Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION
MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,929,741 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($38,050,021). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $61M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Melanoma Research Alliance Foundation does
Mission
To end suffering and death due to melanoma by collaborating with all stakeholders to accelerate powerful research, advance cures for all patients, and prevent more melanomas.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Melanoma Research Alliance Foundation ("mra") supports ambitious and innovative projects, selected through a peer-review panel and initiated by individual scientists and science research teams, to prevent, detect and treat melanoma. Mra convenes a world class, cross-disciplinary group of expert researchers possessing clinical and scientific expertise to develop a research agenda that will provide innovative solutions to critical research issues leading to more effective prevention, earlier detection and better treatments for melanoma. Mra makes grants to domestic and foreign research universities, medical schools, and nonprofit medical research organizations directly involved in determining the causes and cures of melanoma on the condition that such research be made available to the scientific community.
$8,424,245 spentof which $6,600,342 as grants95% of program spendingThe mra operates a patient engagement program that supports increased awareness of melanoma in general, and of prevention, detection and treatment options specifically. The patient engagement program also provides education about and promotion of clinical trials. The patient engagement program includes development and distribution of educational materials, the provision of educational forums, a clinical trial navigator for patients and an on-line patient community.
$471,516 spent5% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,895,761.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $43M to $37M (−14%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 0% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (7% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
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
Marc Hurlbert
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Debra Black
Chair/co-founder
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $6.6M.
27 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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 MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 27% · 2019 29% · 2020 51% · 2021 57% · 2022 44% · 2023 61% — growing more concentrated.
“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
28% of MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.
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
78% of MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $13M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $48M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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.
Against its field
MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,580 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,580 health nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $992k on record.
- Department of Defense$990k
- Department of Health and Human Services$2k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Milken Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: 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.
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 MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION?
- MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,929,741 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($38,050,021). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $60,929,741 in grants to MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION, 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $38,050,021 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOUNDATION 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 75 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