Insight & Intelligence™ : Jun 4, 2013
10 Life Science-Loving Charitable Funds and Foundations
These organizations know when to give a little.
You've seen our list of 20 nonprofit disease foundations that give grants and other awards for research; now, following is a list of 10 charitable funds and foundations, unranked and listed in alphabetical order, that fund life sciences research in more than a single disease, and that are known primarily for their charitable contributions to life-sci researchers and their institutions, as reflected in grants and other awards.
Each fund or foundation is listed by most recent year of data availability in all categories sought; total grants paid out that year; a breakdown of that grant activity by disease, program, or anecdotal example cited in public materials; a total approved grant amount where available; total expense and revenue; and location of their headquarters. Financial figures come from an institution’s annual report or audited financial statement, except where otherwise indicated, such as through tax returns.
The funds and foundations listed are among top examples as established from publicly available sources, including a “Foundations and Other Funding Sources” list maintained by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, but do not constitute a list of all funds and foundations.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2011 Calendar Year
Total Grants Paid: $3.208 billion, including $1.978 billion for global health initiatives, including:
- $357.702 million for polio
- $313.797 million for vaccines
- $232.703 million for HIV/AIDS
- $199.701 million for malaria
- $131.595 million for maternal, newborn, and child health
- $120.327 million for tuberculosis
- $94.331 million for neglected and other infectious diseases
- $92.491 million for enteric and diarrheal diseases
- $88.882 million for pneumonia
- $62.348 million for family planning
- $53.661 million for nutrition
Total Expenses Attributable to Grants: $4.374 billion
Total Expenses: $4.963 billion
Total Contributions, Revenue, and Gains: $3.959 billion
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Burroughs Wellcome Fund1
2012, Fiscal Year ending August 31
Total Grants Paid: $30.849 million, including:
- $8.340 million for biomedical sciences
- $6.837 million for infectious diseases
- $5.096 million for interfaces in science2
- $5.022 million for translational research
- $750,000 for reproductive sciences
Total Grants Approved: $21.683 million
Total Expenses: $27.382 million
Total Revenues and Realized Gains: $27.324 million
Headquarters: Research Triangle Park, NC
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation3
2011 Calendar Year
Total Grants Paid: $58.808 million, including $13.302 million for medical health projects, including:
- $7.78 million over three years to 16 junior physician-scientists ($486,000 each) to support their transition from mentored to independent clinical research careers
- $4.4 million over three years to nine sickle cell disease projects ($486,000 each)
- $50,000 over 12 months to the New York Stem Cell Foundation to support generation and maintenance of induced pluripotent stemPS cell lines at the NYSCF Personalized Medicine Bank
Total Grants Approved: $31.635 million, of which $14.288 was for medical research projects
Total Expenses and Disbursements: $68.140 million
Total Revenues: $89.248 million
Headquarters: New York, NY
Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation4
2011 Calendar Year
Total Medical Research Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year: $4.258 million, including:5
- $500,000 to the Rockefeller University
- $457,608 to Tel Aviv University
- $280,328 to Harvard Medical School
Total Medical Research Grants Approved for Future Payment: $1.250 million
Total Expenses and Reimbursements: $4.353 million
Total Revenue: $4.284 million
Headquarters: Needham, MA
Ellison Medical Foundation
2011 Calendar Year
Net Grants Paid: $43.511 million6, including:
- $25.739 million through Senior Scholars in Aging award program
- $10.170 million through New Scholars in Aging award program
- $125,842 to institutional awardees through Aging Conferences awards program
- $2.822 million to institutional awardees through other aging awards programs
- $5.107 million to institutional awardees through other programs
Total Future Grant Payments Approved: $69.285 million
Total Expenses: $46.482 million
Total Revenue: $49.964 million
Headquarters: New York, NY, and Mount Airy, MD
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
2011 Calendar Year
Research Grants Disbursed: $2.623 billion, including:
- $1.5 billion for HIV and TB/HIV
- $0.6 billion for malaria
- $0.4 billion for TB
Total Research Expense: $2.741 billion
Total Expenditure: $3.037 billion
Total Income: $4.182 billion
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health)7
2011 Total Program Services Expenses: $245.324 million, including:
- $121.301 million for vaccines and immunizations
- $72.911 million for emerging and epidemic diseases
- $19.889 million for health technologies
- $17.930 million for maternal and child health
- $11.936 million for reproductive health
- $1.357 million for cross-program expenses
2011 Total Expenses: $284.358 million
2011 Total Revenues, Gains and Other Support: $283.838 million
Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Simons Foundation
2011 Calendar Year
Total Grants Paid: $123.802 million8, including:
$36.274 million (29.3%) for autism
$27.360 million (22.1%) for life science
Total Expenses: $293.227 million
Total Revenue: $251.787 million
Headquarters: New York, NY
Wellcome Trust9
2012 Fiscal Year, ended September 30
Grants Awarded: £599.5 ($905.8 million), including:
- £412.6 million ($623.4 million) for science funding
- £88.4 million ($133.6 million) for Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
- £62.8 million ($94.9 million) for technology transfer
- £35.7 million ($53.9 million) for medical humanities and engagement
Total “Charitable Activity” Funding Commitment: £746.3 million ($1.128 billion)
Total Resources Expended: £837.1 million ($1.265 billion)
Total Incoming Resources: £242.4 million ($366.2 million)
Headquarters: London, U.K.
William J. Clinton Foundation
2010 Calendar Year
Total Foundation Direct Program Expenditures: $74.709 million, including:
- $16.448 million for HIV/AIDS10
- $2.327 million for Childhood Obesity11
Total Expenses and Losses: $303.378 million
Total Revenues, Gains, and Other Support: $311.642 million
Headquarters: New York, NY
Notes:
1 Figures from foundation’s Summary of Grants, 2012 Fiscal Year
2 Interfaces in Science grants are for “young investigators with backgrounds in the physical, chemical, or computational sciences whose work addresses biological questions and who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academic research.”
3 Source for figures is foundation’s Form 990-PF tax return for 2011.
4 Source for figures is foundation’s Form 990-PF for 2011.
5 The foundation funds medical research in cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and neural repair and rehabilitation. No breakdown was furnished in publicly-available materials on how much in grants were awarded in each disease area. The Form 990-PF lists each paid and approved grant by institutional grantee, without detailing the research being funded.
6 Figures disclosed in Form 990-PF tax return for 2011, available through Guidestar.org.
7 Figures from consolidated financial statements that include the accounts of PATH and PATH’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, including PATH Vaccine Solutions (PVS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation formed to advance the development of vaccines to improve the health of children worldwide; as well as two new wholly owned and controlled subsidiaries formed during 2011: Organization for Appropriate Technologies in Health (OATH), a Ukrainian international nongovernmental organization; and Foundation for Appropriate Technologies in Health - Switzerland (FATH), a Swiss Foundation. OATH and FATH were organized for the purpose of furthering PATH’s exempt mission and purpose.
8 The foundation furnishes percentages, which were multiplied by the “Grants Paid” expense figure also provided to produce the category spending results.
9 The gap between total resources expended and total incoming resources was more than recouped by gains on investments and actuarial gains on defined-benefit pension plans, resulting in an £891.3 million ($1.3 billion) gain in the fund Figures converted to USD via www.xe.com on May 23, 2013.
10 The foundation fights HIV/AIDS through its Clinton Health Access Initiative Inc., formed to work with governments and other partners to increase availability of high-quality AIDS care and treatment for people in need, reduce the cost of essential tests and treatments, and strengthen health systems in the developing world.
11 Childhood obesity spending included two grants disclosed on the foundation’s Form 990 tax return for 2011 because the grants exceeded $5,000. The grants were $1,621,528 to Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a partnership between the foundation and the American Heart Association to combat childhood obesity; and $705,166 to the heart association.
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