UNITED STATES—On Sunday, November 15, The New York Post reported that newly discovered tax documents revealed that The Biden Cancer Initiative, a cancer charity founded in 2017 by former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden, spent over $3 million on payroll and $0 on research for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years.
Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot Task Force under the Obama Administration in 2015 after his son died of brain cancer. After leaving office Biden founded the Biden Cancer Initiative in 2017. The organization was established to help develop cancer treatments and accelerate progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, detection, research, and care.
Federal tax data for the 2017-2018 fiscal years show that the charity took in $4,809,619 and spent $3,070,301 on staff salaries. In 2017, the charity spent $59,356 on travel, $56,738 on conferences, meetings, and conventions, and $0 on grants. In 2018, the charity spent $97,149 on travel and $742,933 on conferences, meetings, and conventions, and $0 on grants.
“Every minute, every day matters to patients and we must bring that same sense of urgency to cancer research and care systems…We are joining everyone who spends their days thinking about preventing cancer, about better understanding its biological basis, about bringing early detection and education to all communities, about developing new treatments and therapies, and about caring for patients and their families through some of the hardest days anyone faces. We are on your team. And we are proud to be working alongside you,” said Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden in a statement on June 26, 2017.
Joe and Jill stepped down from the Biden Cancer Initiative Board on April 25, 2019, to focus on the 2020 presidential race.
