CureSearch for Children's Cancer
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Sadly, every year more than 17,000 children and teens in the United States are diagnosed with cancer. While survival rates for the most common types of childhood cancer have greatly increased in recent years, there has been little improvement in the prognosis for many less common tumor types. For many high-risk subtypes, long-term survival rates are often less than 50%. Others, like the brain tumor DIPG, remain incurable. Cancer remains the number one disease killer of children and teens; in fact, one in ten children diagnosed in the U.S. will not survive. Those who do survive often face lifelong, chronic health challenges including secondary cancers, severe musculoskeletal problems and cardiovascular disease. With more than 480,000 survivors in the U.S. alone, these late effects can significantly influence quality of life for the nearly seventy years that children may live beyond their diagnoses. Parents are put in the position of saving their child now, knowing they may be endang
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Research Grants
A Unique Approach to Research and Drug Development
We’re laser-focused on driving new treatments to patients in an accelerated timeframe. We only fund projects with commercial potential, anticipated to reach patients in the clinic or marketplace within three to five years. Our translational, preclinical and clinical stage awards give preference to areas of high unmet need - the cancers with the lowest survival rates, fewest or most damaging treatment options, and populations that are underserved, including adolescents and young adults. Within the context of unmet need, we prioritize innovative therapies that have strong potential to lead to more effective and less-toxic therapies, including novel targeted therapeutics, immunotherapy and combination therapies. We support international research because the next game-changing discovery can come from anywhere, and international collaborations can unite the greatest minds for the development of the most effective cures.
Funding Priorities:
• Projects with commercial potential, anticipated to reach the clinic in an accelerated timeframe or already in clinical trials.
• Address barriers in areas of high unmet need, including high-risk, relapsed, or metastatic disease, cancers with limited or toxic treatment options, and adolescent and young adult patient populations
• Focus on innovative treatment modalities such as novel targeted therapeutics, immunotherapy, and combination therapies.
• Fund research from U.S., Canada, EU and Australia
Patient and Caregiver Resources
CureSearch provides education and resources so that no child faces a cancer diagnosis and treatment without a fully equipped team behind them. Our resources include:
Educational Resources - On our website, we provide expert-vetted cancer resources and educational videos that are accessed by more than one million people each year.
CureSearch CancerCare mobile app - The CureSearch CancerCare app provides free, comprehensive cancer management capabilities that allow users to share the same information across multiple devices, making it possible for multiple caregivers to trade notes, schedules, symptoms, and resources about their child.
A Special Barbie® - Through a partnership with Mattel, we provide young cancer fighters with a special, brave Barbie. These bald dolls are a great way to help children better understand hair loss associated with treatment.
Clinical Trial Finder - Our clinical trial finder offers a simple way to identify clinical trials in any location that may benefit both current patients and the entire pediatric cancer community.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of patients, families, researchers and other interested parties accessing educational and scientific content available on the CureSearch web site.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Patient and Caregiver Resources
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
CureSearch continues to be the defacto resource for any family dealing with a pediatric cancer diagnosis.
Percentage of projects advancing pediatric cancer drug development
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Research Grants
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our grant portfolio is a continuum of translational, preclinical, and clinical research with the ultimate goal of bringing new and repurposed therapies to children with cancer.
Percentage of preclincial projects advanced to clinical trial
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Research Grants
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our grant portfolio is a continuum of translational to clinical research driving patient impact. The cumulative impact highlights our progress in drug development and patient-centered outcomes.
Number of young cancer fighters or siblings provided with a brave special Barbie Doll
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Patient and Caregiver Resources
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
CureSearch, in partnership with Mattel, provides young cancer fighters with a brave special Barbie Doll. Since the dolls are bald, they help children better understand hair loss common in cancer.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
For more than 30 years, CureSearch has been a driving force in pediatric cancer research. Recognizing a broken system, growing obstacles, and unmet needs in drug development, we’ve launched an innovative and unique strategy to address the urgent, critical need for new childhood cancer treatments.
We know that smarter research funding is just one part of the solution, and that long-term solutions will require a seismic shift to the existing pediatric drug development process and landscape. This change will require strategic collaboration among all players in the pediatric cancer ecosystem, including science, academia, regulatory, non-profits, patients and industry leaders.
Together, we’re changing the drug development landscape from within and accelerating the development of new treatments for the 47 children diagnosed with cancer each day.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
With the expert leadership of our Scientific and Industry Advisory Councils, we identify and fund only the strongest research projects that address areas of unmet need and are most likely to quickly reach patients in the clinic or marketplace.
Preclinical research funding via our Acceleration Initiative award supports novel projects that address areas of unmet need and are most likely to advance quickly to the clinic in 3-5 years. Through our Catapult Awards, we fund game-changing clinical trials – projects with established commercial potential that will impact patients in the clinic at an accelerated pace and have the potential to provide a new, better standard of care for children everywhere. We are building a pipeline of the next leaders in pediatric cancer drug development through our Young Investigator Awards. The Young Investigator program combats the loss of promising scientists from the field by providing financial support to investigators early in their research careers and delivering career development and mentoring opportunities.
We create connections and community between stakeholders by providing platforms for engagement to allow critical conversations to occur. CureSearch stakeholder meetings such as the annual CureSearch Summit and the Pediatric Early Development Symposium directly influence and advance pediatric cancer research and drug development.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
At CureSearch, we’re uniquely positioned to drive critical stakeholder collaborations to accelerate the pace of pediatric drug development. During our 30+ years in childhood cancer research, we have developed relationships with the best cancer institutions in the country, and the ability to attract preeminent scientists and leaders to our Scientific Advisory Council, Scientific Review Committee, and Industry Advisory Council. This allows us to develop the most forward-thinking research agenda, attract the best proposals for research projects, and to have research proposals reviewed and ranked by the brightest minds in childhood cancer research.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since its inception in 2014, the Acceleration Initiative grants have resulted in impactful discoveries and generation of essential tools for the research community. Of note, Acceleration Initiative projects are five-times more likely to move into clinical trials than other preclinical cancer research and they do so 2.5 years faster. In addition, we have seen the following impact metrics from Acceleration Initiative projects:
• 10 potential new therapies are ready for clinical trials
• 98 novel cell models developed
• 154 novel animal models created
• 342 patient biopsies studied
• Over 1.2 million compounds screened
• 2 clinical trials, one for medulloblastoma and one for Ewing sarcoma, resulting from Acceleration Initiative preclincial projects
• 29 new drug targets identified
Since 2015, Young Investigators have accomplished the following:
• 3 clinical trials for adolescent/young adult transition
• 247 patients enrolled in prospective cohort studies
• 114 patient biopsies studied
• 40 novel cell models developed
• 18 novel animal models created
• 296 drug targets identified
• Over 100,000 compounds screened
• 5 RNAi screens performed
• 5 CRISPR-Cas9 screens conducted
• 3 genomic screens analyzing 20,000 genes
The first investigator was awarded through the Catapult Program in 2018. In that time, the following important outcomes have been achieved:
• 3 clinical trials initiated
• 7 clinical trial sites open for enrollment
• 12 patients treated in clinical trials
• 1 novel CAR T-cell delivery mechanism employed
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
CureSearch's work benefits childhood cancer patients, family members and caretakers; medical professionals, researchers, industry, regulatory and academic leaders in pediatric oncology.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Community meetings/Town halls, Conferences,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
In response to a desire from our constituents to learn more about advancements in treatment protocols, we increased the number of educational resources for families by adding two new videos explaining the emerging field of precision medicine.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
CureSearch for Children's Cancer
Board of directorsas of 03/11/2022
Jared Brancazio
Raymond James
Paula Carter
Scott Carter Foundation
Michael Miller
Miller Tack & Madson
Annie Gould
Barboursville, VA
Hank Adams
Kiewit Infrastructure Group
Kathy Wanner
Abundant Venture Partners
Sam Blackman
Day One Biopharmaceuticals
Shari Collier
St. David’s HealthCare
Cason Carter
Citadel, LLC
David Kupiec
National CineMedia
Brenda Weigel
University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center
David Whan
Pearce Services
Trent Demulling
Kiewit
Suzanne Finnegan
Build America Mutual
Ma Trivedi
Ayuroma Advisory International
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data