TIPS FOR GETTING NONPROFIT FUNDING
Over the past five years, nonprofit funding organizations have greatly increased their presence in drug research and development, says Chris Earl, CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH). This nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, creates incentives for drug companies to target diseases of developing countries. BVGH was spun out of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and is supported in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. "Some markets are better than you might think, if you have a valuable, affordable drug," he says. "There has been a revolution in the amount of money for the developing world in the past five or ten years." Other organizations similar to BVGH have also emerged that have nonprofit money available to for-profit companies. Taken together, these collaborations are called product development partnerships.
When seeking nonprofit dollars, the following tips improve the odds of producing a winning proposal.
1. Conduct significant fact-finding in your chosen area of R&D to understand the needs and issues of third-world development projects you are targeting. While you might be using this type of project ultimately as a stepping stone to for-profit goals, the solutions you are proposing must reflect a practical knowledge of third-world needs.
2. Stress speed in your approach to R&D, and what your company will do to expedite the process.
3. Include specific goals rather than broad aims, and make sure the project is milestone-driven, as you would for a partnership proposal with another biotech or pharma company.
4. Include input from people in different functions throughout your company. This will not only give the proposal a well-rounded science, business, and operational focus, but also get your staff thinking about other in-house programs that could be leveraged with this type of funding.
