EDUCATIONAL GRANTS From Industry Partners

The 2024 SA Heart® Congress offers delegates in need an opportunity to apply for an educational grant to cover the costs of attending the congress. Educational grants are donated by industry partners. The amount in the SA Heart® educational grant funding pool therefore varies year on year.

How is the SA Heart® educational grants process administered?

The SA Heart® educational grant process aligns with MedTech and SAMED guidelines, including the direct/indirect sponsorship rules.

The 2024 SA Heart® Congress Organiser will be applying via MedTech for Conference Vetting System (CVS) approval as soon as all the relevant information required is available. The assessment outcome and reference number will be shared with all industry partners as soon as this information is available.

Who decides which applicants receives an SA Heart® Educational Grant?

The SA Heart® Congress has a separate SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee appointed by the SA Heart® Board who review all educational grant applications and match applicants to the educational grants criteria.

The SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee members are not named to reduce the possibility of being influenced or intimidated.

What is the difference between a restricted and unrestricted educational grant?

Educational grants can be restricted to prespecified criteria (e.g., a female Cath lab nurse with 10 years’ experience working in a public health facility in the Eastern Cape) or may be unrestricted. The industry partner who donates the educational grant decided on what criteria their educational grant may be spent on.

When criteria are put in place in the case of a restricted grant, the SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee has to follow the specific criteria stipulated by the industry partner.

In the case of unrestricted grants, the industry partner does not provide any criteria for how a grant is disbursed. As such, it is the responsibility of the SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee to allocate the funding.

How do unrestricted educational grants get allocated?

The SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee will allocate the available unrestricted funds based on the following criteria. Preference is given to:

• Applicants who are paid up SA Heart® members.
• Applicants who contribute to the 2024 SA Heart® Congress scientific programme.
• Applicants with meaningful academic involvement in other SA Heart® activities.
• Applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds taking into account geographic and demographic diversity.

The SA Heart® Educational Grant Committee also take into account which applicants meet the above criteria and have not accessed an educational grant from the SA Heart® educational grant funding pool previously.

How much is an educational grant?

Industry partners are encouraged to donate in tranches of R30,000 (excl. VAT). They can stipulate how they would like their educational grant to be allocated as per the MedTech and SAMED guidelines.

What admin fee is charged on funding donated to the SA Heart® educational grant pool?

SA Heart® pays all administrative fees for the SA Heart® Congress educational grant process.  This means that the entire amount donated by industry partners is available to be allocated to educational grants.

What do educational grants cover?

Educational grants cover congress registration and/or travel costs (cost effective flights and/or accommodation) in full or partially depending on the amount donated and industry specified criteria.

Anything additional (e.g., parking at the airport or congress, fuel, toll fees, meals, laundry, airport transfers, visa application fees etc) is for the applicant’s own costs.

Should the industry partner donate a restricted educational grant, they will be able to stipulate how they would like their grant spent in alignment with MedTech and SAMED guidelines.

How can industry partners benefit from contributing towards the SA Heart® education grant pool?

Industry partners can benefit in various ways including:

• Being profiled to the South African cardiology community as a contributor to upskilling healthcare professionals within the cardiology community.
• Aligning with MedTech and SAMED guidelines for the ethical distribution of educational grant funding.
• Receiving a Section 18A tax certificate in certain circumstances for contributing towards the SA Heart® educational grant pool (SA Heart® is a registered PBO).

How do industry partners know how their educational grant was used?

Provided that the educational grant committed to the congress has been paid to SA Heart®, a full financial breakdown of how the educational grant was spent is provided to each industry partner following the financial recon at the end of the congress. The title, name, surname and hospital are also disclosed in the report. Please allow at least 8 weeks post congress for the report to be distributed.

Should the industry partner’s regulatory and compliance process allow for delegates to know who sponsored them, sponsored delegates will also be emailed with the contact details of the company who sponsored them so they can extend their gratitude.

If an applicant applies for an SA Heart® educational grant, are they guaranteed to receive a grant?

Please note that applying for an educational grant does not guarantee that an applicant will receive a grant. As such, applicants are encouraged to continue looking and applying for funds from other sources.

How do applicants apply for an SA Heart® educational grant?

All individuals wishing to apply for an SA Heart® educational grant are required to apply online through the SA Heart® educational grants portal.

The 2024 SA Heart grant application portal opening and closing dates will be announced soon.

Note: Grants can only be awarded to applicants who have applied through the SA Heart® educational grants application portal before the closing date.

What additional documentation do applicants need to apply for an SA Heart® educational grant?

All applicants will be required to upload a copy of a recent CV and a clear copy of their ID (South African applicants) / Passport (International applicants) as part of their application process.

When will the outcome of the application process be announced?

The SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee start working through the applications only once the educational grant application portal has closed. No feedback will be provided to any applicants before then.

The SA Heart® Educational Grants Committee are aiming to provide feedback to all applicants on or before Friday 13^th September 2024.

All applicants will be notified via email on whether their application has been successful or not.

What if I have a question?

If you are an industry partner who would like to discuss contributing an educational grant, please reach out to Amy Wolfe on +27 64 548 7691 or grants@shiftideas.co.za for more information.