Action Medical Research

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.

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

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

• Children's medical research
• Rare disease research
• Charity fundraising
• Research grants
• Community events

Headquarters

HQ city

Horsham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Lottery: The Fight Back Friday Lottery provides another fundraising mechanism for supporters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core 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

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

25 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• LifeArccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint 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.
• BornecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership 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 UKcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint funding of research searching for a new drug treatment for children with epidermolysis bullosa, a rare debilitating skin condition.
• Cystic Fibrosis TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint 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-TminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint funding of research into Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) in childhood.
• The Waterloo FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint funding of research into developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children.
• British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funding Research Training Fellowships in childhood neurological conditions including research on Rasmussen's encephalitis.
• The Addenbrooke's Charitable TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunded research to improve the treatment of children with traumatic brain injury.
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Charitable TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint funding of research including improving movement through brain stimulation for cerebral palsy.
• Rosetrees TrustminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funded Research Training Fellowship to improve the safety and effectiveness of a new treatment for peanut allergy.
• Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's CharitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded 13 project grants from across the UK.
• Neuroblastoma UKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded a project to help children's immune systems to fight cancer.
• Cure KidsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded with Sands research to help prevent stillbirth.
• SandsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded with Cure Kids research to help prevent stillbirth.
• SMA UKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded research into a potential new treatment for spinal muscular atrophy.
• The Brain Tumour CharityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded research into brain cancer treatments for children.
• Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Charity and Great North Children's Hospital FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded research into language comprehension in children with cerebral palsy and severe movement problems.
• Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunded 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 FuenlabradacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded study to test a new drug treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C.
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPreviously co-funded a four-year project developing a new computerised way of interpreting MRI scans of babies' brains.
• MS SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJointly funded the first major UK scientific study into multiple sclerosis (MS) in children.
• King's College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAwarded 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 HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClinical collaborators providing a dataset of hundreds of cases for fetal cardiac screening research with King's College London.
• Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)coreOthersFounder 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 RegulatorcoreOthersRegistered with and regulated by the Fundraising Regulator, displaying their badge and validation code.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct 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

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCcZwngF52y9RNq8QLQd2fUA
• Facebookfacebook.com/actionmedres
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/action-medical-research
• Instagraminstagram.com/actionmedres
• Xx.com/actionmedres

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Action Medical Research