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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

Friends of Cancer Research

Friends of Cancer Research (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,370,173 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($1,200,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$7.5M
Funders on record
54
Grants received
$5.4M
Net assets
$19M
37/54 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 17%
01What it does

What Friends of Cancer Research does

Mission

To drive collaboration among partners from every healthcare sector to power advances in science, policy and regulation that speed life-saving treatments to patients.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Science Policy: Friends of Cancer Research drives collaboration among partners from every healthcare sector to power advances in science, policy and regulation that speed life-saving treatments to patients. Master Protocols present opportunities to improve clinical trial efficiencies and more accessible for patients. This includes the Lung-MAP study, a unique, collaborative cancer clinical trial that uses genetic screening to match patients to investigational new treatments for non-small cell lung cancers.

    $2,442,055 spent
    68% of program spending
  2. Communication: THE Organization PROVIDES INDEPTH COVERAGE OF THE EVENTS, TRENDS, AND ISSUES THAT AFFECT the public healthcare INDUSTRY.

    $545,160 spent
    15% of program spending
  3. Meetings and Professional Development: Friends of Cancer Research brings together leaders in cancer drug development, federal health and regulatory agencies, academic research, the private sector, and patient advocates for focused discussions on key issues surrounding the development and regulation of cancer drugs and therapies.

    $510,658 spent
    14% of program spending
  4. Patient Advocacy Training: Patient advocacy encompasses engaging, educating and empowering patients through ProgressforPatients.org and Project TEACH which empowers Black women through education and outreach to participate in and effectively engage with researchers and clinicians.

    $112,624 spent
    3% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,610,497.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($3.2M) Expenses 100 ($3.1M) Net assets 100 ($5.3M)2018 Revenue 138 ($4.4M) Expenses 112 ($3.5M) Net assets 111 ($5.8M)2019 Revenue 165 ($5.3M) Expenses 121 ($3.8M) Net assets 152 ($8.0M)2020 Revenue 155 ($5.0M) Expenses 114 ($3.6M) Net assets 186 ($9.8M)2021 Revenue 172 ($5.5M) Expenses 114 ($3.6M) Net assets 233 ($12M)2022 Revenue 212 ($6.8M) Expenses 159 ($5.0M) Net assets 232 ($12M)2023 Revenue 224 ($7.2M) Expenses 168 ($5.2M) Net assets 301 ($16M)2024 Revenue 234 ($7.5M) Expenses 185 ($5.8M) Net assets 357 ($19M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (234)Expenses (185)Net assets (357)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $13M to $20M (+47%).

$5.8M
$6.4M
$8.5M
$10M
$14M
$13M
$20M
$23M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

93% of Friends of Cancer Research’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 8,632 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$76k
’17
$897k
’18
$1.5M
’19
$1.4M
’20
$2.0M
’21
$1.8M
’22
$1.9M
’23
$1.7M
’24
3.2
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Jeff Allen PhD

President & CEO

Board chair

Ellen Sigal PhD

Chair & Founder

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2121222119212122
Joined·+0+6+0+1+2+4+1
No longer listed·0513040
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $552k → $691k.

10 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of Friends of Cancer Research’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

Friends of Cancer Research has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

63% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Friends of Cancer Research.

22%
largest funder
51%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 24% · 2019 28% · 2020 38% · 2021 34% · 2022 25% · 2023 25% — broadly stable.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

45% of Friends of Cancer Research's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

Friends of Cancer Research draws 59% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 12 states in all.

MI
NY
OH
NJ
CA
VA
MD
DE
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $505k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Friends of Cancer Research runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 8,126 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin23% · top quartile
Months of reserve3.2mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)13% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 8,126 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like Friends of Cancer Research

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Washington, D.C.

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

63% of spending goes to programs.

Program 63%Management 19%Fundraising 18%

Governance

15
board members
93%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

VA
DC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Friends of Cancer Research: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Friends of Cancer Research?
Friends of Cancer Research (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,370,173 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($1,200,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Friends of Cancer Research have?
IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $5,370,173 in grants to Friends of Cancer Research, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Friends of Cancer Research?
PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $1,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Friends of Cancer Research find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 54 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing