Research in the Hope Center is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, voluntary health organizations, and other agencies. Generally these grants are awarded to individual investigators to support specific research projects.

Donations to the Hope Center from individuals and foundations provide a critical part of our research and training mission. Your donations advance Hope Center goals because they support important activities that traditional grants cannot. For example:

• Projects which are too timely or important to await the usual 2-3 year lag for grant funding.
• Research projects which are highly innovative or experimental.
• Projects testing new drugs and therapeutic approaches which are promising but not ready for pharmaceutical company development.
• Shared equipment and resources for research collaboration between labs and between departments.
• Recruitment and retention of outstanding scientists, and training of new scientists.

Private support for brain disease research is especially important now because government funding levels are very low. In 2006 and 2007, only 7-9% of all approved National Institute of Health (NIH) grant proposals will be funded. While Hope Center faculty are often successful in competing for research grants, many of the most important projects in neurological disease research must now wait 2-3 years for funding, and some can never be completed. In the meantime, incurable nervous system diseases continue to pose an overwhelming burden on individuals, families, and society.

Donations to the Hope Center are cost-effective. We establish facilities and equipment that can be shared by dozens of different laboratories, and provide seed grants which greatly enhance the ability of innovative scientists to collaborate, discover, and compete for external funding.

You can donate to Washington University with confidence.  For six consecutive years, Washington University has been recognized by Charity Navigator — America's premier charity evaluator — as one of its top-rated, four-star institutions.

Click here to learn ways that you can contribute to the Hope Center's mission.