Venture Capital Strategy
New research ideas start small and require significant testing. The Morton Cure Paralysis Fund has defined a niche that adds impetus to this process. MCPF works like a venture capital firm, supporting projects with cutting-edge ideas that enable researchers to gather the proof-of-concept data needed to pursue multimillion-dollar grants from large financiers such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. In effect, MCPF helps place new research products in the investigation pipeline.
This strategy of seeking out and validating cutting-edge research and helping it make the leap into the mainstream multiplies the impact of your contributions. For example, MCPF supported Mayo Clinic with a $25,000 grant to develop a biopolymer spinal cord implant. Successful results enabled the researcher to win a $1.5 million competitive grant from NIH to fully develop the approach.
MCPF holds the line on expenses
“Every dollar must count!” is a major tenet of MCPF. To hold expenses down, MCPF has remained an all-volunteer organization throughout most of its history, with thousands of man-hours and materials donated by generous volunteers and sponsors. This stewardship has earned the respect of our donors. Following the 2000 market crash, several corporate sponsors with trimmed budgets maintained MCPF funding because they saw that our funds stayed focused on our mission. The more money we keep focused on research, the faster people in wheelchairs will stand and walk again!