Aims and Achievements

The AIRC Foundation for Cancer Research in Italy (Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro, or AIRC) was founded in 1965 by a group of researchers at the Istituto Tumori in Milan, including Umberto Veronesi and Giuseppe della Porta, with invaluable support from eminent local businesspeople. From the outset, AIRC has been committed to fostering cancer research in Italy, and has gradually expanded to include 17 Regional Committees and count over 4.500.000 supporters. These are the people whose generosity supports AIRC and allows it to exist and progress.

Funds raised by AIRC support cancer research all over Italy. AIRC’s mission is to understand, prevent and cure cancer through research and outreach activities. AIRC aims to find solutions to challenges in cancer research, awarding grants to the most deserving projects, as well as supporting training fellowships.

Each year, the funds raised are allocated to research projects and fellowships evaluated and selected by AIRC's Scientific Committee, made up of oncology experts throughout Italy, and a panel of about 600 international reviewers.

In 1977 AIRC set up the FIRC, legally separate from but complementary to AIRC, recognized as a non-profit association in 1980, for the specific purpose of receiving bequests, legacies and gifts. 

In 2021, AIRC and FIRC merged. Until that time, the two organizations had operated in parallel, sharing the same statutory objectives but using different instruments for both fundraising and the allocation of funds. In 2022, following its registration in the National Register of Third Sector Entities, AIRC changed its name to Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro ETS.

• We financially support Italian cancer research in both laboratory and clinical aspects, with a particular focus on cancer research projects and fellowships aimed at the professional development of researchers and oncologists, including university and postgraduate training;
• we disseminate the activities and results of national and international oncological research;
• we raise public awareness about the importance of prevention and early detection of cancer;
• we carry out oncological scientific research directly or through universities, research institutions, and other public and private entities, and in particular through the “AIRC Foundation Institute of Molecular Oncology” (IFOM).

A relentless, tangible activity that is only possible thanks to millions of donors and thousands of volunteers, who give our researchers the strength and enthusiasm to keep up the battle against cancer.

• We have allocated over 2,7 billion euro to research projects carried out in the laboratories of Institutes, Universities, and Hospitals;

• We have implemented a programme aimed at divulging and raising awareness on the progress made by research in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and therapy, through the magazine "Fondamentale”, the website and other communication channels.

data updated as of 31 december 2025