A nonprofit cancer foundation created by former Vice President Joe Biden is shutting down after two years because of “unique circumstances.”
The Biden Cancer Initiative, a tribute to the 2020 candidate’s late son, Beau Biden, began operating in 2017 and has since pledged more than $400 million to improve cancer treatment. The nonprofit was founded as a philanthropic extension of the White House Cancer Moonshot program, an Obama-era program that seeks to accelerate a cure to cancer through public-private partnerships.
“For more than two years, the Biden Cancer Initiative has focused on creating and implementing programs and platforms that accelerate progress against cancer,” Greg Simon, president of the Biden Cancer Initiative said in a July 11 press release. “Today, we are suspending activities given our unique circumstances. We remain personally committed to the cause, but at this time will have to pause our efforts.”
Biden and his wife, Jill, resigned from the organization’s board on April 25 and urged the foundation to continue its important work.
“While our time and focus will be redirected for the foreseeable future, we are glad that the work of the Biden Cancer Initiative will not just continue but—we trust, with your guidance—it will thrive,” read a letter signed by the Bidens.
According to the Associated Press, the organization has had trouble maintaining momentum without the couple’s involvement.
On April 25, the couple also closed their personal charity, the Biden Foundation. The foundation, which focused on LGBT equality, strengthening the middle class, and protecting children, was created by Biden and his wife after they left the White House in 2017.
Both moves were likely an attempt to avoid conflict-of-interest accusations, such as those that plagued Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in 2016, and came just after Biden launched his 2020 bid.
Despite his formal resignation from the Biden Cancer Initiative and the organization’s subsequent dissolution, the 2020 front-runner is still committed to the cause.
“I’ve worked hard in my career, that I promise you, if I’m elected president you’re gonna see [the] single most important thing that changes America, we’re gonna cure cancer,” Biden told an Iowa audience in June.
It is unclear how Biden’s other nonprofits, the Beau Biden Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center for Diplomacy and Public Engagement, will be affected by his presidential run.
