For the last five years, FasterCures has been tracking and learning from an ever-widening circle of nonprofit foundations that fund medical research, an informal affinity group we dubbed TRAIN – The Research Acceleration and Innovation Network.
These groups have taught us a lot about the elements of innovation that could accelerate progress in curing disease. We have provided them with a unique venue for cross-disease and cross-sector networking and collaboration – most recently at Partnering for Cures, a first-of-its-kind event last December that brought together 600 individuals from the nonprofit, philanthropic, and industry sectors for two days of dialogue and formal partnering opportunities.
We’re now offering up this online hub, TRAIN Central Station, as the gathering place for a virtual community where individuals interested in maximizing the impact of philanthropic disease research funding can connect with one another to network, learn, inspire and share resources.
We’re calling the site “a platform for venture philanthropy in medical research.” We at FasterCures have generally subscribed to the broader definition of venture philanthropy that's represented in Wikipedia, that it "takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and high technology business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals." Others limit the term to mean only foundations that actually invest their funds in for-profit companies in one way or another.
What will you find here?
- Information about the strategies and best practices of innovative nonprofit funders of medical research;
- Useful tools and resources that can help you in your daily work;
- A venue for communicating with your peers to address practical challenges or debate important issues.
We’re launching the site in beta form and look forward to your feedback about what’s useful, what’s not, and ways to make this a more valuable resource for you.
Look forward to seeing you aboard!
Margaret Anderson
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