I meant to post this last week.  People quite often ask me about the composition of the UK medical research charity sector in terms of number of charities and their size as regards the amount they fund

Well, two weeks ago the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) held their AGM and, with it published their excellent annual review which just goes from strength to strength in terms of telling the story about research charities.

The annual review for 10-11 contains an excellent graphic which shows the overall amount of research funding by charities of diffent sizes. The sector might be top-heavy in the sense that the vast majority of funding comes from four charities – Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and Arthritis Research UK. But, as you can see, it also has a long and thickening tail of many smaller funders who provide a solid base for exploring many new ideas and areas of science that would otherwise be neglected. Who would want to see even the lower group disappear in this parlours economic climate.

One small aside about the sector at the moment is the noticeable increase in the number of ‘UKs’ now wandering the landscape as charities rebrand. I can think of two ARUKs, one PUk, and an ORUK just off the top of my head. Who next?