The target is € 5 million and € 1 million have already been firmly pledged: The donation appeal launched just a few days ago by Goethe University and University Hospital Frankfurt in support of a Goethe Corona Fund has triggered a huge wave of support. The aim of the fund is to help master the financial challenges resulting from the corona pandemic more effectively.
Donations can be made either via the Betterplace platform or directly by bank transfer to the donations account of the Goethe Corona Fund (Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, IBAN: DE95 5005 0000 0001 0064 10, reference: Goethe Corona Fund).
The first donation was the € 250,000 already made available last week for COVID-19 research from the Johanna Quandt Jubilee Fund; this money laid the foundation for the fund. The largest sum so far – € 600,000 – was donated by Stefan Quandt, an entrepreneur from Bad Homburg. “We need to find out as much as possible as quickly as possible about the coronavirus and how it works. That’s why I want to contribute to supporting pragmatically oriented virus research at Goethe University,” said Quandt, explaining the reason for his generous donation. He would like the money to be used as start-up funding for establishing – without delay – an assistant professorship for COVID-19 research in the team led by virologist Professor Sandra Ciesek, so that the search for active substances and vaccines can be rapidly intensified and further reinforced strategically.
Other organisations are also contributing considerable sums. Santander, for example, has pledged a donation of € 30,000 and will also publicize the appeal worldwide via its networks. First large donations will also soon arrive from the university itself: The fund will receive two five-figure sums from unallocated external funding from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and the Institute of Biochemistry. But private individuals, e.g. alumni as well as friends and benefactors, are also doing their part.
Particularly pleasing is the widescale support shown by the population. Whether they have close links to the university or not – evidently many people feel the need to help finance this special effort. Just a few days after the start of the appeal, the online donations platform betterplace.org registered about 350 individual donations totalling almost € 35,000.
Professor Birgitta Wolff, President of Goethe University: “I sincerely thank everyone who contributes something to the Goethe Corona Fund. Your donation is also a sign of your conviction that we can conquer this virus with the help of research. And it’s a symbol of the solidarity of the great Goethe University community that is fighting together in this crisis. Please keep up your commitment – whether through financial support or your personal input. Your help is needed!”
The spreading pandemic brings with it a growing need for finance in many areas – more money is needed for protective equipment for medical staff, patient care, training and simulation courses for students, nurses and doctors, but above all for research and development in the fields of virology and intensive care medicine. “Conducting research at full steam in many different locations across the globe increases the probability that we’ll soon be able to develop a drug or vaccine against the virus,” says virologist Professor Sandra Ciesek. “At the same time, it is crucial for those already ill and those who fall ill in the near future that medical personnel are trained and equipped as well as possible,” stresses Professor Jürgen Graf, Medical Director of University Hospital Frankfurt.
Please donate via our donations project on www.betterplace.org.
(Please share on your platforms and networks!)
Or by bank transfer to the donations account:
Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen
IBAN: DE95 5005 0000 0001 0064 10
Reference: Goethe Corona Fund
Our sincerest thanks on behalf of Goethe University – especially the Faculty of Medicine – University Hospital Frankfurt and all those in need of good medical care in times of COVID-19.
Further information: Susanne Honnef, Department of Private University Funding, phone: +49(0)69-798-12433, email: honnef@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de; contact to Professor Sandra Ciesek via University Hospital Frankfurt: Christoph Lunkenheimer, Press Officer, phone: +49(0)69-6301-86442, email: christoph.lunkenheimer@kgu.de.
