Genentech Foundation and Corporate Giving
/OVERVIEW: The Genentech Corporation supports STEM education and public health via its charitable foundation and a robust corporate giving program.
IP TAKE: Genentech’s foundation and corporate giving programs are run separately. The foundation supports STEM education, focusing on access and diversity, while the corporate giving program supports healthcare equity and independent medical education. This funder accepts applications for some of its programs.
An accessible giver, Genetech is responsive and supportive of grantees in its areas of focus. Note the other ways to secure funding besides traditional grantmaking. Reach out to a Genentech employee involved with various corporate volunteer programs and network with them to receive some funding for your organization. Contact its staff if you have additional questions about its grantmaking and how it’s evolving.
PROFILE: The Genentech Corporation conducts its philanthropy through its corporate foundation and corporate giving programs. Based in South San Francisco, California, Genentech is a biotechnology company known for developing and producing a broad range of drugs, including well-known products like Valium, Tamiflu, Naprosyn and Klonopin. In 2009, Genentech was acquired by the Swiss company Hoffman-La Roche but continues to operate independently of its corporate parent. The Genentech Foundation aims to make careers in science and medicine accessible to all, while the company’s corporate giving focuses on healthcare access, disease research and independent medical education.
Grants for STEM Education and Science Research
Grantmaking for STEM education is sourced from the Genentech Foundation and aims to “challenge and dismantle systemic barriers” to STEM careers, especially in science and medicine. To this end, the foundation launched its Diverse Future of STEM Fund, which supports the preparation for and pursuit of STEM careers from kindergarten through graduate school. More than half of the foundation’s STEM grants go to schools, institutes and nonprofits in the state of California.
Grants for Higher Education
Recent higher education funding from Genentech’s Diverse Future of STEM Fund focuses on the disproportionate effect that the COVID-19 crisis has had on students of color in STEM disciplines. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to programs that offer financial support and essential technology to undergraduate and graduate students. The program also makes capacity-building grants to STEM programs that have articulated a commitment maintaining diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout the crisis. At the postgraduate level, the foundation supports research projects, career development and mentorship programs for students of color. Diverse Future of STEM grants range from $100,000 to $500,000, and the foundation accepts letters of inquiry for this program via its online portal, with a due date in August of each year. In past years, the foundation has provided ongoing support to diversity programs at San Francisco University, the University of California at Davis and the American Chemical Society, but this program aims to expand its scope in coming years.
Genentech also funds fellowships for clinical and research professionals in healthcare and biomedical research at accredited institutions. The foundation accepts applications for this program via its website on a rolling basis.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Genentech Foundation supports K-12 STEM education via its Diverse Future of STEM Fund. At the elementary level, the fund acknowledges the lack of quality science instruction at many schools and the “lack of hands-on, culturally relevant STEM content” available to students of color. At the secondary level, the program aims to address the widely recognized tendency for girls and minority students to opt out of classes that are vital to postsecondary pursuit of STEM disciplines and careers. Grants have supported programs that are culturally sensitive, that encourage career exploration and mentorship and that support teacher development and leadership in STEM fields. K-12 grants are awarded in amounts between $100,000 and $500,000, and the foundation accepts letters of inquiry for this program via its website.
Grants for Public Health
Public health funding stems mainly from Genentech’s corporate giving program, which aims to “improve the health and wellbeing of all patients.” The program currently focuses on systemic inequities in health infrastructure. In 2020, Genentech launched its Health Equity Innovations Fund, which supports projects that “develop, test, and/or scale strategies and interventions that reduce disparities and promote health equity,” emphasizing projects that are innovative, rigorous in methodology and aligned with the program’s values of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Specific fields of interest include cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, hematology, oncology, ophthalmology, rheumatology and pulmonology. Past Genentech grantees in this area include the Shanti Project, the American Association of Caregiving Youth, the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, the National Children’s Cancer Center and the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research.
Genentech’s corporate giving program also awards grants for independent medical education (IME)—an industry term for medical professional education seminars and materials that are created by hospitals, societies, associations and academic or medical research institutes. Genentech supports educational programs that address over thirty diseases and conditions, and it is worth noting that some of these diseases and conditions are those for which Genentech has developed and produced medications. This program accepts applications for funding for this program on an ongoing basis via the program’s web page.
Genentech also donates to independent charitable foundations that assist individuals with out-of-pocket medical fees, copayments and drug costs. Genentech does not dictate criteria or patient eligibility for these programs, and accepts applications for healthcare cost assistance grants via its website.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Genentech Company also runs a corporate volunteer program that has developed several signature community outreach programs in the San Francisco area. Through the Futurelab program, for example, employees mentor middle and high school students. Another program involved employees’ supporting cancer survivors in recreational activities like kayaking. The company also matches employee donations of up to $2,000 to charitable organizations and donates $10 per hour of volunteer work to employees’ charities of choice. Matching donations topped $3 million in a recent year.
Important Grant Details:
The Genentech Foundation’s grantmaking totals around $6 million a year, while corporate giving topped $85 million. Foundation grants range from $10,000 to $500,000, with an average grant size of about $50,000. Corporate giving grants are awarded in amounts up to $990,000. The corporate giving program is transparent about its past funding, providing databases of past years on its website.
Genentech’s foundation and corporate giving programs are accessible, with funding guidelines for their various programs available on individual program pages. General inquiries may be made to the foundation via email and to the corporate giving program via an online form.
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