{"id":1637,"date":"2008-04-21T14:11:23","date_gmt":"2008-04-21T14:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/04\/21\/feeding_the_hand_that_feeds_you\/"},"modified":"2008-04-21T14:11:23","modified_gmt":"2008-04-21T14:11:23","slug":"feeding_the_hand_that_feeds_you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/04\/21\/feeding_the_hand_that_feeds_you\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding the hand that feeds you"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the exception of two years on the dark side1<\/a><\/sup>, my entire career has been spent in cancer research. Both the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research<\/a>, where I did my PhD, and the place in which I did my postdoc and now find myself working once again2<\/a><\/sup>, are funded primarily through charitable donations.
\nPeople in both places are exceedingly grateful for the support they receive, but staff attitudes to reciprocal funding differ enormously.<\/p>\n


\nBack in Glasgow, any attempts to organise an event benefiting Cancer Research UK were doomed to failure. On the other hand, try to raise money for, say, heart and stroke research, or for a local cancer hospice, and people would be more than happy to donate money, bake cakes, bring in their used books for sale etc. The argument was that it was pointless for people paid by the CRUK to give money back to the charity, who would use it to pay our salaries, which we would then give back to them, so they could pay our salaries. A cycle of futile generosity.
\nHere in Vancouver, staff members from PIs down to students are constantly raising money from their colleagues to give to the Foundation that funds our work. Not one person I’ve spoken to sees any kind of problem with the situation.
\nSo what’s the difference? I think a large part of it is that fundraising events here are much more conducive to participation – sponsored runs, walks, lotteries etc. Participants raise money from their colleagues, but also from their family and outside friends.
\nI still retain some cynicism from my days in Glasgow, but I don’t want to look like a miserable Scottish git3<\/a><\/sup>. So when I realised that the biggest event that funds my department’s work happens only a couple of weeks after the MS Society’s 60 km cycle ride<\/a>, to which I had already verbally committed (my friend works for the Society), I had a decision to make.
\nSo I’m going to cycle and raise money for the MS Society, and volunteer at the event that benefits my department.
\nGood compromise, eh? I won’t be feeding the hand that feeds me, but I’ll be showing them my appreciation and helping the actual fundraisers to get the most out of the event.
\nI’m hoping my boss agrees.
\n____________________________
\n1. Does it get much darker than marketing for a biotech company?
\n2. The convoluted wording is to avoid Google bringing up this post if someone searches for my institute’s name. It’s not exactly hard to work out, but I don’t want to make it any easier.
\n3. I’m actually English, but North Americans tend not to distinguish between the two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the exception of two years on the dark side1, my entire career has been spent in cancer research. Both the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, where I did my PhD, and the place in which I did my postdoc … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}