Conquer Cancer International Innovation Grant 2027: Up to $20,000 for a One-Year Cancer Control Project in a Low- or Middle-Income Country, With Letters of Intent Closing 27 August 2026

Conquer Cancer International Innovation Grant 2027: Up to $20,000 for a One-Year Cancer Control Project in a Low- or Middle-Income Country, With Letters of Intent Closing 27 August 2026

Roughly two thirds of the world’s cancer deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries, where five-year survival rates trail those in high-income settings by a wide margin. The Conquer Cancer International Innovation Grant (IIG) exists to fund research that attacks that gap from inside those countries rather than from outside them. It is a one-year award of up to $20,000, paid directly to a nonprofit organization or government agency in an eligible country, with a Principal Investigator who is a citizen or permanent resident of that country and lives there.

The 2027 cycle opened its online letter of intent on 1 July 2026 and is open now. The letter of intent is due 27 August 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, invited full applications are due 10 December 2026, awards are announced in February 2027, and the grant term runs 1 April 2027 through 31 March 2028.

One note before anything else. The Request for Proposals, last updated 27 June 2026, lists the LOI deadline as 27 August 2026 and the full application deadline as 10 December 2026. The ASCO web page for the grant lists 28 August 2026 and 11 December 2026. That one-day gap is almost certainly a display artifact, but it is not worth gambling on. Treat 27 August 2026, 11:59 PM ET as your deadline and submit before it.

Key details at a glance

What the money actually buys

This is a small grant with an unusually clear purpose, and understanding that purpose is most of the work of writing a competitive application.

The $20,000 comes in two installments. The first arrives around the start of the grant period. The second is released only after Conquer Cancer accepts your six-month progress report and financial report. That structure matters for planning: if your project spends heavily in month two, you need to know whether your organization can carry that cost until the second tranche clears.

Funds may go toward salary support, supplies, equipment, travel, and other costs directly tied to the research. Personnel support is limited to salary for the Principal Investigator or named research team members, must be tied to work on the project, and must reflect acceptable remuneration levels in the applicant’s own country. Research support covers supplies or equipment, and budgeted items must be consistent with the facilities and resources your institution already has. Subcontracts to other organizations are allowed when they are genuinely needed, but they must appear in the application budget or be pre-approved, and detailed subcontractor budgets go into the supporting documentation section.

Indirect or facilities and administrative costs are capped hard at 5% of the total, meaning $1,000 on a full $20,000 award. Travel is disallowed unless it directly serves the conduct of the research. And there is an explicit unallowable list: ASCO membership fees, certification or course fees, costs of writing proposals for other funding, travel to the ASCO Annual Meeting or other international congresses, political campaigns, direct donations or scholarships to individuals, lobbying, bribery, illegal activity, and anything not directly tied to the project.

The sample budget in the RFP shows the shape reviewers expect: $15,000 research costs, $4,000 personnel, $1,000 indirect, $0 for travel, subcontracts, and consultants. That is a template, not a rule, but it tells you where the funder thinks the money should go.

Who is eligible, and why the two halves both matter

Eligibility has two independent tests, and both must pass. Applicants frequently satisfy one and assume the other follows.

The Applicant Organization must be an entity with a charitable purpose registered as a not-for-profit with the relevant national authority, or a government agency. Medical societies and associations, advocacy organizations, foundations, hospitals, and universities are all named as examples. It must be located in a country the World Bank classifies as Low-Income, Lower-Middle Income, or Upper-Middle Income. It must have been operating for at least one full year, have acceptable management structures and processes in place, and be solvent with or without this grant. It should also be able to point to past activities with tangible outcomes. For-profit organizations do not qualify.

The Principal Investigator must be an ASCO member, or must submit a membership application alongside the grant application. ASCO offers free membership to physicians and others in low- and lower-middle-income countries, so this is a paperwork step rather than a financial barrier for many applicants — but it is a step, and it takes time. The PI must be a citizen or permanent resident of an eligible low- or middle-income country and must currently reside in that country. The PI must be affiliated with the Applicant Organization.

The country list in the RFP was current as of 29 June 2026 and spans three tiers. The low-income tier includes Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Uganda, and Yemen. The lower-middle tier includes large research bases like India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The upper-middle tier includes Brazil, China, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Colombia, Peru, Malaysia, and Ukraine, among others. World Bank classifications shift year to year, so verify your country against Appendix A of the current RFP rather than a remembered list.

Past and current IIG grantees may apply again, provided the proposed project is entirely different from what was previously funded.

What kind of project fits

The IIG funds hypothesis-driven research, not service delivery. The RFP is direct about this: the grant supports work that forms a basis for reducing barriers to cancer control, and it is explicitly not short-term funding for cancer control services. If your proposal reads like an operating budget for a screening clinic, it will not survive review.

Conquer Cancer names ten project types as examples, not limits: health services and delivery research including telemedicine; new technologies that reduce cancer burden; effective strategies for cancer prevention; epidemiologic research; pharmacoeconomic research; standard treatment outcome research and therapeutic trials investigating affordable treatment regimens; delivery of palliative care; new models of clinical training or workforce utilization; methods to promote uptake of research findings into routine care; and clinical infrastructure research on the impact of improved equipment or supplies.

Two constraints run through all of them. The project must take place primarily in the LMIC. And it must specify success indicators, methods for measuring those indicators, and targets for them. A proposal that describes an intervention without stating how success will be measured is incomplete on its face.

There is also a stated tolerance for approaches that would look unusual in a high-income setting. The RFP anticipates that novel approaches and clinical designs proposed for this grant may differ from standard practice elsewhere. If your design is unconventional because it is adapted to the resources you actually have, say so plainly rather than apologizing for it.

How the two-phase application works

Phase one is the letter of intent, submitted through the online portal by 27 August 2026. Phase two is a full application, and it is by invitation only.

The LOI is described as a highly competitive stage. It is reviewed on three criteria: completeness of information and adherence to submission instructions, eligibility, and the innovativeness and appropriateness of the research project proposal. Each LOI is assigned to at least two scientific reviewers with expertise in different areas of cancer research, working independently and confidentially. Notifications go out in early October 2026, and every eligible applicant receives feedback on the LOI regardless of outcome.

Critically, no change in scope is permitted between the LOI and the full application. The full application is a fuller description of the same study you described in the LOI. This inverts the instinct to submit a loose LOI and firm it up later. Whatever you write in August is what you are committed to in December.

What the letter of intent asks for

The LOI has seven sections in the portal, and the character limits are tight enough to require real editing.

Applicant information is pulled from your ASCO membership profile, so update that at profile.asco.org before you start. Changes are not saved in real time and need to propagate before you submit. You will also answer questions about your degree, faculty appointment, academic rank, certification or subspecialty training, and fields of clinical and research training.

Project information includes a title of up to 250 characters, a research abstract of up to 3,000 characters, a lay abstract of up to 2,500 characters, and specific aims at up to 1,000 characters per aim, with at least one aim required. The lay abstract deserves attention: if you are funded, Conquer Cancer may publish it on its website and other public materials. Write it for a reader with no medical background and keep confidential information out of it. You also declare subject area, focus areas, research classification, study type (clinical, pre-clinical, or health services research), animal use and IACUC status, human subjects and IRB status, any drug use with manufacturer names, and whether the application is a resubmission.

The research project description is nine questions, each capped at 500 characters: the cancer control problem, the hypothesis, the target population, the methodology, how the approach is different or innovative and how it will affect cancer control in your country, the success indicators, the plan for sharing results, how the project continues after the grant ends, and how findings would be exportable to other low- or middle-income countries. Five hundred characters is roughly seventy words. Answer the question asked, and cut everything else.

The biosketch may be an NIH-format biosketch of no more than five pages, or a digitally certified PDF generated in SciENcv, which has no page limit. The Applicant Organization information document is limited to five single-spaced pages with one-inch margins in 11-point Arial, and the RFP warns that over-length documents will be returned. That document must include the organization’s legal status, charitable purpose, brief history, leadership names and titles, all research grants received in the past five years with grant size, grantor, and outcome, and up to five pertinent activities demonstrating tangible outcomes. If either list is empty, write “No prior research grants” or “No pertinent activities” rather than leaving it blank. Finally, list all collaborators and team members with their qualifications and roles. Team members may be based in other countries, including high-income countries, but non-local collaborators are not required.

File naming conventions are specified — for example, 2027IIG_Biosketch_your last name — and adherence to instructions is one of the three LOI review criteria, so follow them exactly.

How reviewers judge the full application

If you are invited forward, the full application is scored on six things, and they are worth reading as a checklist against your own draft.

Reviewers look for a solid research project that addresses barriers to cancer control applicable to the PI’s home country; a high level of oncologic need in the country or region where the work will happen; a project that is applicable, achievable, and innovative, and feasible within a one-year term; potential for the findings to be disseminated, translated into practice, and applied in other LMICs; training, qualifications, and experience of both the organization and the PI sufficient to implement the work; and demonstrated support from the organization, including its ability to help the PI implement results.

Two of those six are about the organization rather than the science. That is unusual for a research grant and reflects the fact that the money is paid to the organization, which carries fiscal and reporting responsibility. A strong scientific idea attached to a thin institutional record is a common failure mode here.

Feasibility in twelve months is the other quiet filter. A project that needs eighteen months of enrollment to reach its endpoints is not a fit, however good the question is.

Common mistakes

Proposing services instead of research. The single most consistent mismatch. Funding a mobile screening van is not the same as testing a hypothesis about why screening uptake fails.

Leaving indicators vague. “Improved awareness” is not an indicator. A named measure, a stated measurement method, and a numeric target are all required.

Ignoring the character limits until submission day. Nine 500-character answers plus a 3,000-character abstract and a 2,500-character lay abstract is a compression exercise. Draft long, then cut, and leave time for it.

Assuming the full application is where the detail goes. Because no change in scope is allowed after the LOI, a vague LOI locks you into a vague project.

Forgetting ASCO membership. You can submit a membership application with the grant application, but leaving it to the last day adds risk you do not need. Membership is free for physicians and others in LMICs.

Over-length attachments. The organization document has a hard five-page limit with specified margins and font. Conquer Cancer returns applications that exceed it.

Budgeting for conference travel. Travel to the ASCO Annual Meeting and other international congresses is explicitly unallowable.

Missing the indirect cost cap. If your institution’s standard overhead rate is 15% or 25%, your budget will not comply. The ceiling is $1,000.

Preparing between now and 27 August 2026

Start with eligibility, because it is binary. Confirm your country’s current World Bank classification in Appendix A of the 2027 RFP, confirm your organization’s registration status and that it can produce proof of legal registration later for the full application, and confirm your own citizenship or permanent residency and current residence.

Then handle the slow items in parallel with writing. Update the ASCO profile. Start or renew membership. Ask your organization’s leadership for the history, leadership list, and five-year grants record early — that document is usually the bottleneck, because the information lives with people other than the PI. Check whether your IRB or IACUC status will be approved, exempt, or pending at submission time, and if pending, know the anticipated approval date.

Conquer Cancer publishes an Application Resources page with grant writing guidance, advice on finding patient research advocates, an FAQ, and a sample of a funded application. Read the funded sample before you write. It is the clearest available signal about the level of detail reviewers expect at each stage.

Frequently asked questions

Can an individual researcher apply directly? No. The grant is awarded and paid to a nonprofit organization or government agency, which administers the funds. The Principal Investigator applies through and on behalf of that organization.

Do I need collaborators in a high-income country? No. Team members and collaborators may come from other countries including high-income ones, but the RFP states plainly that outside team members are not required.

Can a for-profit company apply? No. The Applicant Organization must be a registered not-for-profit with a charitable purpose or a government agency.

How competitive is the letter of intent stage? Conquer Cancer describes it as highly competitive and recommends a well-considered LOI to improve the chance of an invitation. Only invited applicants may submit a full application.

Will I get feedback if I am not invited forward? Yes. All eligible applicants receive feedback on their LOI submission.

Can I revise my project after the LOI? No. No change in scope is allowed at the full application stage. Significant changes to aims, research strategy, timeline, or budget must be reported to [email protected], and Conquer Cancer decides how to handle them.

What if I have held an IIG before? Current and previous grantees may apply if the proposed research project is entirely different from the previously funded work.

Does the project have to be a clinical trial? No. Study type may be clinical, pre-clinical, or health services research. Health services and delivery research, epidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, palliative care delivery, and workforce models are all named as eligible directions.

What reporting is required if I am funded? Progress reports at six months, at the end of the grant term, and one year after the term ends, plus financial accounting at six months and at the end of the term. The second payment installment depends on the six-month reports being satisfactory.

Official links and contacts

The program page, including current key dates and the link to the application portal, is at asco.org/career-development/grants-awards/funding-opportunities/international-innovation-grant. The short form of the same address, asco.org/Innovation, is the one the RFP directs applicants to for the most up-to-date version of the Request for Proposals — check it before submitting, since the RFP is revised during the cycle.

Questions on eligibility, the portal, or the application go to [email protected]. Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, is at 2318 Mill Road, Suite 800, Alexandria, VA 22314. ASCO membership, including free membership for physicians and others in low- and lower-middle-income countries, is handled at asco.org/membership, and profile updates at profile.asco.org.

Conquer Cancer has awarded more than $215 million through more than 10,500 grants and awards since 1984. The International Innovation Grant is one of its smaller programs by dollar value and one of its more targeted ones by design: a modest amount of money, aimed at a specific researcher in a specific place, for work meant to travel to other places like it.