Newsletter

Milken Institute Philanthropy — Year-End 2022

Philanthropy

In This Issue

Program Updates
Reports and Resources
CSP and Our Partners in the News
Highlights from Milken Institute Convenings

In 2022, the Center for Strategic Philanthropy (CSP) and partners directed more than $16 million in philanthropic capital to fund new medical research projects and facilitate access to care. And with the Milken–Motsepe Prize in Green Energy now live and the Prize in AgriTech nearing its final stages, entire entrepreneurial ecosystems are being created to advance progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.

CSP’s work in 2022 is a testament to our partners’ dedication and desire for collaboration to achieve maximum impact. This roundup recaps CSP’s report releases for the year, major program highlights, and moments from our flagship events.

Thank you for reading and for your partnership. As always, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and keep an eye on our Giving Compass blog and the Milken–Motsepe Prize Portal for real-time updates and information. We wish you a happy holiday season and all the best for 2023.

Program Updates

  • The Milken–Motsepe Prize in Green Energy launched in November at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit. This innovation competition is the second in the Milken–Motsepe Innovation Prize Program. Registration is open through March 2023. Anyone, anywhere can apply. Innovations must be field tested in Africa. Find out more.

  • The Milken–Motsepe Investor Showcase is now live. The showcase is a database that helps investors engage with finalists from the Milken–Motsepe Prize in AgriTech. Finalists competing for a $1 million grand prize consist of mostly seed-stage companies advancing AgriTech innovations across Africa, with the intent to scale to global markets.

  • The Center for Strategic Philanthropy, in partnership with the Ann Theodore Foundation, announced a new request for proposals (RFP) focused on understanding the underlying biology of sarcoidosis, an immune dysregulation condition. Applications are open through January 2023. Teams can apply for funding of up to $575,000 over a two-year period.

  • The Follicular Lymphoma Foundation (FLF) announced the first group of successful recipients for the CURE FL Awards. Each successful investigator will receive a research grant of up to $500,000 over two years, starting in December 2022. FLF calls this the first significant step in its journey to deliver on its mission to find a cure—and find it fast.

  • The Baszucki Brain Research Fund and the Milken Institute announced the recipients of the 2022 Metabolic Mind Awards, which rewarded clinicians for their past work in advancing Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy for mental disorders. Seven pioneering clinicians each received $100,000 awards to honor their past work and commitment to supporting the study and use of these interventions in psychiatry.

  • The Misophonia Research Fund recently committed $2.2 million in new grants to scientific investigators working to characterize misophonia, validate tools to measure misophonia, and develop new therapeutic strategies for those living with the disorder. This funding was announced alongside a new RFP for independent or postdoctoral investigators working on research projects focused on misophonia. Since this collaboration with CSP started in 2019, approximately $10 million has been committed toward research for this historically underresourced condition.

Reports and Resources

These reports and resources were launched throughout 2022—and have been proving their value in galvanizing action across a range of issue areas.

  • Case Studies in Strategic Philanthropy: Stepping Up: Strategic Ultra-High-Net-Worth Philanthropy in Practice, released in May 2022, spotlights what strategic philanthropy looks like in practice, providing case studies and examples other philanthropists can learn from. This report builds on Stepping off the Sidelines, a guide analyzing trends among ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists.

  • Stories from the Field: The Finalists for the Milken–Motsepe Prize in AgriTech are deep in the process of field-testing their innovations for increasing economic value for smallholder farmers in Africa. Learn more about who they are, what inspired them, and what they hope to gain from the experience in this special Milken Institute series. Winners will be announced in April 2023.

  • ALS Giving Smarter: Commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects an estimated 20,000 people in the United States at any given time. CSP partnered with Tambourine Philanthropies for this landscape analysis to understand the state of ALS research and identify where additional focus and philanthropic investment are needed to accelerate progress.

  • Roadmap for Investment in Dementia Care: The Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy and the Center for the Future of Aging and the Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity, partnered to create a roadmap that assesses the needs and gaps in dementia care and research, and identifies the most promising opportunities for philanthropy to address them. While focused on the United States and UK, these recommendations can be applied in other countries with secure and stable economies.

  • Type 1 Diabetes: In March 2021, CSP and partners released Autoantibody Screening for Type 1 Diabetes. The field moved quickly. As such, CSP undertook extensive follow-up research to provide an update on the state of progress toward accessible T1D antibody screening for all. This update captures the ongoing efforts of the community to continue toward T1D screening for the general population and identifies areas where further work or collaboration might be needed.

CSP and Our Partners in the News

  • Melissa Stevens, executive vice president, philanthropy, together with Greg Tananbaum of the Open Funders Research Group, wrote this Stanford Social Innovation Review article about the need for trust building in order to spur coordination in the philanthropic sector.

  • Emily Church, PhD, senior director, spoke with Channel Africa, UAE’s National News, and Africa Review about the newly launched Milken–Motsepe Prize in Green Energy and the opportunity to participate in this unique innovation prize competition. View the full list of coverage.

  • CSP Advisory Board member Badr Jafar wrote an op-ed calling for a long-term, development approach to philanthropy in the Middle East.

  • Sylvie Raver, PhD, director, wrote an article for Candid.org focused on how philanthropic contributions in the ALS field contributed to new drug developments and primed a path for future innovation.

  • Forbes magazine and Inside Philanthropy published major features on Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder, or BD2. BD2 brings together the Baszucki, Brin, and Dauten families with researchers and patient advocacy groups to advance understanding of bipolar disorder and facilitate better treatments and care.

  • Sarcoidosis News published an article about the Ann Theodore Foundation and the Milken Institute awarding $3 million to six teams for research studies focusing on the basic science of sarcoidosis.

Highlights from Milken Institute Convenings

CSP hosted the first-ever Philanthropic Investors Forum at the 25th Global Conference. This meeting brought together family principals and heads of institutional philanthropies for private meetings to share learnings and best practices in philanthropic giving. In addition, all public sessions from Milken Institute conferences are available in full on the Milken Institute website.

Impact is everything—and the impact of philanthropic capital is ever more when time, talents, and capital of smart, dedicated people and teams are pooled to achieve a greater good. Thank you for reading—and for all you do to make the world a better place.

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