Beneficiaries

A very important aspect of every 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is its transparency into where its funds actually go.

The short answer to that question is easy—our beneficiary organizations, which in 2024 includes ten nonprofits:

How Our Beneficiary Gifts are Creating Change

2020-2023

CONTINUED GROWTH UPON SOLID MULTI-beneficiary PLATFORM

$4 million donated from 2020-2023

Three years ago, Tap Cancer Out unveiled its inaugural multi-beneficiary platform, broadening our capacity to make a more extensive impact. This extended beyond research, encompassing training, survivorship support, prevention, and even some adventurous initiatives. Up until the conclusion of 2023, Tap Cancer Out contributed $4 million to fifteen commendable beneficiary partners on behalf of the Tap Cancer Out BJJ community. This elevates our cumulative lifetime contributions to our partners to:

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation: $2,115,000
American Brain Tumor Association: $350,000
American Cancer Society: $100,000
Camp Sunshine: $350,000
Christopher’s Haven: $225,000
Colorectal Cancer Alliance: $55,000
Conquer Cancer Foundation: $115,000
Cure Cervical Cancer: $300,000
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: $105,000
First Descents: $475,000
Isabella Santos Foundation: $250,000
John Hopkins Department of Pediatric Oncology: $315,000
Little Pink Houses of Hope: $75,000
Pink Ribbon Girls: $50,000
Tom Coughlin Jay Fund: $75,000

In addition to our fifteen beneficiary partner gifts, we were also able to provide gifts to meaningful organizations, including some of our past beneficiary partners who have supported Tap Cancer Out since the beginning. Since our inception, these gifts include:

Cancer Outreach Foundation: $5,000
Fisher House San Antonio: $5,000
Head for the Cure: $5,000
Koenig Childhood Cancer Foundation: $20,000
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: $180,000
Livestrong at the YMCA Central Virginia: $5,000
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network: $655,000
St. Baldrick’s Foundation: $331,000
Stephen G Cancer Foundation: $5,000
Waves 4 Women: $5,000

2018 – 2019

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

$1,365,000 donated through 2019

If you don’t know who Alex Scott was, you should. Since before her first birthday Alex bravely fought cancer for years, all while raising money at her lemonade stand to help other children fight cancer too. Her spirit inspired many others to set up their own lemonade stands, and before her passing she raised over $1,000,000. Her parents, Liz and Jay Scott, committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Check out Jon’s interview with Liz below after the announcement of the partnership in late 2017:

Thanks to our gifts in 2018 and 2019, we have funded grants at the following institutions:

$100k – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
$75k – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
$75k – Stanford University School of Medicine
$75k – University of Miami
$50k – Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
$50k – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
$50k – Duke University

$50k – Emory University
$50k – University of Florida
$50k – University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
$50k – Children’s Hospital of Chicago
$50k – Nationwide Children’s Hospital
$50k – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
$50k – University of Massachusetts Medical School

$50k – Baylor College of Medicine
$25k – Harvard University
$25k – Northwestern University
$25k – Yale School of Medicine
$25k – New York University School of Medicine
$25k – University of North Carolina
$25k – Washington University (St. Louis)

2016 – 2017

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

$560,000 donated

Our partnership with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network started with a simple idea—with a 5-year survival rate under 10% and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US, pancreatic cancer is “one of the biggest, baddest dudes in the room.” But as BJJ practitioners, who better to fight?

In early 2016 we committed to help the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network make significant strides in early detection, treatment, and improving clinical trial opportunities for patients.

As part of our partnership, we funded the 2017 Tap Cancer Out – Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Translational Research Grant, which was awarded to Timothy Wang, MD. Dr. Wang is the Silberberg Professor of Medicine, chief of the digestive & liver diseases and director of the gastrointestinal cancer program at Columbia University Medical Center. The Co-principal Investigator is Paul Oberstein, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Wang and Dr. Oberstein’s project is entitled Targeting Cholinergic Receptors to Suppress Pancreatic Cancer and, thanks to Tap Cancer Out and PanCAN, their research will be funded through 2019. Click here to read the full report.

2014 – 2015

St. Baldrick’s Foundation

$236,000 donated

As a partner of St. Baldrick’s, we had the opportunity to jointly fund four pediatric cancer research grants. The researchers included Dr. Colleen Annesley of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, Dr. Jennifer Wu of Boston’s Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA, Dr. Juan Vasquez (as seen in the above video) of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, and Dr. Sun Choo of UCSD in San Diego, CA. You can read more about Dr. Annesley and Dr. Wu’s research in our 2014 Annual Report and more about Dr. Choo and Dr. Vasquez’s research in our 2015 Annual Report. We even had the honor of welcoming Dr. Wu at our 2014 Massachusetts BJJ Open and Dr. Choo at our 2016 San Diego BJJ Open to speak to our competitors and volunteers about how their research is helping improve cancer survivorship.

2012 – 2013

Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation

$85,000 donated

We were honored to work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as our inaugural beneficiary organization. Our donations to both the Connecticut and Massachusetts LLS chapters benefited localized patient support and education. It was important to us to work with the local chapters since our 2012 and 2013 fundraising tournaments took place in Stratford, CT, and Danvers, MA.

“The generous donations given by all of the participants and supporters of Tap Cancer Out enable The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to provide patients and their families with much needed support as well as funding life saving research,” said Brandy Sinisi, Campaign Manager for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Connecticut Chapter. “Thank you to the entire Tap Cancer Out team and their supporters for their hard work and determination to put an end not just to blood cancers, but to all cancers.”