Launching and Leading Scientific Funding Programs

Once a funding strategy has been identified, SPARC advisors work alongside our philanthropic partners to develop programs that transform medical research systems. Each funding initiative is custom designed. Drawing from deep experience, we ensure that best practices and lessons learned from past efforts inform implementation tactics.

Milken Institute Philanthropy SPARC advisors manage the full cycle of a grant process, starting from developing and distributing funding announcements, scientific vetting, making recommendations for and recruiting advisory boards, and managing grant agreement execution with partner organizations.

Once programs are launched, we work to develop community and accelerate the trajectory of research through a variety of field-building activities, such as facilitating targeted collaboration, driving scientific consensus, and hosting scientific convenings.

Active Programs

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerative disease that affects an estimated 350,000 individuals around the world at any given time.

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Bipolar

The program addresses knowledge gaps in the basic disease mechanisms of bipolar disorder as well as factors influencing clinical approaches and outcomes.

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Computational Biology

This program is focused on accelerating the use of computational approaches in translational research and clinical settings to improve the well-being and health of the global community.

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Frontotemporal Dementia

This program seeks to understand the state of the FTD research ecosystem and identify where philanthropic investments could be deployed to overcome barriers to scientific progress.

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Misophonia

Since 2018, Milken Institute Philanthropy has been working in concert with the Misophonia Research Fund to solicit and fund scientific research aimed at advancing research and alleviating the hardship misophonia causes.

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Sarcoidosis

Since 2021, Milken Institute Philanthropy has been working in concert with the Ann Theodore Foundation to solicit and fund research aimed at advancing scientific understanding of sarcoidosis.

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Featured Reports

Infrastructure, Readiness, and Resilience: A Long-Term, Biomedical Systems-Based Response to COVID-19

This report from SPARC identifies four main areas ripe for greater—and more efficient—philanthropic investment: (1) Accelerating Product Development; (2) Clinical Trial Design and Execution; (3) Research Collaboration; and (4) Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health-Care and Medicine.

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The Value of Building an Interdisciplinary Scientific Workforce — A Call to Philanthropy

Interdisciplinary research drives this innovation by bringing together the perspectives, expertise, data, and tools of multiple scientific fields, uniting them toward a common outcome. Interdisciplinary science can have its own challenges, however, and therefore requires intentional support. This guide by SPARC explores how philanthropy can promote interdisciplinary science and foster innovation and collaboration, specifically via scientific fellowships, and lead the way to a better world.

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Nonprofits: A Growing Force in Drug Development

In this paper, we explore the multitude of methods that nonprofits use to support the translational drug development process in addition to when and where these models are most appropriate. To do so, we discuss several barriers to the translation of scientific discoveries to clinic-ready therapeutics and how nonprofits use their unique approaches to overcome these barriers.

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Funding Scientific Research - A Giving Smarter Guide

This Giving Smarter Guide is structured to provide points of entry into the pathway of funding scientific research primarily conducted in an academic or medical setting. Written for individual philanthropists and foundations who may be new to scientific research, this report will walk you through the process with a series of questions and key takeaways.

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