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Grant Review Process

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) funds research across the biomedical research spectrum for all types of childhood cancer. It offers grants in three main areas: Early Career Research, which gives young scientists a kickstart in their scientific career, Research Accelerator, which advances the pace of innovative research, and Quality of Life and Care, which focuses on psychosocial/behavioral health outcomes for children with cancer and their families.

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ALSF is the only childhood cancer research organization that has been given the National Cancer Institute Peer Review Funder designation for rigorous selection of research grants.

ALSF’s philosophy is to fund the best childhood cancer research projects, vetting grant applications to make sure that our funding supports the most substantive and critical contributions to the field of childhood cancer research. Grantees are selected through a peer review process that follows best practices:

  • External scientific reviewers are used
  • The process is free from conflict of interest
  • Applications are ranked based on scientific excellence
  • Grants are primarily awarded based on peer review ranking

Our competitive grant categories and rigorous peer review process attracts hundreds of grant applications each year. Grants are evaluated and scored by our reviewers who sit on a Scientific Review Board (SRB). The SRB considers review criteria such as the scientific significance and impact for children with cancer when scoring the grants. The goal of the process is to fund the best science.

Co-Funding Process