Our Investments
We find, fund and fuel brilliant people and brave ideas to make Wales a world leader in cancer outcomes.
We fund and work with people and teams across the cancer pathway - from national, transformational change to focused, practical ideas that remove barriers, test smarter ways of working, or strengthen what's already underway - all with the aim of improving outcomes for patients. Learn more about what we’ve funded so far.
What We’re Looking For
We’re interested in projects with clear, immediate potential to improve cancer outcomes in Wales. This could include:
- Testing or introducing new or adapted approaches – for example, cancer services, diagnostics, treatments, workforce models, or technologies
- Scaling up proven innovations – accelerating adoption into routine care so more patients benefit sooner
- Improving how care is delivered – changes to pathways, roles, or systems that improve outcomes, experience, or access.
We look for projects that are:
- Time-limited, with practical change being implemented during the period of MCI funding
- Designed so that successful change can be adopted, embedded, sustained or scaled beyond the period of MCI support
- Backed by a realistic delivery plan and appropriate clinical and organisational support.
We’re here to add something extra. Our role is to back additional, innovative, or enabling ideas — not to replace core funding, but to help unlock what’s possible alongside it.
Our Focus Areas
While we’re open to a wide range of ideas, our current priorities include:
- Improving outcomes in bowel cancer (as part of our ambition to enable zero deaths from bowel cancer).
We’re also excited by ideas that support:
- Earlier diagnosis and targeted screening
- The use of genomics across the pathway — from earlier diagnosis and personalised treatment to surveillance and long-term follow-up
- New models to strengthen and transform the cancer workforce
- Pathway redesign or improvement that delivers better outcomes for patients
Who can apply:
Applications are welcome from individuals or teams — clinical, non-clinical, managerial, or administrative — working in any part of the cancer pathway from across NHS Wales organisations.
Applications are also welcome from partner organisations, including industry and the third sector, where proposals align with our funding principles. Where an idea would need to be delivered, tested or adopted within NHS Wales, it is helpful to understand any existing NHS Wales engagement or support, and how the applicant sees the work being taken forward within the system.
Proposals can be led by an individual or a single team with a focused aim, or developed in collaboration across specialities, services, organisations, or health boards — from targeted improvements for a specific patient group to large-scale changes affecting multiple tumour sites or regions.
What We Don't Fund:
Our focus is on projects with a clear and achievable path to live implementation — delivering real benefits for patients and services in the near term.
We typically don’t fund:
- Drug trials or new pharmaceutical development
- Clinical or academic research, or work mainly focused on generating evidence rather than implementing change in practice
- Product development
- Awareness-only campaigns
- Projects already funded by other third-sector organisations
- Ongoing or routine costs associated with established services, roles, systems or ways of working
- Short-term capacity or delivery support without a clear route to sustained change beyond our funding
How to get started
We don’t run fixed funding rounds — you can submit an idea at any time.
- Download the Expression of Interest form below
- Email your completed form to info@moondance-cancer.wales
- If your idea looks like a good fit, we’ll be in touch to explore it further with you.
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch here.