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How philanthropy can nurture your research

Scientists deploy networking, collaboration and long-term thinking to win private donor dollars.
  1. Emily Sohn

    1. Emily Sohn is a freelance journalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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It takes money to do research and, increasingly, much of it comes from private donors and foundations, especially in the United States. Philanthropists provided 44% of research funding at US universities and non-profit research institutes in 2016, according to a 2018 post by the Science Philanthropy Alliance. This collective of philanthropists and foundations, which aims to build privately funded support for basic science in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, has grown from 6 members since it launched in 2013 to more than 30.

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Nature 613, 791-793 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00077-2

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 17 January 2023: An earlier version of this feature erroneously stated that Hermona Soreq is an adviser for the Azrieli Foundation. In fact, she is an adviser for the foundation’s fellows programme.

References

  1. Shekhtman, L. M. et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.10661 (2022).

  2. Gouwenberg, B. et al. Found. Rev. https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1287 (2016).

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