The Government of Kenya supports the hospice in kind by paying for the salaries of three nurses seconded to hospice by the Ministry of Health. It has also donated a plot of land on which the hospice can build its own offices. Other funds come from fundraising activities such as golf tournaments, sponsored walks, and Voices for Hospice every three years. A support organization, Friends of Hospice, encourages Kenyans to become friends of the hospice at a nominal fee of 1,000 Kenyan shillings per year or as corporate membership. As many as 90% of patients cannot pay for hospice services and the majority receive a free service, including drugs. A UK based charity, Hospice Care Kenya supports a doctor on the doctor rotation programme and covers the Oxford Brookes training course costs. A donor from Holland covers many of the drugs costs. Ford Foundation provided USD 36,000 for a one year project from late 2004 to train community workers in palliative care.

The Nairobi Hospice Annual Report 2003 indicates a much reduced surplus of funds attributable to several reasons, including a 40% drop in local donations and a 45% drop in Friends of Hospice. This may be related to changes in fund-raising staff. Overall expenditure increased significantly due to the need to pay salaries formerly subsidized by a Hospice Care Kenya (UK) grant, and the recalling of seconded staff by Kenyatta National Hospital. Drug costs rose 145% due to increased purchasing and free issues to poor patients.²²

The hospice team writes:

As the hospice is a charity, we must raise funds to support our work. Patients pay what they can but this is usually very little because they have used their resources for drugs, treatment and travel to appointments, often down to Nairobi and there is little left. The hospice team of staff and volunteers work very hard to raise funds to support this work. We have had several fundraising events such as golf competitions, camping safaris, concerts – which have been a hard work, a lot of fun and quite lucrative.²³

Meru Hospice

Approximately 80 % of funds are external donor-dependent. Hospice Care Kenya (UK) was instrumental in providing seed money to establish the programme. A twinning arrangement with Hospice Care Incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 2004 resulted in a grant that has contributed towards staff expenses. Local funds are raised through corporate institutions, business people, and sale of T-shirts. About 5 % of running costs comes from patients who pay for the service. The antiretroviral programme was free in 2004 but will ultimately need to be charged to patients.

Eldoret Hospice

Funds are primarily sourced from local donations. Fundraising activities include charity dinners, raffles, charity walks, and a membership campaign.

Coast Hospice

Running costs are sourced from donations from Friends of Hospice. This scheme obtains an annual amount of 1000 Kenya shillings from individuals and 10,000 Kenya shillings from companies. Fundraising activities include charity walks, dinners and golf tournaments. Hospice Care Kenya (UK) considers proposals for funding for training materials and building funds.