Action Medical Research
Action Medical Research is a UK charity founded in 1952 that funds peer-reviewed medical research into rare childhood diseases, premature birth, and childhood cancers through grants and fellowships, supported by donations, fundraising events, legacies, and co-funding partnerships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1952
- HeadquartersHorsham, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Action Medical Research does
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide charity founded in 1952 that funds medical research aimed at saving and changing the lives of babies, children, and young people. The charity concentrates on three principal research areas: fighting rare childhood diseases (where 30% of affected children die before their fifth birthday), premature birth and pregnancy complications, and childhood cancers (with nearly 4,000 under-25s diagnosed annually in the UK). Grant-making is delivered through Research Training Fellowships and Project Grants, awarded via an open-competition peer review process certified as best practice by the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC).
The organisation operates as a company limited by guarantee, registered as a charity in England & Wales (208701) and Scotland (SC039284), headquartered at 167-169 Great Portland Street, London. It co-funds research with a network of 25+ partners including LifeArc, Borne, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, the Medical Research Council, and disease-specific charities such as DEBRA UK and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Notable funded research includes a £191,000+ grant to King's College London for machine-learning-enabled ultrasound detection of fetal coarctation of the aorta, in clinical collaboration with Evelina London Children's Hospital.
Revenue is generated entirely through charitable giving channels: individual donations, challenge events (RIDE Wessex Downs cycling, Race the Sun team challenges, running events, trekking), social fundraising events, corporate partnerships, legacy giving (gifts in wills), tribute funds, and the Fight Back Friday Lottery. Distribution is via the charity's own website, email, and social channels, supported by celebrity ambassadors including Davina McCall (a 50-year partnership) and the Paddington Bear character. Action Medical Research does not develop proprietary technology products and does not sell goods or services commercially.
Action Medical Research firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Action Medical Research
- Legal name
- Action Medical Research
- Website
- https://action.org.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1952
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Action Medical Research is a UK charity founded in 1952 that funds peer-reviewed medical research into rare childhood diseases, premature birth, and childhood cancers through grants and fellowships, supported by donations, fundraising events, legacies, and co-funding partnerships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Action Medical Research industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Medical Research Charity Funding
- NAICS
- Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)
- SIC
- Services-Health Services (8000)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS) (BPAGACAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)
Keywords
Where Action Medical Research is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Horsham
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Action Medical Research business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Fundraising: The primary revenue stream comes from public donations, fundraising events (cycling, running, trekking challenges), corporate sponsorships, social events, and fair revenues. The charity organizes various challenge events and social gatherings to raise funds.
- Legacy Giving: The organization accepts gifts in wills, where supporters leave bequests to fund future medical research. This represents a long-term revenue stream from planned giving.
- Lottery: The Fight Back Friday Lottery provides another fundraising mechanism for supporters.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Action Medical Research product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide charity that funds vital medical research focused on babies, children, and young people. It awards Research Training Fellowships and Project Grants to researchers studying rare diseases, premature birth, pregnancy complications, and childhood cancers. The charity raises funds through public donations, fundraising events, corporate sponsorships, lottery participation, and legacy giving.
Product overview
Action Medical Research is a UK children's medical research charity operating primarily as a grant-giving foundation rather than a technology product company. The organisation funds medical research through two main vehicles: Research Training Fellowships for developing researcher careers and Project Grants for specific research initiatives. Fundraising activities include cycling events (RIDE Wessex Downs), running challenges, team challenges (Race the Sun), trekking, corporate events, social events (Dine with Davina, Killer Heels & Cocktails), and fairs. The charity also operates a lottery (Fightback Friday Lottery) and offers tribute fund pages for memorial giving. The organisation has a 70-year history dating back to polio vaccine development and focuses on rare diseases, premature birth, and childhood cancers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Medical Research Funding Charitable grant funding programme that awards research training fellowships and project grants to medical researchers studying conditions affecting babies, children, and young people. Targeted at UK-based medical researchers and institutions.
- Fundraising Events Organised challenge events including cycling rides (RIDE Wessex Downs), running events, team challenges (Race the Sun triathlon-style), trekking, corporate events, social galas (Dine with Davina, Killer Heels & Cocktails, Ladies' Lunches), and fairs to raise funds for children's medical research. Targeted at individual supporters and corporate teams across the UK.
- Tribute Fund Pages Online memorial pages allowing supporters to create lasting tributes to loved ones while raising funds for the charity. Targeted at bereaved families and community fundraisers.
- Fightback Friday Lottery Weekly lottery game operated as a fundraising mechanism for supporters. Targeted at UK-based individual supporters.
- Research Appeals Targeted fundraising campaigns focusing on specific childhood conditions such as Rasmussen's encephalitis and rare diseases. Targeted at individual donors moved by specific family stories and medical causes.
- Legacy Giving Programme Planned giving programme where supporters leave bequests to fund future medical research, supported by a free will guide. Targeted at individual supporters considering gifts in their wills.
Quantifiable outcome
- 30% of children with a rare disease will lose their lives before their fifth birthday
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Action Medical Research
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Action Medical Research technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Action Medical Research partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
25 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- LifeArccoreJoint funding partnership to fund research from across the UK into children's rare diseases, including projects on severe childhood epilepsy, rare childhood developmental disorders, rare and incurable childhood brain tumours, Krabbe disease, face masks for children with facial differences, rare inherited kidney conditions, improving cystinosis medicines, repurposing drugs for Neurofibromatosis type 1, treatment for Niemann-Pick type C1 and Wolfram syndrome, and gene-based therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
- BornecorePartnership to tackle premature birth, including funding research to understand how labour starts, investigate surgical procedures to reduce preterm birth risk after emergency caesarean, develop new antimicrobial therapy to prevent preterm labour, develop cell therapy to prevent preterm birth, and investigate causes of preterm birth.
- DEBRA UKcoreJoint funding of research searching for a new drug treatment for children with epidermolysis bullosa, a rare debilitating skin condition.
- Cystic Fibrosis TrustcoreJoint funding of research to develop new drug treatments to help improve the lives of children with cystic fibrosis and predict long-term health outcomes for children with inconclusive diagnosis.
- Action for A-TminorJoint funding of research into Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) in childhood.
- The Waterloo FoundationminorJoint funding of research into developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children.
- British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA)coreCo-funding Research Training Fellowships in childhood neurological conditions including research on Rasmussen's encephalitis.
- The Addenbrooke's Charitable TrustminorFunded research to improve the treatment of children with traumatic brain injury.
- Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Charitable TrustminorJoint funding of research including improving movement through brain stimulation for cerebral palsy.
- Rosetrees TrustminorCo-funded Research Training Fellowship to improve the safety and effectiveness of a new treatment for peanut allergy.
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's CharitycoreJointly funded 13 project grants from across the UK.
- Neuroblastoma UKminorJointly funded a project to help children's immune systems to fight cancer.
- Cure KidsminorJointly funded with Sands research to help prevent stillbirth.
- SandsminorJointly funded with Cure Kids research to help prevent stillbirth.
- SMA UKminorJointly funded research into a potential new treatment for spinal muscular atrophy.
- The Brain Tumour CharityminorJointly funded research into brain cancer treatments for children.
- Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Charity and Great North Children's Hospital FoundationminorJointly funded research into language comprehension in children with cerebral palsy and severe movement problems.
- Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO)coreFunded research in Scotland including projects to prevent or treat serious lung infections, understand genes involved in developmental language disorder, understand vision in children born to mothers taking methadone, and help children born with cleft palate speak clearly.
- Niemann-Pick Research Foundation, Niemann-Pick UK, NPSuisse, and Niemann-Pick de FuenlabradacoreJointly funded study to test a new drug treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C.
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilcorePreviously co-funded a four-year project developing a new computerised way of interpreting MRI scans of babies' brains.
- MS SocietyminorJointly funded the first major UK scientific study into multiple sclerosis (MS) in children.
- King's College LondoncoreAwarded over £191,000 to King's College London researchers to develop improved detection methods for Coarctation of the Aorta in unborn babies using ultrasound and computational models, with clinical collaboration from Evelina London Children's Hospital.
- Evelina London Children's HospitalcoreClinical collaborators providing a dataset of hundreds of cases for fetal cardiac screening research with King's College London.
- Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)coreFounder member of AMRC, the national membership organisation of leading medical and health research charities. AMRC assesses peer review processes every five years and awarded Action Medical Research a certificate of 'Best practice in medical and health research peer review'.
- Fundraising RegulatorcoreRegistered with and regulated by the Fundraising Regulator, displaying their badge and validation code.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Action Medical Research competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Wellchild: UK charity for seriously ill children, funding research and providing direct care support. Comparable in mission scope and child-health grantmaking approach.
- Sparks (children's medical research charity): UK charity funding pioneering children's medical research into rare and complex conditions. Direct peer in scope of research funding, peer-review process, and donor proposition.
- Borne: UK charity focused on premature birth research and prevention. Direct peer on premature-birth research funding and a formal joint-funding partner of Action Medical Research.
- Children with Cancer UK: UK charity funding research into childhood cancers. Directly comparable on mission focus (childhood cancer research) and fundraising model, though narrower disease scope.
- Together for Short Lives: UK charity supporting children with life-limiting conditions and their families. Comparable on children's serious-illness mission and donor proposition, though greater emphasis on palliative care than research.
- Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly CLIC Sargent): UK children's cancer charity providing support and funding cancer research for children and young people. Comparable fundraising model and beneficiary focus on children with cancer.
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity: Major UK children's medical research charity funding research and clinical care, with whom Action Medical Research has formal co-funding partnerships on 13 joint project grants. Closest direct peer in mission and grantmaking scope.
Broad incumbents
- Wellcome Trust: Massive UK-based global health research foundation with vastly larger endowment. Provides broader comparative context on health research funding scale and rigour expectations, though operating at much larger scale and broader scope than Action Medical Research.
Emerging players
- LifeArc: UK medical research charity funding translational rare disease and paediatric research. Formal co-funding partner with Action Medical Research on multiple rare disease projects; operates as both peer and partner in the children's rare disease space.
- Cystic Fibrosis Trust: UK charity funding CF research and care. Direct overlap on childhood CF research and joint co-funding partner on Action Medical Research projects; narrower disease focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Action Medical Research social profiles
Digital presenceAction Medical Research financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Action Medical Research leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Action Medical Research funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Action Medical Research M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Action Medical Research
What does Action Medical Research do?
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide charity that funds vital medical research focused on babies, children, and young people. It awards Research Training Fellowships and Project Grants to researchers studying rare diseases, premature birth, pregnancy complications, and childhood cancers. The charity raises funds through public donations, fundraising events, corporate sponsorships, lottery participation, and legacy giving.
Is Action Medical Research a public or private company?
Action Medical Research is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Action Medical Research founded?
Action Medical Research was founded in 1952. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Action Medical Research based?
Action Medical Research is headquartered in Horsham, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Action Medical Research make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Donations and Fundraising is the primary driver. The others are legacy Giving and lottery.
Who are Action Medical Research's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Wellchild, Sparks (children's medical research charity), Borne, Children with Cancer UK, Together for Short Lives, Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly CLIC Sargent) and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. Wellcome Trust is listed as a broad incumbent. Emerging players are LifeArc and Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
Does Action Medical Research have an API?
No public API is recorded for Action Medical Research.
What industry is Action Medical Research in?
Action Medical Research's product category is Medical Research Charity Funding. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGACAA, Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS), with a secondary code of BPAGAKAL, Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations. Its NAICS code is 813212 and its SIC code is 8000.