OVERVIEW: The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation works to improve quality of life and increase life expectancy for people with glioblastoma multiforme and, ultimately, to cure the disease.
IP TAKE: The Ivy Foundation is an important prospect for investigators conducting translational brain tumor research, particularly work on glioma and glioblastoma that has a plausible path from the laboratory toward patient treatment. Recent research grants have largely gone to investigators at major universities, academic medical centers and specialized research institutions. This does not appear to be a strong prospect for general health nonprofits or small organizations without substantial biomedical research capacity.
When research funding is available, Ivy generally uses formal requests for proposals rather than accepting proposals on a rolling basis. Its two most recently advertised opportunities were the Emerging Leader Grant Award, for early- to mid-career investigators conducting translational glioblastoma research, and the Translational Adult Glioma Award, for high-impact translational research intended to advance treatments for brain cancer. The foundation currently states that it will not accept grant proposals in 2026, so grantseekers should monitor its website for future cycles rather than approach it with an unsolicited research proposal. Ivy’s FAQ says RFPs are generally posted in January.
The foundation also makes selected grants outside its core brain-tumor portfolio, particularly in Arizona, but no open application process for this community giving could be identified. These grants appear to be a considerably less accessible prospect for organizations without an existing relationship to Ivy or its local networks.
PROFILE: The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation was established in 2005 after Ben Ivy lost his painful four-month battle with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Since then, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based foundation has been on a mission to “fund research on gliomas to develop better diagnostics and treatments that lead to long-term survival and a high quality of life for patients with brain tumors.” Catherine Ivy’s personal goal is “to prevent others from having to go through what we endured and to decrease the suffering of patients with brain tumors.” Ivy Foundation grants exclusively fund GBM research, supporting a number of innovative projects in the study of GBM, including stem cell therapies, clinical and translational research and molecular targeted therapy.
Neuroscience Grants and STEM Education
Ivy’s Grants fund “cutting-edge research that will improve diagnostics and treatment options for patients with brain cancer.”
- Emerging Leader Grant Award supports early- to mid-career investigators pursuing high-risk, high-reward translational glioblastoma research with potential to advance toward clinical testing, including work connected to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center.
- Translational Adult Glioma Award supports established investigators conducting translational adult glioma research aimed at developing new therapies and improving survival for patients with glioblastoma and related brain tumors.
- Ivy made a $50 million commitment in 2018 to establish the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute.
- Recent major grants include $1.5 million for “Preclinical And Clinical Development Of Neural Stem Cells (NSC)” at City of Hope, $1.5 million more for “Engineering De Novo Antitumor Immunity Using Patient-Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-modified T Cells” also at City of Hope, and $2 million “To Drive Clinical Discovery Through Optimized Mathematical Neuro-Oncology Response Metrics” at the Mayo Clinic.
In addition to research grants, Ivy also offers the Neurological Science Internship Program, which aims to “inspire high school and undergraduate students to pursue a career in bioscience, particularly in the areas of glioma research, neuroscience or neurogenomics.” This program allows students to conduct “hands-on biomedical research” under the mentorship of a TGen investigator.
Important Grant Details:
The Ivy Foundation’s grants typically range from $250,000 to $3 million. It awards over $15 million in grants each year. Since 2005, it’s committed more than $180 million to brain tumor research.
- Grantseekers may review the foundation’s Research Funded to Date to see what kind of projects have attracted the foundation’s attention in the past.
- Unfortunately, Ivy does not accept unsolicited proposals of any sort.
- General inquiries may be submitted to the foundation via its contact page.
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