Slots: Institutions are limited to one or two submissions as a host institution (see below for details).
The first submission from a given institution may address any cancer type.
Institutions will be allowed a second submission as a host institution only for a translational or clinical stage project that primarily focuses on one of the following four cancer types: upper GI, glioblastoma, triple-negative breast cancer, or pancreatic cancer.
No more than two applications may be submitted by any one institution.
The “host institution” is the institution of the Principal Investigator on the application. There are no institutional restrictions for Co-Investigators – investigators from a given institution may be Co-Investigators on an unlimited number of applications.
The term “institution” will be interpreted broadly – for example, a medical school and academic department at the same university will be considered the same institution. Please direct questions about institutional eligibility to grants@themarkfoundation.org.
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, July 25th, 2025, 5pm PT Closed.
LOI: September 3rd, 2025
External Deadline: January 2026
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Anticipated Award Amount: $3,000,000 disbursed over a 3-year term.
Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions on citizenship or geography.
Applicants must have an independent faculty appointment (tenure-track or equivalent) at a non-profit academic/research institution.
Investigators may be a co-PI or collaborator on more than one proposal, but may only serve as Principal Investigator on one proposal.
Investigators who are currently a co-PI on an Endeavor team are permitted to apply as co-PI or collaborator on a new application.
Link to Award: https://themarkfoundation.org/endeavor/
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The Mark Foundation Endeavor Awards support collaborative research projects that bring together investigators with diverse areas of expertise to tackle challenges in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. These grants are awarded to teams of three or more investigators to generate and integrate data from diverse lines of research and transform those insights into advances for cancer patients that could not be achieved by individual efforts. A description of the teams granted Endeavor Awards in 2025 can be found here.
Project Eligibility:
- Basic, translational, and clinical projects are eligible.
- The project must seek to address an overarching, urgent scientific question.
- Sub-projects should be designed to elucidate various aspects of the overarching question, theme, or focus.
- The output of the individual team members (data, samples, hypotheses, compounds, etc.) must be integrated and/or shared in a way that makes the impact of the project as a whole larger than the sum of its parts.
- Proposed projects must not be supported by other sources of funding. Finalists will be asked to discuss any potential overlap with other current or pending awards.
- We welcome projects addressing substantial unmet needs in any type of cancer. We particularly encourage teams with innovative ideas for therapeutic strategies for upper GI, glioblastoma, triple-negative breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer to consider applying in this round.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.