Henrietta Lacks Foundation
News alert: “First Henrietta Lacks Foundation Grants Awarded” (8/10/10)
Welcome to the web page for The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, who is donating a portion of her book’s proceeds to the foundation. Henrietta was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells, taken without her knowledge, became one of the most important tools in medicine, with disastrous consequences for her family. Today, her family can’t afford the health care advances their mother’s cells helped make possible. The Henrietta Lacks Foundation will, among other things, provide financial assistance in the form of scholarships to the descendants of Henrietta Lacks; it will also work to provide the Lacks family aid in covering the cost of health insurance, giving those who have benefited from HeLa cells — including scientists, universities, corporations, and the general public — a way to show thanks to Henrietta and her family. The foundation also hopes to offer assistance to other African Americans in need who are pursuing education in science and medicine.
Anyone interested can make a donation to the fund using a credit card or online bank transfer by clicking the “Donate” button below.
Or you can send your donation as a check or money order to:
The Henrietta Lacks Foundation
5315 N.Clark St. Box #117
Chicago, IL 60640
If you would like to learn more about the Lacks family, please visit their family website.
The Foundation’s board of directors includes Rebecca Skloot (president), Dr. Roland Pattillo of Morehouse School of Medicine (vice president), and Dr. David Kroll of North Carolina Central University (secretary). For more information about the foundation, you can download a PDF of its charter and certificate of incorporation here, or its action of sole incorporation here.
*Please note that the Foundation is currently in the process of applying for, but has not yet received, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. While we anticipate that the Foundation will be granted tax-exempt status, we cannot guarantee approval of the application. In the event that the Foundation is not granted tax exempt status for any reason, donations made during the pendency of the application process will not be tax deductible.
