Foundation research grantors learn how to navigate economic waters
Foundation research grantors learn how to navigate economic waters
Many make new researchers a priority
In recent years as research foundations navigate economically turbulent waters, some foundations have had to lay off staff, cut back on research grant amounts, or make other changes to stay afloat.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has cut its allowance for indirect costs from 25% to 20% to free up funding for more research grant awards, says Christopher Widnell, PhD, scientific program director of ACS.
ACS is refining its focus on beginning researchers, which is where the organization’s board contends there’s the greatest need for research investment, he adds.
Beginning researchers were shortchanged in grant awards in recent years even though the NIH doubled its budget between 1997 and 2003/ 2004, Widnell says.
"When the NIH budget doubled, the magnitude of awards went up significantly, and the number of awards to more established principal investigators went up," he explains. "But the number of awards to beginners didn’t change very much, and at some institutions, it actually decreased."
As a result, the ACS research program, which focuses predominantly on beginning investigators, has seen a dramatic increase in the quality of its applications, Widnell notes.
"The pressure has been on to fund as many as we can," he says. "We capped indirect costs to 20%, and now we can fund two to three more people."
ACS provides $150,000 a year in direct costs to beginning researchers, Widnell says. The grants are seed money to researchers who may soon have million-dollar NIH grants, he adds.
"We have funded 28 Nobel laureates in the early stages of their career," Widnell says. "That’s a measure of our ability in the past, at least, to pick the right people to fund. We obviously hope that people will see we’re doing the same thing now."
Foundations such as ACS that survive on annual and mostly small contributions have fared better since 2001 than did the foundations that rely on endowments, Widnell and other foundation officials say.
For instance, the Burroughs Welcome Fund of Research Triangle Park, NC, has a diversified endowment that was battered by four years of falling markets, beginning in late 2001, says Queta Bond, PhD, president.
"Previous to that, there was this bull market that went up, up, up," she says.
During the bull market, the fund paid out 5.5% of its assets in grants, funding mostly five-year research grants, Bond notes.
"So when the market fell for four years, we wanted to pay people in the pipeline, so that created a little bit of a dilemma," she says. "We had to pay out more than we wanted to during that time."
Also, the fund didn’t run three of its programs for one year and laid off one staff person, Bond adds. "Some foundations had to let go of a lot of staff people," she says.
Now the foundation spends 85% of its award funds on competitive programs for young scientists and reserves 15% of its award funds for ad hoc activities. This allocation allows the fund to weather down cycles by suspending the ad hoc activities, Bond explains.
Burroughs Welcome Fund provides an allowance ranging from 10% to 20% for administrative costs in its research grants, which range from $400,000 to $750,000 over four to five year periods, she says.
The National Parkinson Foundation Inc., based in Miami, and Chicago-based Alzheimer’s Association fund research grants through the mostly small contributions of $25 to $50 received by the organizations, officials say.
The Alzheimer’s Association provides a 5% allowance for indirect costs and funds research grants for investigators who are fewer than 10 years out of receiving their degree, says William H. Thies, PhD, vice president of medical and scientific affairs. Grants range from $100,000 to $250,000 per year, he says.
"The perfect success story for us is the person who gets a new investigator award from us and then comes back and gets an investigator-initiated award; and two years later, the investigator gets several million in federal funding," Thies notes.
The National Parkinson Foundation recently increased its commitment to research as a result of the board’s interest in providing large-scale research awards, says Pamela Olmo, MBA, CPA, controller. "We’ve had an individual research grant program for years," she says. "We would look for scientists who are in the early stage of their career and are doing innovative work that might not otherwise get funded."
Those grants traditionally have amounted to $40,000 each, with 15 to 20 awards per year, and there is no allowance for indirect costs, Olmo adds.
In addition to that program, the board decided to fund a $3 million, three-year program, starting July 1, 2005, with awards to nine projects, ranging from $100,000 to $150,000 a year for two to three years, she says.
"The foundation in the last three years or so has really benefited from some legacy donations that were not expected," Olmo explains. "We’ve accumulated some assets, and our board members said we needed to develop a program to spend down some of those assets we’ve accumulated."
The National Parkinson Foundation’s revenues have grown steadily each year, even during 2001 and 2002, with the only exception being this year, she notes.
The foundation previously had a $1 million grant from the state of Florida to fund outreach programs initiated by the state, but the foundation was cut from the state’s budget this year, Olmo says.
"We decided to continue outreach with reduced funding revenues because we were in communities with programs that were highly successful, and we didn’t feel it was appropriate to pull them out," she adds.
Other than a flat year in 2001, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation of Dallas has been successful in increasing research award money for nearly 25 years, says Dwight Randle, PhD, director of grants.
The Komen foundation provides up to 25% for indirect costs of research, and that allowance has remained constant, he says.
"In order to serve our mission to eradicate breast cancer, we’re very interested in research," Randle explains. "We think it’s important the research is supported, and we know those ancillary costs are an important part of getting research done."
Also, the foundation’s board recognizes that research institutions are under their own budgetary restraints, and the board wants to make sure there are no barriers to its mission of finding a cure for breast cancer, he says. "Last year, we funded $45 million in research grants; we gave out 202 grants for a total of $45.1 million," Randle adds. "That was an upward trend; last year, we funded $31 million."
The Komen foundation spends all of the money raised in one year within that year, and the bulk of its funding comes from small donors of $15 and $20. Also, the foundation sponsors the Komen Race for a Cure, which had 1.5 million participants last year and raised most of the money spent on research, he says.
The foundation funds postdoctoral fellowships to students who are writing their dissertation and conducting research on breast cancer with an award of $45,000 a year for three years, and the second level of grants involves clinical, basic, and translational research awards at a maximum of $250,000 a year for two to three years, Randle continues.
Affiliates of the foundation also have a vigorous granting program, which includes money to community organizations, government, and health care providers for education, screening, and outreach facilities. And affiliates provide funding to clinical research trials for ancillary costs, which may include the costs of recruiting subjects and offering subjects transportation and child care assistance, he says.
These clinical research affiliate funding trial (CRAFT) grants are available to clinical trial sites in which breast cancer research already is funded by a governmental or nonprofit sponsor, but some additional funding is needed, Randle says.
"They can hire an outreach worker or education person to educate the community," he explains. "Or CRAFT will provide assistance for transportation to the clinical trial site or for child care."
In recent years as research foundations navigate economically turbulent waters, some foundations have had to lay off staff, cut back on research grant amounts, or make other changes to stay afloat.Subscribe Now for Access
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