American research science is in crisis. The federal government has canceled grants en masse across agencies, with prospects of more cuts to come. Scientists in public service are facing widespread layoffs. Universities are pausing hiring and admissions—not because talent is lacking, but because career pathways and business models have unraveled, demonstrating the need to stabilize scientific research. Renowned professors are fleeing to industry, and institutes are winding down entire bodies of work due to newly fragile grants and contracts. Future Nobel Laureates are asking if the United States remains the best place in the world to do science.

These changes reveal more than a momentary budget or political challenge. They expose a system under duress and a need to stabilize scientific research. In an honest accounting, many issues and trends laid bare predate this administration: from high rates of “indirect” administrative costs at universities to long-term reductions in public spending on research and development to the constant existential churn of grant applications for researchers. We are unlikely to go back to how things were, and it’s not clear that we should want to.

Philanthropic strategies tend to take the long view; they unfold over years and are patient by design. But without decisive and timely action, the resulting damage itself will take decades to repair. And if philanthropy doesn’t step into the breach, others will. Private equity and venture capital firms have already begun funding research labs. Even assuming the best of intentions, those are investments, not charity: They expect substantial returns. Do we really want research science at our nonprofit institutes and universities to be increasingly dependent on funding that seeks market-rate returns? The philanthropic challenge is thus urgent and adaptive: how to help shape, amidst the unraveling of our current system, a better one.

Science funders can never fully fill the gap left by government cuts. But they still have ways to make a real difference right now—especially if they look beyond grant budgets to the other 95 percent of their assets. Below, we lay out a range of actions that foundations, family offices, and private donors can take to alleviate the fallout today while laying the groundwork for tomorrow. We start with solutions that only require a traditional grant toolkit, before proposing a few social investment tools that are relatively new to science philanthropy.

Read the full article about stabilizing scientific research by Ari Simon and Aaron Seybert at Stanford Social Innovation Review.