We practice Venture Philanthropy
and provide resources and skills to research-finders
100% of your donations straight to scientific projects
What is Venture Philanthropy?
Philanthropy because we combine altruism, an absence of personal gain and a multi-year commitment.
Venture or entrepreneurial because our results-oriented support consists precisely in equipping and advising project leaders in their entrepreneurial approach, limiting risks as much as possible and systematically measuring the impact and potential of projects.
“Philanthropreneurs” are the figureheads of this new approach to philanthropy based on effectiveness and impact, borrowed from the business world.
From lab to patient: support X 3 from the Foundation
1. We identify
To increase a project’s chances of success, the Foundation carries out a rigorous analysis of promising oncology projects.
We base our analysis on 14 scientific, commercial and financial criteria.
Do they respond to an unmet medical need? Are they genuinely innovative? Do they satisfy the critical eye of independent experts?
2. We finance
By granting up to €2.5m per project, the Foundation provides considerable financial support to project leaders at a stage of development when investors are generally wary.
Our commitment to support has a positive effect on a whole range of other financial players. Our experience and methodology reassure them, and they see the project’s potential more clearly.
3. We support
To help them succeed, the Foundation provides its laureates with a vast network of scientific experts (in oncology, pathology, galenics, chemistry, etc.), technical experts (for legal issues, quality control and assurance, intellectual property, etc.), financial experts (for example, to estimate the value of the company) and business experts (strategy, market research, organisation, communication, etc.).
Not forgetting access to a network of private and public investors for fund-raising.
Every euro donated supports a specific oncology project
What makes us different
The 100% model
100% of your donations go directly to the projects:
This is our commitment.
To ensure maximum impact of your generosity, all your donations are directly and exclusively allocated to research projects rigorously selected by the Foundation and validated by our scientific experts.
All the Foundation’s operating and communication costs are covered by a separate endowment from our founder, Dr. Bernard Majoie. This way, you know exactly what your generosity is dedicated to.
Entrepreneurial DNA
Our DNA is close to that of entrepreneurs
Our entrepreneurial spirit is clearly reflected in our vision
” Empowering entrepreneurs to crush cancer”, and in a series of characteristics
that business leaders will immediately identify with:
- A strong ambition
aiming to provide new therapeutic solutions - (Measured) risk-taking
by committing our capital after a rigorous selection of projects - A search for impact
by helping to save lives and creating jobs
(137 jobs created within the teams of our laureates)
Measuring impact
Health impact
All the projects selected aim to provide a medical solution for people suffering from cancer.
If we were to bring together all the projects supported by the Foundation, imagining that they would all reach patients, we could have a vital impact on 7 million people.
Economic impact
To advance research, we need brains and hands. Our project leaders have created 153 jobs within their fledgling structures.
This is a real impact on economic growth, which also provides opportunities for our young researchers.
Multiplied impact
€1 donated becomes €8 for our project leaders !
Thanks to the tax deductibility of donations, access to public funds (facilitated by our support being considered as private) and the attraction of other investors following our commitment, the donation initially made is really multiplied.
A virtuous circle where those helped become helpers
Transmission is one of the fundamental values of the Foundation.
Aware of the opportunities he had been offered to become an entrepreneur and open the doors to success, our founder, Dr. Bernard Majoie, was keen to “return the favour“.
This philosophy remains one of the driving forces behind our work today. In fact, every laureate who receives aid from the Foundation undertakes to help future researchers themselves if their initiative is successful. In this way, they go from helped to helpers and contribute to the virtuous circle that characterises the Foundation.
In this way, your donations are given a sustained effect : they support not one but several successive projects.
Successes to our credit
Llama-derived nano-antibodies to treat certain breast cancers
Precirix, a biotech company based in Jette (B), develops and manufactures precision radiopharmaceuticals based on nano-antibodies derived from llamas. These deliver radioactive isotopes to cancer cells in a highly targeted manner.
These nano-antibodies, which are 10 times smaller than conventional antibodies, have the ability to cross the natural blood-brain barrier.
A Phase I/II clinical trial is underway, in particular to treat HER2+ breast cancer with brain metastases.
A test to predict the progression of liver disease
Prof. Nico Callewaert’s team at UGent has designed the Glyco Liver Profile®, the world’s first test based on a glycan signature, which can be used to diagnose and monitor the possible progression from hepatitis to fibrosis and from fibrosis to cirrhosis of the liver.
This blood test is an early predictor of the progression of viral hepatitis to hepatocarcinoma, and will be decisive in deciding which treatments to apply to prevent progression to the next phase, which is even more damaging to the liver.