About the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation
Our Mission
The Alliance Foundation exists to maximize dollars available for the most promising lifesaving research, treatment and prevention programs, while supporting the psychosocial needs of patients and families impacted by cancer.
Fundraising events and initiatives are carried out through a partnership between committed Roswell Park Alliance Foundation staff and volunteers.
Our History
In 1989, Katherine Gioia, then four years old, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. While Katherine was being treated at Roswell Park, Anne, her mother, began volunteering in the newly created development department, established to raise private sector financial support for the Institute.
Anne Gioia
She came up with the idea of the Alliance, Roswell Park’s first community-wide volunteer organization, as a memorial to Katherine, who lost her battle with cancer less than one year after being diagnosed.
Anne knew she could not do this project alone and asked her sister-in-law, Donna Gioia, to co-found this organization. The idea was to call on some friends and associates to do something nice for a facility that had become a big part of their lives.
In 1990, they compiled a list of 55 friends and business people they hoped would be interested in an organization to raise funds and public awareness of Roswell Park. They were overwhelmed when 50 said “yes.”
In 1991, the Alliance Foundation was established.
The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation has evolved into something I never imagined. I'm amazed at how much people are willing to give of themselves to make a difference
The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation has evolved into something I never imagined. I’m amazed at how much people are willing to give of themselves to make a difference.
Anne Gioia
Roswell Park is the nation’s first comprehensive cancer center and a global leader in cancer innovation.
The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation exists to ensure this work continues — stronger, faster and with greater impact for every patient who hears the words, “you have cancer.”
There Are Many Ways to Join the Fight to End Cancer.
Roswell Park is the nation’s first comprehensive cancer center and a global leader in cancer innovation.
The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation exists to ensure this work continues — stronger, faster and with greater impact for every patient who hears the words, “you have cancer.”
Your Support.
Real Impact.
Thanks to generous donors like you, Roswell Park researchers are advancing some of the most promising work in cancer care today.
They are developing new cell and immunotherapy treatments, expanding clinical trials and improving outcomes for adults and children.
More than 30 years later, the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation continues to grow, reach new donors, enhance quality-of-life programs and fuel treatments that will change the way we understand cancer for generations to come.
The next breakthrough. The next survivor. The next moment of hope.
Together, we’re not just fighting cancer; we’re changing the future.