5 Universities Received Half of All Private Support for Basic Science Research

Title: “Science Philanthropy Alliance Basic Science Philanthropy Survey”

Organization: The Science Philanthropy Alliance, which commissioned the Voluntary Support of Education to add a questionnaire to its annual survey in 2015.

Summary: A survey of U.S. higher-education institutions found that nearly half the money supporting basic research in 2015 went toward the life sciences. Foundations provided the bulk of the $2.2 billion in private funding for all academic disciplines reported by the 27 participating institutions. About $1.2 billion went to basic science research, which includes the life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics.

The study points to the growing interest in the life sciences as evidenced by recent major gifts including Paul Allen’s recent $100 million pledge to support bioscience studies and Sanford and Joan Weill’s $185 million gift to create a neuroscience center at the University of California at San Francisco.

Among the findings:

• Life sciences research received a much higher percentage of total funding than the physical sciences or mathematics. Research in life sciences received just over $1 billion; behavioral and social sciences received $200 million, physical sciences received $159 million, and mathematics received $36 million.
• Some institutions raised much more for basic science research than others; $613 million, which represents half of the $1.2 billion, went to just five institutions, which the study does not identify.
• Foundations provide the biggest source of private funding to basic research, followed by corporations and individual donors. Foundations gave the institutions in the survey $979 million, while corporations gave $481 million, individuals gave $382 million, and other sources, including charities and donor-advised funds, gave $313 million.
• With only 27 institutions providing data, the survey findings likely substantially underestimate total philanthropic giving for basic research.
• Private support of basic research is still dwarfed by the roughly $40 billion a year the federal government spends on research and development at institutions of higher education.

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