By Elyse A. Hope, Strategic Initiative Manager

The Science Philanthropy Alliance is celebrating ten years of service toward its mission of advancing scientific discovery through visionary philanthropy. 

In an interview marking this anniversary, Cheryl Moore, a leading contributor during the Alliance’s formation, reflected on its significance: “There’s a place for the scientifically curious to go to float ideas… one that is neutral, that has expertise, that has people who will sit at length and talk to philanthropists about different ways to think about investing in science,” she said. “I don’t think there’s another organization that does that. That nurturing is really important for the field.”

Today, the Alliance has a growing membership of nearly 40 organizations committed to supporting discovery science. Leveraging the expertise of its philanthropic and distinguished external science advisors, as well as its members, the Alliance provides customized advisory services, educational programs, and a collaborative community to help new and experienced philanthropists and foundations support scientific discovery, either for the first time or with greater confidence and satisfaction. It fills a distinct role within the science funding ecosystem. 

As 2024 brings budget cuts for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), among other U.S. federal science agencies, the need for science philanthropy as a flexible funding source remains acute. These cuts are reminiscent of those that concerned philanthropists ten years ago and galvanized them to launch the Alliance.

Evolution of the Alliance

The Alliance began, as many experiments do, with an observation. In 2012, Bob Conn was a few years into his time as President and CEO of the Kavli Foundation. With a career spanning academia, venture capital, and now philanthropy, “I paid attention to the landscape,” he said. “Who was doing what?”

The federal government was funding less basic research in favor of applied science. Conn observed that the overall NSF budget had decreased from 2012-2014. Philanthropy, meanwhile, was expanding rapidly: “I had come to realize that we are living in a second Gilded Age,” Bob Conn said. “Enormous fortunes are being made. What were the newly wealthy going to do with their money?” He observed that the federal government and universities were not the only drivers of research; philanthropy was also a significant player. He asked for a meeting with the then-president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Steve McCormick, to discuss what philanthropy could do for basic research.

“I got called into that meeting,” said Vicki Chandler, who was the Moore Foundation’s Chief Program Officer for Science. “That’s where the idea of coordinating began: bringing foundations who support fundamental basic research together.” The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation hosted the next meeting, and the conversation grew to include three other foundations (the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement). “We didn’t feel threatened by collaboration,” said Robert Tjian, then President of HHMI. “We all had a common interest in supporting basic science.” Tjian appealed to Marilyn and Jim Simons, and the Simons Foundation signed on as the sixth founder. Jim Simons became, in the words of Bob Conn, “one of our fiercest advocates.”

By 2013, these foundation leaders gave two presentations about science philanthropy for basic research, one at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and another to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. By 2014, the Science Philanthropy Alliance was formed, with Bob Conn as Advisory Board Chair.  

2014-2016: The Early Years

The Alliance began in Palo Alto as a project of the New Venture Fund, with Mary Maxon as Executive Director and employee number one. Elenoa Fuka, the second hire, is still a key contributor. During its first year, the Alliance shaped its initial strategy, engaged with signatories of the Giving Pledge, introduced itself at scientific meetings, and contracted with scientists David Baltimore, Robert Birgeneau, and later Robert Tjian as early consultants. These consultants, a precursor to the External Science Advisors, served as essential, credible voices to engage philanthropists.

In 2015, the Alliance brought on its first President, Marc Kastner, former Professor of Physics and Dean of the School of Science at MIT, and a Vice President with a development background, Valerie Conn. They determined that philanthropists were interested in supporting basic research but sought unbiased advice to ensure their giving would be effective.

The Alliance decided to offer personalized advisory services to philanthropists interested in supporting scientific discovery. By combining unparalleled philanthropic and scientific expertise, the Alliance would individually assist those interested in discovery science and, in turn, increase philanthropic funding for basic research. The Alliance’s Advisory Board determined that these services would be financially supported by Alliance members to guarantee that no obstacles would prevent interested philanthropists from supporting science. This model was a testament to the founding members’ vision that attracting new philanthropists to fund basic research was paramount. Affirming this vision, the first new members to sign on were Schmidt Sciences and the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation. Reflecting on that time, Ron Rosequist, President of the Curci Foundation, said: “Having recently completed our own organizational efforts, we appreciated the potential value of an experienced group whose primary purpose focused on improving financial resources for basic science research by providing support and counsel to philanthropic individuals and early stage foundations.”

A catalytic moment for the Alliance was a Learning Session focused on basic science hosted by the Simons Foundation in November 2015, which brought together signatories of the Giving Pledge and their representatives. It attracted many philanthropists who would go on to engage with the Alliance, leading to a boom in membership in 2016.

In 2015 and 2016, the Alliance supported the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s $3 billion commitment to basic science, which resulted in public recognition. “The Science Philanthropy Alliance was incredibly helpful in our early education in science and helping us think about how we engage in this space,” said Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. “We are very grateful for our ongoing partnership with the Alliance.”

2017-2019: Expansion

In 2017 and 2018, the Alliance recognized a need for expanded capacity to support its advising. New staff members brought considerable development and scientific expertise, which enabled the Alliance to further increase its support for the philanthropic community. By 2019, the Alliance’s membership grew to 30 philanthropic organizations.

New areas of support included convenings in areas of member interest, such as ocean science, and regional gatherings in Chicago and Austin and through a learning session in the U.K. Advising projects covered a broad array of areas, including sourcing science advisors, developing strategies, establishing new fellowships, and conducting funding landscape analyses. Recognizing the Alliance’s contributions, the Board of the Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI) honored the Alliance with the 2018 AIRI Public Service Award.

2020-2021: Transformation

At the start of 2020, Harvey Fineberg, President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, was selected to be the Alliance’s second Advisory Board Chair, and Valerie Conn became its second President. The Alliance recruited three new External Science Advisors, including France Córdova, the 11^th President of Purdue University and the 14th Director of the NSF and an astrophysicist; Marc Kastner, former Alliance President and physicist; and Shirley Tilghman, 19th President of Princeton University and a molecular biologist.

In mid-March, the Alliance pivoted to address short-term scientific needs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the leadership of Shirley Tilghman, the Alliance assembled a working group of the world’s leading infectious disease experts. Once the group converged on a list of research priorities, the Alliance convened the infectious disease funders in its network to learn more about the resulting opportunities. Major infectious disease funders expressed that the event advanced their knowledge of research priorities in this space and subsequently committed millions in funding. By the end of 2020, the Alliance had influenced $133 million in funding for COVID-19-related research efforts and $210 million in science funding overall.

Driven by member interests in science communication, the Alliance also highlighted how basic science laid the groundwork for the pandemic response by publishing a series called “COVID-19 prequels,” with funding from The Kavli Foundation and the Simons Foundation.

During this time, the Alliance became a remote organization and leveraged its virtual capabilities to convene members. Two shared interest groups were formed in response to strong member interest: one on measurement, evaluation, and learning, and the other on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Alliance welcomed three new members, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Lou Muglia, President of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, described the Alliance as an organization that fosters an environment for collaboration and knowledge sharing. “This synergy allows members to refine funding strategies, resulting in more impactful investments,” he said. “Its commitment to inclusion enriches the scientific community and strengthens societal fabric.”

In May of 2021, the Alliance welcomed France A. Córdova as its third president. “Dr. Córdova has had a luminous career as an astrophysicist and scientific leader, recently having served as director of the National Science Foundation, the nation’s premier science funding agency,” wrote Harvey Fineberg, Alliance Advisory Board Chair. “It is impossible to imagine anyone better qualified to lead the Alliance to the next level of achievement and impact.” 

Córdova, in turn, was drawn to the unique potential of the Alliance. “I thought philanthropy had a great opportunity to increase basic science funding,” said Córdova. “It was an under-appreciated resource for the global science ecosystem, and I was excited to see how philanthropy could help advance science through multi-sector partnerships.” Under her early leadership, the Alliance added six new members, for a total of 35, and engaged a new External Science Advisor, Fleming Crim, former Chief Operating Officer of the NSF and the John E. Willard and Hillsdale Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Collaboration was a central theme for the Alliance in 2021. Its virtual events brought together leaders from minority-serving institutions and spotlighted public-private partnerships with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Simons Foundation, and Schmidt Sciences. In collaboration with the Rita Allen Foundation and Wellcome, the Alliance shed light on underfunded opportunities in pain research and attracted a new funder to this neglected field. The Alliance also began a comprehensive strategic planning process led by a Strategy Roundtable of member representatives.

2022-2024: Leadership

The Alliance’s Strategic Plan, “The Power and Promise of Philanthropy for Science,” was published in June 2022, setting a vision and direction for the five years to come. That vision, a world that increasingly supports and realizes the full benefit of scientific discovery, is supported by two pillars: (1) new philanthropy for science and (2) more impactful and effective science philanthropy. The Alliance also defined its shared values: learning, curiosity, and innovation; collaboration, sharing, and partnerships; and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Alliance created many connection points for funders in 2022, co-hosting 17 events on topics ranging from international partnerships to convergence. It further expanded its public footprint with President Córdova speaking at SXSW and writing for Science magazine. It also recruited External Science Advisors Tom Cech, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Nobel Laureate, and later Margaret Leinen, the 11^th Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

In 2023, as described in our recent Annual Report, the Alliance continued to expand its advisory services, completing over 100 projects to support philanthropic investment in scientific discovery and convening its external science advisors to identify opportunities and gaps for philanthropy. It established new models of convening in partnership with its members, such as a gathering of astrophysicists and philanthropists in Chicago and a workshop on measurement, evaluation, and learning in London. Attendees described this workshop as an opportunity to find the group of experts and peers they had been missing. This workshop led to the publication of a compendium of shared learning on this topic. 

The Alliance also established new funding models, such as the development of the Ross Brown Investigator Award, which resulted in a $400 million gift to advance basic research in chemistry and physics, and the Prebys Research Heroes, designed to address the critical gap in women and underrepresented groups in leading research positions. The Alliance hosted a virtual meeting for over 170 research institutions and developed a hub of information for research institutions. It also held its first board retreat in Sante Fe, a convening that ultimately led to the decision to spin off from being a project of a fiscal sponsor to become an independent nonprofit.

The Alliance published its inaugural Science Philanthropy Indicators Report in December 2023. This report uses NSF data to highlight the central role of philanthropy in supporting basic science at U.S. research institutions. At U.S. research institutions, the percentage of basic research funded by the government has declined in recent decades while support from other sources – including philanthropy – has grown. Support for basic research is also being outpaced by funding for applied research. The report illustrates the importance of engaging with philanthropy as a critical driver of innovation. In 2024, the findings were featured in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s State of the Science address and contributed to the formal inclusion of philanthropy in the Academies’ long-standing research roundtable, now called the Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable.

Now, in October 2024, the Alliance has already had many successes, including innovative member investments like the Brinson Exploration Hub, which established a new paradigm bridging academia, industry, and government to move projects expeditiously from ideation to implementation. Other notable 2024 highlights include partnerships with The Audacious Project and Strategic Philanthropy and new opportunities for funders to connect and learn. Last month, a convening of the member-led diversity, equity, and inclusion shared interest group in New York drew over 60 philanthropic funders. Since January, the Alliance has completed 90 advising projects for nearly 50 philanthropic organizations, influencing over $160 million to scientific discovery. Alliance membership has grown to 38 philanthropic organizations.

With this expanded impact, the Alliance continues to evolve. In early 2024, it opened a new office in New York and hired its first Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff, Emily Bolton. Significantly, the Alliance’s desire to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit was approved by its Advisory Board and the IRS. As such, the Alliance is set to become an independent nonprofit in 2025.

What will the next decade hold? As President Cordova described in a special edition of Issues in Science and Technology on the future of science and policy, “Today’s pressing issues call for increased investment in science,” she wrote. “Such challenges… have spawned a new generation of philanthropists open to novel approaches. These include beneficial collaborations with other philanthropies and other sectors, such as government, university, and industry.” 

As we reflect on the Alliance’s 10th anniversary, we look forward to continuing this spirit of innovation and collaboration to advance scientific discovery in partnership with our members.