KickCancer’s research projects support the brightest scientists across Europe working on one goal: better treatments for kids with cancer. From developing child-specific drugs to launching smart clinical trials and setting up essential infrastructure like a platform that can host several trials at a time and add new trials over time, each project tackles a real, urgent gap in paediatric cancer care.
KickCancer’s main lever to improve research and treatments for children with cancer is to finance research projects.
Given that each type of paediatric cancer is, fortunately, very rare, we focus our support on the most promising research projects with a European scope. This approach ensures adequate patient recruitment for clinical trials and the collection of sufficient cancer samples for fundamental research, such as translational studies.
FIGHT KIDS CANCER is an international nonprofit organisation founded by KickCancer, Imagine for Margo (France), the Kriibskrank Kanner Foundation (Luxembourg), the CRIS Cancer Foundation (Spain & United Kingdom) and KiKa. More organisations could join the adventure in the future.
For researchers, FKC offers two main advantages:
- Cross-border funding: Researchers can apply for a single grant to fund a multi-country project, rather than seeking separate national grants. They report to a single group of funders, making the process more efficient and collaborative.
- Long-term perspective for researchers: The recurring nature of the programme — with annual calls — gives researchers time to refine and mature their ideas, knowing they can apply when their project is ready.
For Patients, FKC also brings tremendous value by:
- Patient-focused selection: Projects are selected not only for their scientific excellence and efficient use of funds, but also for their potential impact on patients. Patient benefit is a core criterion of the selection process.
- Driving a research agenda: The programme enables funders to actively promote broader goals in research, such as data sharing, open-access publication, and quality of life for patients.
After three years of existence, the FIGHT KIDS CANCER programme noted a concerning underrepresentation of research targeting paediatric cancers with the highest unmet medical needs — specifically, brain tumours and sarcomas.
To address this gap, FKC launched two dedicated calls for proposals focusing exclusively on these critical areas. The first, centred on paediatric brain tumours, concluded in 2024 and resulted in the selection of eight innovative research projects. The second, focusing on sarcomas, is scheduled for completion in 2026.
In 2025, and again from 2027 onwards, the programme will return to an “all cancers” approach, ensuring that all paediatric cancer types continue to receive attention and support.
In 2023, we introduced a new funding opportunity to further support the research community: the Innovation Award.
Unlike traditional research grants, which require a detailed budget and a clearly defined research plan, the Innovation Award offers researchers the freedom to explore bold ideas, foster creativity, and pursue genuine innovation with potential clinical impact.
To ensure the highest quality selection process, we partnered with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a renowned American organisation with extensive experience in managing this type of award.
Over 6 years, from 2020 to 2025, FIGHT KIDS CANCER led to the funding of 48 research projects and 2 innovation awards for a total amount of almost 43 million euros, out of which 8,2 million euros are funded by KickCancer.
RUN TO. KICK is a family-friendly charity run where every kilometre fuels the fight against childhood cancer. There is no stopwatch, just one shared goal: run or walk, raise money and accelerate innovation for the kids.
100% of the money raised goes to research. Ready, set, cure!
