Thought Leadership

MILKEN INSTITUTE REVIEW
Melissa Stevens

In the past few years, the media has showered us with headlines about record-setting biotech financing—outsized venture-capital rounds, unprecedented public market appetite for IPOs, and robust sector returns. But a closer look suggests there is more froth than substance at this frontier of medicine and science.

In the News

Private Foundations: Searching for the Sweet Spot FINANCIAL TIMES Families search for the sweet spot in medical research. In the U.S., philanthropy amounts to about 3 percent of all medical research funding, says Melissa Stevens, executive director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy at the Milken Institute. “But it can have an outsized impact,” she says.

Private Foundations: Searching for the Sweet Spot
FINANCIAL TIMES

Families search for the sweet spot in medical research. In the U.S., philanthropy amounts to about 3 percent of all medical research funding, says Melissa Stevens, executive director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy at the Milken Institute. “But it can have an outsized impact,” she says.

Helping the Wealthy Give Away their Millions CNBC Melissa Stevens sat down with CNBC's Robert Frank to talk about the newest efforts to help individuals build high-impact philanthropy portfolios.

Helping the Wealthy Give Away their Millions
CNBC

Melissa Stevens sat down with CNBC's Robert Frank to talk about the newest efforts to help individuals build high-impact philanthropy portfolios.

Funding: Donor Drugs NATURE For the past decade, venture philanthropists have been working to propel promising therapies and vaccines into the clinic, with some success. “They want to roll up their sleeves and understand how their dollars are being used to address unmet needs, to overcome research roadblocks and to take advantage of promising new discoveries,” says Melissa Stevens, executive director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy at the Milken Institute in Washington, DC

Funding: Donor Drugs
NATURE

For the past decade, venture philanthropists have been working to propel promising therapies and vaccines into the clinic, with some success. “They want to roll up their sleeves and understand how their dollars are being used to address unmet needs, to overcome research roadblocks and to take advantage of promising new discoveries,” says Melissa Stevens, executive director of the Center for Strategic Philanthropy at the Milken Institute in Washington, DC

Milken Institute Panels

Activist Philanthropy: Upping the Ante for Giving A new generation of donors is changing philanthropy. Accustomed to solving problems and driving change, they aren't waiting for retirement to begin sharing vast portions of their fortunes to meet worthy goals.

Activist Philanthropy: Upping the Ante for Giving

A new generation of donors is changing philanthropy. Accustomed to solving problems and driving change, they aren't waiting for retirement to begin sharing vast portions of their fortunes to meet worthy goals.

Strategic Advocacy: Persuading People to Care Solving the world's most intractable problems isn't just about great ideas and great intentions—it requires a bolder way of thinking and doing. The most effective change-makers have learned to use their influence and resources in innovative ways to inspire others to join the crusade.

Strategic Advocacy: Persuading People to Care

Solving the world's most intractable problems isn't just about great ideas and great intentions—it requires a bolder way of thinking and doing. The most effective change-makers have learned to use their influence and resources in innovative ways to inspire others to join the crusade.

New Wave Giving: How the Next Generation of Philanthropists is Rethinking the Model  What happens when you mix next-generation energy and ingenuity with philanthropic capital? The answer is you get innovations that bring a business sense—and greater impact—to charitable giving.

New Wave Giving: How the Next Generation of Philanthropists is Rethinking the Model 

What happens when you mix next-generation energy and ingenuity with philanthropic capital? The answer is you get innovations that bring a business sense—and greater impact—to charitable giving.