ALSF receives $200,000 gift from Northwestern Mutual to fund data lab initiative

Philadelphia – May 17, 2019 - Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) announces Northwestern Mutual has donated $200,000 to fund the first-of-its-kind Childhood Cancer Data Lab (CCDL). Northwestern Mutual joins ALSF in support of the CCDL as a Founding Sponsor. The CCDL launched in August 2017 with the mission of harmonizing publicly available data to accelerate finding cures for all kids with cancer.

Currently, childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under 15 years of age in the United States, but despite that, childhood cancer research receives just 4% of the annual budget from the National Cancer Institute. Continuing to fill critical funding gaps in the childhood cancer community, ALSF’s investment in technology, with the help of Northwestern Mutual, allows data scientists, researchers and computer engineers to work together to harness the power of big data and computers to find solutions to treating childhood cancer.

There is enough publicly available childhood cancer disease data at the National Institutes of Health to fill up several hundred Libraries of Congress. The CCDL has created a tool, called refine.bio, to organize the data into one format. Now, researchers across the globe can efficiently access and analyze this data, for free, to identify common patterns. In turn, they hope this collaborative dataset will accelerate the refine.bio, the CCDL has processed over 150,000+ childhood cancer data samples.

Northwestern Mutual launched its Childhood Cancer Program in 2012 to find better cures and treatments for childhood cancer while also providing family, patient and survivor support. The program has contributed more than $20 million to the cause with help from employees and financial representatives nationwide, funding more than 240,000 hours of research. The program also leverages nonprofit partners, including ALSF, to help more kids and families live life to the fullest.

For more information on the Childhood Cancer Data Lab, visit AlexsLemonade.org/data-lab.

About Childhood Cancer

Childhood cancer is a general term used to describe cancer in children occurring regularly, randomly and sparing no ethnic group, socioeconomic class or geographic region. Childhood cancer extends to over a dozen types of cancers and a countless amount of subtypes. Just a few of these cancer types include: Ewing sarcoma, glioma, leukemia, lymphoma, medulloblastoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, retinoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and Wilms’ tumor. In the United States, childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15. Every day, approximately 250 kids around the world die from cancer, accounting for 91,250 losing their lives to the disease every year.

About Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of 4-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who was fighting cancer and wanted to raise money to find cures for all children with cancer. Her spirit and determination inspired others to support her cause, and when she passed away at the age of 8, she had raised $1 million. Since then, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement. Today, ALSF is one of the leading funders of pediatric cancer research in the U.S. and Canada raising more than $150 million so far, funding nearly 1,000 research projects and providing programs to families affected by childhood cancer. For more information, visit AlexsLemonade.org.

About Northwestern Mutual Foundation
The mission of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation is to improve the lives of children and families in need. The Foundation has given more than $353 million since its inception in 1992 and is designed to create lasting impact in the communities where the company’s employees and financial representatives live and work. We accomplish this by combining financial support, volunteerism, thought leadership and convening community partners to deliver the best outcomes. Our efforts are focused nationally on curing childhood cancer, and locally on education, neighborhoods and making our hometown of Milwaukee a great destination. Visit Northwestern Mutual Foundation to learn more.

About Northwestern Mutual
Northwestern Mutual has been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach, we empower our clients to make the most of every single day and plan for important moments in their future. We combine the expertise of our financial professionals with a personalized digital experience to help our clients navigate their financial lives every day. With $265.0 billion in assets, $28.1 billion in revenues, and more than $1.8 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than 4.5 million people who rely on us for life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, brokerage and advisory services, trust services, and discretionary portfolio management solutions. The company manages more than $125 billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services. Northwestern Mutual ranks 104 on the 2018 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2019.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a comprehensive approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, life insurance with long-term care benefits, investment products, and advisory products and services. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).