Funding Basic Research

The Foundation of Our Future

Federal funding of basic research is on the decline. In the face of a world economy increasingly based on science and technology, the continuation of such trends can only lead to further decline, both in the U.S. and its relative standing compared to other nations around the world.

Six foundations have come together to form the Science Philanthropy Alliance with a shared objective to turn this tide of decline. The foundations – the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Kavli Foundation, Simons Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and The Research Corporation for Science Advancement – spoke to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the U.K. Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology on July 17, 2013 at the National Academy of Sciences. They held that:

“Our premise is that building bridges within and among government, universities, and philanthropy, the three great American pillars that support and carry out basic research, is critical to ensuring our nation’s science and innovation leadership.”

Read the full remarks from the Science Philanthropy Alliance.