amount of administrative work (e.g. to meet mandatory regulatory requirements). We support these costs, because without them research would not be feasible.

Yes, you can donate for a specific purpose. Please note the purpose of your donation in the subject line of the bank transfer or in the note of your PayPal / credit card payment, e.g. "Donation for project XY at XY University Hospital". You can also tell us the purpose of your donation via our our donor data form. or by e-mail .  

However, we can only support projects and institutions that are recognised as charitable. Otherwise we risk losing our charitable status.

The following applies to all donations without earmarking: 

• The ME/CFS Research Foundation exclusively promotes scientific, evidence-based, biomedical research on ME/CFS and Long Covid. We focus on basic and clinical therapy research in Germany (later also in other EU countries). We report on the projects we fund under News & Events and in our newsletter (subscribe here).
• Our project funding is based on scientific quality criteria, such as those proposed in the "Guidelines to research and care for ME/CFS and Post-COVID-Syndrome". Our funding decisions are supported by an international scientific advisory board.

For donations made by bank transfer there are no transaction costs for the ME/CFS Research Foundation or donors.

For Donations via PayPal or credit card , we are charged reduced transaction costs of €0.35 per transaction plus 1.5% of the donation amount (additional fees may apply for cross-border donations). 

Donation portals such as betterplace.org or gofundme or gooding.org charge their own fees (usually 2-3% of the donation amount).

Your question about donations is not answered here? Then please send your question by e-mail to: donation@mecfs-research.org