Where Your Money Goes

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) takes great care in placing your donation where it belongs: in the hands of scientists working on breakthroughs in cancer research. The role of the AACR Foundation is to raise funds to support this critical work. We strive to keep expenses low to ensure that your donation has the greatest impact.

AACR programs and initiatives include:

• Since 1993, the AACR has awarded more than $550 million in grants to more than 3,500 scientists for research projects that aim to advance the understanding and treatment of cancer. AACR grants support researchers domestically and abroad at every stage of their careers, representing a global commitment to cancer prevention, early detection, interception, and cure. The AACR has worked with more than 70 scientific and funding partners to make these transformative grants possible.
• The AACR hosts more than 25 scientific conferences and educational workshops annually to convene the brightest minds in cancer research and medicine—advancing our understanding of cancer and facilitating the exchange of cutting-edge research.
• The AACR Annual Meeting convenes more than 23,000 scientists, clinicians, other health care professionals, cancer survivors, and advocates from across the full spectrum of cancer science and medicine to set the research agenda for the cancer community.
• AACR Project GENIE® is a large, public database that brings together anonymized cancer patient data from 19 leading cancer centers around the world. It combines information about patients’ cancers, genetic test results, treatments, and outcomes to help researchers better understand cancer and develop new therapies. With more than 289,000 sequenced samples from more than 242,000 patients, the AACR Project GENIE database is one of the world’s largest collections of cancer genomic data that is freely available to scientists and the public.
• The annual AACR Cancer Progress Report is a cornerstone of the AACR’s work to educate policymakers and the public about the critical value of cancer research and to advocate for increased funding for the federal agencies that fuel progress against cancer in particular, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• The AACR has a long history of advancing cancer health equity through programs and initiatives like grant giving, the trailblazing Cancer Health Disparities conference, and the Cancer Disparities Progress Report.

Financial Documentation

We provide transparency to assure our members and our donors that these dollars are used wisely. The AACR and the AACR Foundation are 501(c)(3) public charities as determined by the Internal Revenue Service. Audited financial statements providing an accurate view of the combined operations of the AACR and the AACR Foundation, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.