Funding of the EORTC

The EORTC is funded through several sources including the EORTC Charitable Trust providing a core grant which is mainly supported by numerous national cancer leagues.
Since 1972, the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has provided core support to EORTC Headquarters, and with this support a close scientific collaboration has been maintained to promote transatlantic research projects.

Core grants from the Fonds Cancer, FOCA (BE), and The Parthenon Trust also provide support for the EORTC Headquarters staff.

EORTC Headquarters also receives grants allocated by BELSPO (the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office) and by the Belgian National Lottery.

Funding for the Fellowship Programme is provided by the EORTC Charitable Trust, Fonds Cancer, FOCA (BE), the Koningin Wilhelmina Fund, KWF (NL), and several leagues including La Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer (FR) and the Vlaamse Liga tegen Kanker, VLK (BE).
In addition, grants for EORTC research projects are received from the European Commission under the 6th and the 7th Framework Programmes.

The EORTC has received support for bio-banking in a prostate cancer clinical trial from the Institute for the encouragement of Institut d'encouragement de la Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation de Bruxelles (IRSIB).

Clinical studies evaluating new drugs for potential registration or testing innovative therapeutic agents, including some educational projects, are conducted in cooperation with pharmaceutical industry partners. Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship is also provided in the form of “unrestricted grants” for EORTC conferences.

The finances of the EORTC include all accounts from the EORTC Headquarters as well as all EORTC Groups and Task Forces. These accounts are consolidated as required under Belgian Law. The 2008 EORTC accounts were audited by Ernst & Young.


The Continuity Fund

In 2004 the EORTC Board made the decision to build a financial buffer, the Continuity Fund, to temporarily compensate for transient shortfalls in core support and/or delays in the receipt of cancer league donations that could significantly impact on the EORTC annual budget. The EORTC Continuity Fund aims to guarantee stability to the EORTC Headquarters staff.


The Academic Research Fund

Parallel to creating the Continuity Fund, the EORTC Board initiated the creation of an Academic Research Fund which became operational in 2005. This support is intended for clinical trials of excellence or research projects submitted to the Board after undergoing review by the Protocol Review Committee (PRC). Selected trials are academic in nature with inadequate or no funding from other sources. A final decision at the Board level is required based on the strategic/added value the proposed clinical trial brings to the overall EORTC strategy.

The Board prioritises trials based on the following criteria:
- trials of “excellence”
- trials with a translational research component
- trials with the possibility and feasibility for networking
- exceptional opportunities to potentially change clinical practice and establish new standards of care.

In 2008, the Board allocated additional support for academic and clinico-genomic research proposals as well as projects conducted within the Network of Core Institutions (NOCI) and for bio-banking purposes.


Last updated 27-08-2009