Alzheimer Europe’s Honorary Treasurer reflects on the financial history of the

Alzheimer Europe’s Honorary Treasurer reflects on the financial history of the organisation

Alzheimer Europe’s financial position has evolved considerably over its 30 year lifetime and the role of the Honorary Treasurer has been key in overseeing the organisation’s finances. As such, we spoke to the outgoing Honorary Treasurer, Maria do Rosário Zincke dos Reis, about her experiences working on the Alzheimer Europe Board and her outlook on the financial position of Alzheimer Europe.

Maria do Rosário Zincke dos Reis

This year marks 30 years of Alzheimer Europe – what are your reflections on this anniversary?

I joined Alzheimer Portugal in 2000. At that time Alzheimer Portugal was already an Alzheimer Europe member and I remember hearing a lot about our participation in the Lawnet 1 that had come to an end the year before.

I will never forget the 2004 Annual General Meeting, in Prague. There, Alzheimer Portugal’s application to host the 17th Alzheimer Europe Conference was approved. The conference, entitled “The Sound of Silence”, took place in May 2007 at Estoril, Portugal.

Additionally, I will never forget the enthusiasm and pride I felt for belonging to the European Dementia Movement when the national organisations unanimously signed the Paris Declaration in 2006.

From those distant days I have no memories about finances. But visiting the 1999 Annual Report Preface, written by then-Chairperson Jeannot Krecké, I read this interesting statement: “Yet despite the growing recognition and ever expanding activities of our organisation, I cannot end this Annual Report without raising the thorny issue of the financial situation of Alzheimer Europe. The significant budget deficit and the shrinking reserves of the organisation force the organisation to reconsider its financial strategy and to develop new avenues to diversify its sources for funding.”

During your time as a member of the Alzheimer Europe Board and as Honorary Treasurer, how has Alzheimer Europe’s financial position evolved over the years?

I have been a Board member of Alzheimer Europe since 2008 and was elected as Honorary Treasurer in 2010. Since then, of course not because of me, Alzheimer Europe never stopped growing not only in public recognition but also in financial sustainability. Indeed it is the way Alzheimer Europe has been able to define its priorities, long term plans and strategies and also its high quality performance in all the projects in which it has been involved in that allow the current very healthy financial situation.

From a budget of 1,188,870 in 2010 we reached a budget of 1,890,058 in 2019. The Alzheimer Europe accounts are a reflection of its attitude, which is characterised by:

y

y Precaution – never take a step longer than the leg Keeping the focus – being able to listen to the voice of people with dementia and y promote their involvement in society and in the life of the organisation, namely having a voice in relation to research Flexibility – embrace new challenges such as involvement in a growing number of increasingly demanding European projects, requiring a higher level of skill.

What have been the most significant developments in relation to the finances of the organisation?

2010 was a particularly successful year as, for the first time, the organisation’s budget exceeded EUR 1 million. It was also the year where we received a grant from Bayer for our Value of Knowing project which received critical acclaim for our survey on the perceptions of the general public in five countries regarding Alzheimer’s disease and its attitudes towards the importance of timely diagnosis. In 2012, Alzheimer Europe was able to set up its own Foundation which aims to support the involvement of people with dementia in our activities, projects and meetings. Since then, the Alzheimer Europe Foundation has supported people with dementia in attending Conferences and has given awards to conference posters promoting a positive image of dementia.

The growing percentage of EU subsidies in our income are very meaningful giving us a

high responsibility to keep the confi dence of European institutions in Alzheimer Europe.

What will be the priorities in the years ahead to strengthen the fi nancial position of Alzheimer Europe?

In these times of uncertainty it is especially important to preserve our role leading the European Dementia Movement and keeping the recognition from the European Commission and other European institutions. The diversity of funding sources is also something to always keep in mind.

As the Honorary Treasurer of Alzheimer Europe during the last 10 years I am confi dent that we will be able to face the coming challenges as we did before.

2,000,000 Alzheimer Europe income from 1996–2019

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

2000 2008 20161997 2005 20131996 2004 20122001 2009 20171998 2006 20142002 2010 20181999 2007 20152003 2011 2019

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Eisai is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as ‘giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides’, which we call our human health care philosophy. With over 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realise our human health care philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including oncology and neurology. As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through our investment and participation in partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries. For more information about Eisai in EMEA please visit www.eisai.eu. EMEA-NON-19-00101 I December 2019