Tower Cancer Research consistently outperforms many top tier university affiliated research efforts in one critical way:
Every designated dollar donated for research funds research.
It’s that simple. When donors approach Tower, we can confidently assure them that if their aim is to fuel research, or another special program, 100% of their gift will go directly to what they want to support. That means lab work, trials, staffing, even early-stage development for emerging scientific work. In the broad landscape of cancer research philanthropy, our model at Tower is unusual. Giving to university cancer researchers, of course, dominates, but universities are typically enormous systems and the administration of grants and gifts often costs the donor up to – and even beyond – 50% of their gift.
Tower also has operating expenses, but we don’t use any designated gifts to fund operations. That’s our policy, and our promise.
Effective February 10, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a policy capping indirect cost rates at 15% for all new and existing research grants. That may signal a broader shift across the sector to contain the administrative costs of giving. But maybe not. The new policy will be tested in court.
Tower’s standard operating procedures won’t change no matter how that plays out. We’ll still give every dollar donated for research to research. Every dollar designated for a special project will go directly to that effort, undiluted.
One highly visible example of this direct, designated approach is the creation of the Cancer Navigators program at Cedars-Sinai hospital through the work of Dr. Dan heodorescu, director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer. His “Cancer Navigators” project, launched last year funds two multilingual specialists who are fluent in Spanish, Korean, Tagalog and Swahili available to guide newly diagnosed patients and their families through the maze of cancer treatment.
Thanks to a gift from the Lippin family in honor of the late trailblazing music publicist and manager Ronnie Lippin, who died of breast cancer in 2006, now any Los Angeles County resident is eligible to participate in the program, free of charge, regardless of financial or citizenship status, age, sexual identity, belief system or education level. Participating patients do not need to be receiving treatment at Cedars-Sinai to receive assistance from a navigator
Donors to Tower’s research effort realize direct impact in less visible spaces, too. Right now Dr. James Godfrey at City of Hope is using a Tower Cancer Research career development grant he was awarded to further his work in innovative immunotherapy. One day his discoveries may matter greatly to newly diagnosed patients navigating their way back to health.
Tower owes donors and patients the same thing: Keep it simple. We make every dollar matter, and strive to make every pathway easier. That promise starts in the lab and meets every patient where they live. It’s transparent, translational, and the only way we do business.
Thank you for keeping us in your plans.