February 2015
Picture: Weekly coffee with EURORDIS - European Rare Diseases Organisation © EPF
2015 FOR AND WITH OUR MEMBERS
Communication and daily exchanges with our members is close to EPF’s heart. But when you are an umbrella network spread over Europe, how do you ensure that each of your members helps to drive your work, and shapes your activities? In 2015, we invested much time to make this happen as effectively as possible.
EPF is proud of its members’ work. Since February 2015, we share their successes and achievements in a dedicated section of our newsletter called “Our members in the Spotlight”. Each month, we “home in” two of our members by featuring them on our blog. This new spotlight gives EPF members the chance to introduce their organisation to the patients’ community by answering to five short questions or share important information of their ongoing and upcoming activities.
This year we also tested a new format of meetings, the “Patient Comms’ Network”, bringing together Communications Officers from our member organisations, to try and solve the puzzle of communicating our work and making our voice heard. Raising the profile of patient organisations in the media and finding ways to share information that can benefit the entire patients’ community are the main objectives of this network. This monthly meeting was run as a pilot a few times in 2015, and given the success, will certainly continue in 2016!
Because a coffee is worth a thousand emails, EPF continued to offer its members the opportunity to have an informal chat during the “Weekly virtual coffees with EPF”. In Brussels or over Skype, this bilateral exchange gives EPF the chance to collect fresh and first-hand information about what our members are doing. This way, we are in a better position to connect their needs and priorities with what is going on at EU level.
We kept our members updated through our Weekly Insiders’ mailing. This short but informative email is sent on a weekly basis to ensure EPF members keep up with the latest news from Europe on what really matters for patients: upcoming events, policy developments, EPF consultations, funding opportunities. The feedback from our members has been tremendous!
In 2015 we also published a new Membership guide: all you need to know to become a member of EPF or to maximise the benefit of your membership is in this guide. Have a look!
Contact: Camille Bullot, EPF Membership Officer (camille.bullot@eu-patient.eu)