CFMS-MD Travel Equity Fund

Each year the CFMS and MD Financial Management allocate funds to provide financial assistance for CFMS member medical students who wish to attend our General Meetings and annual events.

This initiative supports non-elected members to attend CFMS meetings with the goals of fostering greater member awareness of CFMS functions, promoting opportunities in the CFMS, and facilitating increased participation in CFMS activities.

Prior to the 2022-2023 term, the funding was utilized in the form of seven [7] MD Travel Awards per meeting, based on region. The application process was competitive and the CFMS routinely received a far greater number of applications than the number of funded spots available. To better ensure funding is allocated with our core organizational priority of equity at the forefront, the CFMS-MD Travel Equity Fund was established.

This model allocates funding to delegates based on relative costs, outlined by an event-specific variable cost threshold. This ensures attendees are not paying more than others to participate in all the amazing opportunities the CFMS provides, and now ALL of our member institutions can benefit. Moving forward, instead of applying for the travel awards, you can now simply opt-in to automatically be included in the Travel Equity Fund each time you register for one of our events.

This is just one of the ways your CFMS is incorporating tangible, impactful EDI into our organizational practices. See you at our events!

How does it work?:

• Student has to opt-in for the CFMS-MDFM Travel Equity Fund during registration for the CFMS event.

• Student has to be Self-Funded. CFMS funded or Medical Student Society fully funded students are not eligible.

• Only includes Airplane and Train Travel from departure city to event city.

• NOT INCLUDED a/o: Registration fees, accommodation expenses, inner city travel.

• Airplane tickets must be bought at least 5 weeks before the event starts. (The use of points cannot be reimbursed!)

• Reimbursement request must be received by CFMS within 14 days after the event at the latest.

• Travel expenses must adhere to the CFMS Travel Policy which can be found here. (E.g. AirCanada Economy-Basic tickets only)

• If a ticket is a lot more expensive than other tickets from the same airport, the amount of the reimbursement request will be adjusted

• Based on the TEF funding available for the event and the TEF reimbursement requests received a "Cost to Person" will be calculated. Expenses above this amount will be reimbursed.

• Example: For the SGM 2023, the calculated "Cost to Person" ended up being $270 (this will vary!). A reimbursement request of $500 would have received $230. A reimbursement request of $270 or less would not have received a reimbursement.

• The reimbursement will need to be more than $20.