Fighting childhood cancer together: A blueprint for cross-border philanthropy

For families affected by rare paediatric cancers like brain tumours or leukaemia, accessing the right care and research support remains a major challenge across Europe. These conditions are often under-researched, with few treatment options and small, dispersed patient populations. In such cases, advancing research and improving care isn’t just difficult – it’s nearly impossible without cross-border collaboration and pooled research funding.

At the European Science Foundation (ESF), we’ve seen first-hand how philanthropic cooperation across borders can help bridge this gap. Since 2019, we’ve implemented the Fight Kids Cancer (FKC) initiative, a collaborative research funding programme established by several European childhood cancer foundations, including KickCancer (Belgium), Imagine for Margo (France), and The Kriibskrank Kanner Foundation (Luxembourg), the CRIS Cancer Foundation (Spain, France, UK) and KiKa (Netherlands). Its mission is to accelerate progress in paediatric oncology by pooling funding, expertise and commitment across countries.

The results speak for themselves. Since its inception, FKC has mobilised nearly €30 million to support cutting-edge research, transnational clinical trials, and training for the next generation of scientists in paediatric oncology. But the real lesson lies in how this was achieved: through shared vision, a flexible and a long-term funding mechanism and close engagement with patients, researchers and funders alike.

As Delphine Heenen, founder of KickCancer and one of the founders of Fight Kids Cancer, put it: “This programme succeeded because it gave researchers the breathing room to explore new ideas, thanks to its long-term perspective and the fact that it runs every year – unlike many traditional funding programmes, which only occasionally include paediatric oncology, leaving specialists in this field without reliable support.”

Behind this success is more than shared vision – it is the infrastructure for collaboration that makes it work. ESF plays a critical role as a neutral facilitator – managing joint calls and funding, coordinating expert panels, ensuring rigorous selection processes and harmonising reporting. “ESF enabled Fight Kids Cancer to operate without a legal entity,” said Heenen. “Their support made it possible to channel multiple funders into a single, coordinated programme – with clear governance, strong oversight and a bias-free review process.”

Despite the success of initiatives like FKC, joint philanthropic research funding programmes remain the exception, not the norm. Most philanthropic support still operates at the national level, constrained by legal and administrative barriers (Philea and TGE, 2024, “Removing Obstacles to Cross-Border Philanthropy; The Time Is Now”). But for rare diseases, this model is not sufficient. Diseases don’t stop at borders – neither should funding.

The same principle applies to other fields in life sciences: rare genetic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, long Covid, specific mental health conditions and other emerging health threats. These complex challenges require large-scale data sharing, international trials, and harmonised protocols – all of which demand collaborative funding approaches. (The same logic may well extend to underfunded research areas beyond health.)

Another complexity is that paediatric cancer research, like many rare disease areas, is a highly specialised field. This increases the risk of conflicts of interest in the review process. A truly independent, high-quality evaluation process is therefore essential to ensure trust among funders and researchers alike – and to guarantee that the best research is funded based on merit alone.

FKC’s experience highlights a few elements that can make collaborative efforts successful:

• Joint calls between like-minded foundations, particularly in under-researched areas where pooling data and creating a critical mass is essential
• Trusted intermediary organisations – like ESF – that can provide a neutral legal identity for collaborative endeavours and joint programmes, manage cross-national calls and funding and ensure transparent and fair selection procedures
• Closer alignment between funders, researchers and patient groups to define shared priorities and assess real-world impact
• And crucially, a mindset shift – from fragmented, national funding to mission-driven, collaborative ecosystems

Philanthropic organisations – especially those in the Philea community – are uniquely placed to lead this shift. They bring agility, strategic focus and a tolerance for innovation and risk – qualities that can be challenging to mobilise in traditional public funding frameworks. These strengths make philanthropy-led joint initiatives not only effective but also an essential complement to larger-scale EU instruments (specifically, the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance – ERDERA). Philanthropic efforts can amplify and accelerate these goals, ensuring they remain grounded in patient needs and research realities. There is a growing urgency to expand the scope of collaborative funding efforts to include a wider range of underfunded research areas. Whether through joint calls, shared governance models, or coordinated learning platforms, these efforts can bring greater coherence, efficiency and impact.

FKC’s success offers more than a roadmap for funding in paediatric oncology – it demonstrates the power of cross-border collaboration and the value of real common pots of funding. For children and families affected by rare diseases, this isn’t just about funding science – it’s about creating hope. When philanthropic organisations work together across borders, they don’t just accelerate discovery. They build solidarity. They give patients and families the powerful message that they are not alone.