Marketplace investigation: Canadian Cancer Society spending more on fundraising than research
By Erica Johnson
Wednesday, July 6, 2011, 12:05 PM
An Ontario cancer researcher is concerned that the Canadian Cancer Society has proportionally shifted funding away from research and is spending more of its dollars on fundraising and administration costs.
"Most scientists don't realize that the budget has been going up and up, and donations have been growing, but the budget for research has been shrinking," said Brian Lichty, a researcher at McMaster University who is looking into treating cancer with viruses that kill tumours. "So they are surprised and disappointed when they find out that this is the case, and the trend."
Marketplace analyzed the Canadian Cancer Society's financial reports dating back a dozen years. It discovered that each year, as the society raised more dollars, the proportion of money it spent on research dropped dramatically -- from 40.3 per cent in 2000 to under 22 per cent in 2011.
Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/07/04/cancer-society-funding.html
"Most scientists don't realize that the budget has been going up and up, and donations have been growing, but the budget for research has been shrinking," said Brian Lichty, a researcher at McMaster University who is looking into treating cancer with viruses that kill tumours. "So they are surprised and disappointed when they find out that this is the case, and the trend."
Marketplace analyzed the Canadian Cancer Society's financial reports dating back a dozen years. It discovered that each year, as the society raised more dollars, the proportion of money it spent on research dropped dramatically -- from 40.3 per cent in 2000 to under 22 per cent in 2011.
Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/07/04/cancer-society-funding.html