Funding Sources for Scientific Discovery, Medical Research

Another disruptive form of philanthropy is called mission investing, in which philanthropies act more like business partners and expect a share of profits stemming from any discoveries made with the help of their support. A prime example is the partnership between the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston, which was given $150 million by the CFF to develop new therapies for this incurable disease. One drug, ivacaftor, has been developed and the CFF recently sold its rights to its royalty stream to an investment firm for $3.3 billion, yielding a 20-times return on investment.¹⁵

Ice Buckets

Dumping ice water was best known as a prank carried out by jubilant athletes who would hurl buckets containing a slurry of Gatorade and ice chips onto their coaches’ heads just moments before winning a championship game. Then a few years ago, a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Pat Quinn, thought it may be fun to try this mischief on his friend, Pete Frates a former captain of the Boston College baseball team who was diagnosed with ALS at age 27. Savvy social media use catapulted the Ice Bucket Challenge into the coolest, and among the most effective, fundraising efforts in years, raising an astounding $115 million.¹⁶

When you can’t find a supportive billionaire to fund your enterprise, try thinking of a great idea—preferably one that is so simple, yet so brilliant.

Simon M. Helfgott, MD, is associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

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