European Lung Foundation

What European Lung Foundation does

European Lung Foundation (ELF) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2000 and registered in England and Wales (company number 05718525, charity number 1118930) with headquarters at 442 Glossop Road, Sheffield, UK and a Brussels office (enterprise number 0738.383.695). It operates as the patient-led arm of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and its mandate is to bring patients and the public together with healthcare professionals to improve lung health and advance diagnosis, treatment and care.

ELF's core offering is the Information Hub, a website-based platform providing factsheets and educational resources on lung conditions, tests, procedures, organ donation, and healthy living, translated into at least nine languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Greek, Portuguese, Ukrainian) primarily via a volunteer translation team. Beyond the Information Hub, ELF runs the Healthy Lungs for Life public awareness campaign, the Global Voices initiative for patient-professional partnership, the European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP) for patient advocacy training, the ELF Youth Group for patients aged 16-24, and a portfolio of Task Forces and Clinical Research Collaborations. The annual ERS Congress is its flagship event channel, with ELF hosting patient sessions and travel bursaries.

ELF's revenue model is non-commercial and consists of individual donations (processed via europeanlungfoundation.enthuse.com), corporate partnerships and philanthropy, legacies and in-memory giving, and grants from EU-funded projects. Pricing is not applicable as information resources are provided free of charge. Customers are heterogeneous: patients with lung conditions, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, patient organisations, and youth, distributed primarily through self-serve web access and partner organisations across Europe and globally.

Name

European Lung Foundation

Legal name

European Lung Foundation

Website

https://europeanlung.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

European Lung Foundation is a non-profit patient-led organisation, headquartered in Sheffield, UK, that improves lung health by connecting patients and the public with healthcare professionals through multilingual educational resources, awareness campaigns, and research collaborations under the European Respiratory Society.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sheffield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: ELF accepts donations through its website (europeanlungfoundation.enthuse.com) and offers various fundraising opportunities for supporters.
2. Corporate Partnerships: Corporate partnership programmes and philanthropy opportunities available for companies seeking to support lung health initiatives.
3. EU Project Funding: ELF participates in and receives funding through EU projects related to lung health and respiratory care.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

European Lung Foundation (ELF) is a patient-led non-profit organisation that delivers lung health information, patient education programmes, and awareness campaigns. Its core offering is a multi-language Information Hub providing factsheets on lung conditions, tests, procedures, and prevention, complemented by programmes such as the European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP), the Healthy Lungs for Life awareness campaign, and the Global Voices initiative. ELF facilitates patient involvement in respiratory research, task forces, and clinical research collaborations in partnership with the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

Product overview

European Lung Foundation (ELF) operates as a patient-led organisation that works internationally to bring patients and the public together with healthcare professionals to improve lung health. The organisation offers a unified informational platform rather than a traditional product portfolio. Its core offerings include the Information Hub (providing factsheets and resources on lung conditions, tests, procedures, and prevention), the Healthy Lungs for Life awareness campaign, the European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP) for patient education, Global Voices initiative for patient-professional partnership, and participation opportunities at the annual ERS Congress. Additional offerings include the Youth Group for young patients, the ELF Award for advocacy recognition, Task Forces and Clinical Research Collaborations, and Patient Priorities research initiatives. All content is available in multiple European languages including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Greek, and Portuguese.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Information Hub

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• European Respiratory Society (ERS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerERS is the parent organization of ELF. ELF operates as the patient-led arm of ERS, bringing patients and the public together with healthcare professionals. ELF benefits from ERS's scientific and medical expertise while providing patient perspective to ERS activities including the annual ERS Congress.
• ELF Patient Organisation NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of patient organisations across Europe that collaborate with ELF on lung health initiatives, share resources, and participate in joint projects and campaigns such as Healthy Lungs for Life.
• EU ProjectsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerELF participates in various EU-funded projects related to lung health, respiratory care, and patient involvement in research. These projects involve collaboration with academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and patient groups across Europe.
• Task Forces and Clinical Research CollaborationsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerELF works with various task forces and clinical research collaborations that bring together healthcare professionals and patients to advance understanding and treatment of lung conditions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Asthma + Lung UK: The UK's leading respiratory charity (formed from the merger of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation). Direct functional peer to ELF for lung health information, patient support and advocacy, but primarily UK-focused whereas ELF operates pan-European.
• American Lung Association: The largest US-based lung health non-profit, offering patient education, research funding and advocacy. Comparable mission and information-platform model to ELF, but operating in the US rather than Europe and with a substantially larger resource base.
• International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC): The global professional society for lung cancer researchers and clinicians. Comparable to ERS (ELF's parent) and overlaps with ELF's research-collaboration and congress activities, but focused narrowly on lung cancer rather than the full respiratory portfolio.

Direct peers

• European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA): A pan-European patient-organisation umbrella group for allergy, asthma and COPD. Direct peer to ELF: both are Brussels-anchored, EU-Transparency-Register-listed, multi-country patient advocacy networks operating in adjacent respiratory/allergic disease areas.
• Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform (GAAPP): A global umbrella for patient organisations in allergy, asthma, COPD and related conditions. Mirrors ELF's structure of federating national patient organisations and amplifying their voice in research and policy, with stronger global (non-European) reach.
• European Cancer Patient Coalition: A Brussels-headquartered umbrella of European cancer patient organisations. Functionally very similar to ELF — pan-European, patient-organisation-led, EU Transparency Register member, focused on patient involvement in research and policy — but operating in oncology rather than respiratory disease.

Regional players

• Lung Foundation Australia: Australia's primary lung health foundation, running awareness campaigns, patient information resources and research funding programmes — directly comparable in mission and activities to ELF but geographically focused on Australia.

Emerging players

• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: A US-based disease-specific patient/research organisation for cystic fibrosis. Comparable to ELF in patient-education and research-engagement models, but focused on a single condition rather than the broad lung-health portfolio ELF covers.

Others

• Tobacco Free Portfolios: A non-profit engaging financial institutions on tobacco investment. Adjacent to ELF's lung-health mission (tobacco being a major respiratory risk factor) and shares the 'NGO engaging corporates for health outcomes' model, but operates in a different functional domain.
• European Public Health Alliance (EPHA): A Brussels-based umbrella NGO advocating for public health in EU policy. Shares ELF's Brussels presence, EU Transparency Register membership and policy-advocacy orientation, but covers all public health issues rather than lung health specifically.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/europeanlungfoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/europeanlungfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/european-lung-foundation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@EuropeanLungFoundation
• Xx.com/EuropeanLung

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about European Lung Foundation