UNITED STATES—The Biden Cancer Initiative, a cancer charity founded by former Vice President Joe Biden, gave no donations to research, and instead spent most of its contributions on staff salaries and vacations, newly released tax filings show. The Biden Cancer Initiative was created by Biden, after his oldest son, Beau passed away in 2015 due to complications from brain cancer.
The New York Post first reported that tax filings from The Biden Cancer Initiative show the charity amassed a total of $4,809,619 in donated contributions, but spent $3,070,301 on private funding such as salaries. Gregory Simon, a former Pfizer executive and president of The Biden Cancer Initiative, reportedly received $429,850 from donations during the 2018 fiscal year, according to the original report.
The Chief of Staff, Director of Communications, and the Direct of Science all received six figure salaries as well. An additional $58,738 was spent on conferences, and $59,356 was spent on travel expenses for staff.
The Biden Cancer Initiative’s mission statement states:
“The Biden Cancer Initiative will develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes.” H
The tax filings also show no evidence that the charity contributed any funds for cancer research or cancer prevention.
In 2019, the Biden Cancer Initiative had to pause its operations due to Joe Biden’s entrance into the presidential race. The organization is still official and active, but has slowed down some of its operations.
