Where Your Money Goes

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) takes great care in placing your donation where it truly 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 eighty-eight cents of every dollar raised by the Foundation supports cancer research.

Here are just a few of the AACR’s accomplishments in 2020:

• Since 1993, the AACR has awarded more than $460 million in grants to more than 800 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. 

• In 2020, we are awarding more than $12 million in grants to support researchers at various career levels. 

• 73,000 registrants from 140 countries participated in the two-part AACR Virtual Annual Meeting 2020—making it the largest cancer research conference ever convened.

• Significant additions to the AACR Project GENIE registry this year bring the total number of de-identified genomic records to nearly 96,000–making it among the largest fully public cancer genomic data sets released to date.

• We have just released our first-ever Cancer Disparities Progress Report outlining the enormous public health challenge of cancer health disparities and highlighting both progress and vital needs.

• Released the 10th Annual Cancer Progress Report. This report is critical to our efforts to increase the public’s understanding of the progress against cancer, while also advocating for increased funding from the federal government to fuel and accelerate this progress. 

• The AACR has undertaken a number of initiatives, including the creation of a COVID-19 Task Force, the addition of special sessions on COVID-19 and cancer at our recent AACR Virtual Annual Meetings, hosting a special virtual conference that focused on COVID-19 and cancer, and an online COVID-19 and Cancer Resource Center that is free to access for the duration of the pandemic. 

• The AACR also brought its fundraising events online by offering fun and innovative opportunities for people to help from the safety of their own home or neighborhood. Our virtual runs, fitness challenge, and gaming fundraiser proved successful in rallying supporters from all over the globe to raise essential funds for cancer research.

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. The following audited financial statements provide an accurate view of the combined operations of the AACR and the AACR Foundation, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles:

You can view our latest IRS-990 tax exempt returns here: