FUNDING SCIENCE LIKE A STARTUP: WHAT NONPROFITS CAN LEARN FROM ENTREPRENEURS

Most people think of philanthropy as charity. I think of it as an investment, with an expected return measured in discoveries, not dollars.

At the JKTG Foundation, we don’t fund cancer research the traditional way. We don’t issue massive RFPs or wait for consensus to form. We move quickly, prioritize bold thinkers, and stay close to the science. Why? Because the diseases we’re up against, like breast cancer, won’t wait.

And because having spent time in both business and government, I’ve learned that breakthroughs rarely come from playing it safe.

FOCUS > SPREAD

One of the biggest mistakes I see in nonprofit science funding is spreading the net too wide. The logic is understandable: fund many ideas, see what sticks. But in practice, that often dilutes impact.

At JKTG, we concentrate our support on a tight network of high-performing researchers, people like Dr. Preethi Korangath and Dr. Christina Curtis, who are doing deep, mechanism-level work to reveal how cancer interacts with the immune system. This targeted focus lets us create continuity and accelerate progress across projects, rather than chasing scattered endpoints.

STAY CLOSE TO THE WORK

Startups don’t just cut checks and walk away. They stay close to the product, the market, and the people.

We apply that same lens to our philanthropy. Our team attends research presentations, reads papers, and stays in constant communication with our grantees. We're not micromanaging. We're understanding. So we can make smarter decisions, faster.

That’s how we ended up supporting things like nanoparticle research for safer cancer imaging, long before it made headlines.

SPEED MATTERS

In both racing and research, timing is everything.

Academic institutions and government grant cycles move slow. Cancer doesn’t. The startup mindset gives us an edge—we can move dollars quickly, make adjustments on the fly, and keep our researchers focused on the work instead of bureaucracy.

We’re not just writing checks. We’re building a culture of entrepreneurial science, one where risk is welcomed, speed is valued, and results are shared.

FINAL LAP

If we want real progress in cancer research, we can’t wait for bureaucracy to catch up. We have to be willing to think differently, move faster, and back the people bold enough to take risks others won’t.

That’s what entrepreneurial philanthropy is about. It’s not about writing checks. It’s about rewriting the rules.