Health Charities Consider Forming Coalitions

Groups that advocate on behalf of patients with particular diseases have started debating whether too many such groups exist, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Several groups lobby for every major ailment, including AIDS, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease, pleading for more money from Congress and aiming to help patients and families. Because many of the organizations end up competing with each other for donations, some of their officials now are wondering if they should join forces to attract greater interest to their cause.

At least 141 groups seek to help people with brain tumors, says the Rob Tufel, executive director of the National Brain Tumor Foundation. As a result, he says, patients and families must sort through too many organizations and Web sites to find information.

“Competition is good because it keeps us on our toes, but at some point it becomes ineffective,” says Mr. Tufel.

To head off competition for the same donors and researchers to sit on their boards, some groups have formed coalitions, such as breast cancer and prostate-cancer groups, that have been effective in lobbying on common issues. Other charities have decided to merge, like two lymphoma groups that joined to create the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

Not all small health charities see their proliferation as problematic. Many of the groups got started because a founder lost someone to the disease, and want to focus on local programs.

“I don’t agree with the idea that there are too many melanoma groups,” says Colette Coyne, the co-founder of Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign, in New York. “I’d be concerned about being committed to large amounts of money for a coalition when we’re never very sure what our income will be. Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage on the new proliferation of charities.

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