HRA Quarterly Newsletter – December 2025
Dear HRA Members,
I want to start by thanking each and every one of you for a successful Fall 2025 Members Meeting in November, hosted by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. It was an amazing two days of networking, sharing, commiserating, collaborating, and cheering one another on. Seeing so many members in-person and virtually was exciting and inspiring! Page two of the newsletter is full of recaps of this great meeting!
Also in November, HRA welcomed Melissa Lena, our new Operations Manager. Melissa brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit operations and I have no doubt she will be a great asset to HRA. If you did not get the chance to meet her at the Members Meeting, read her bio on page three and reach out to her any time at [email protected].
It has been a long and interesting year. I know I will be reflecting on all we have accomplished and learned together as a community as we move into the new year. Stay tuned for the HRA 2025 Impact Report and a State of the Alliance presentation in early 2026.
Thank you for everything you to do support HRA! Please reach out to me at any time at [email protected].
Christine Riordan
Executive Director
Newest HRA Member
Learn more about our newest HRA member, the International Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressive Association (IFOPA)
RECAP: Fall HRA Members Meeting, November 19-20, 2025
Highlights:
- 82 member organizations
- 140 in person attendees
- 78 virtual attendees
- 25 speakers
- 5 meeting sponsors
- 4 educational opportunities
- 2 learning community sessions
- 1 professional development workshop
- Networking session sponsored by Altum
Visit our Resources page to view the Fall 2025 Members Meeting content including session descriptions, slides, and recordings.
Special thanks to our host, Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation and additional Members Meeting sponsors: Alzheimer’s Association, BrightFocus Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and The Donaghue Foundation. We also appreciate Altum for sponsoring our reception.
Please Welcome Operations Manager, Melissa Lena ([email protected])
Melissa joined HRA as Operations Manager in November 2025. She brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit association administration and operations, having served in roles at the Association of State & Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Virtual Academic Library Environment of New Jersey (VALE-NJ), and the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA).
She holds a Master of Science in Library Science from Pennsylvania Western University and a Nonprofit Technology Professional Certificate from the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN). Melissa is passionate about building efficient, collaborative systems that enable nonprofits to thrive.
HRA Analyzer: Is Your HRA Analyzer Data Up to Date?
HRA Analyzer is a searchable database of awards granted by HRA member organizations and aims to represent the scope of awards made by HRA nonprofit organizations to provide a clearer picture of the biomedical funding landscape. It is only accessible to HRA members and individual-level data is not to be shared publicly.
Our members routinely use HRA Analyzer for researching the current funding landscape, to find grant reviewers, and to create collaborative funding opportunities, amongst other uses. By contributing to HRA Analyzer, you can improve the database for your own use, as well as for others.
Questions? Contact Allison McCabe, HRA Intern at [email protected]
2026 Dues Notice
The HRA Board of Directors and HRA staff spent considerable time during 2025 examining the history of HRA’s operating expenses and dues, as well as conducting a benchmarking analysis with similar organizations. HRA established its initial dues structure in 2006 and then raised dues by 25% in 2014 to allow the organization to provide a larger breadth and depth of resources for members. This means that HRA dues have only been raised one time in the past 20 years! As a member organization, we strive to keep our dues low enough to allow membership to be accessible to all eligible non-profit funders. Moving forward, the Board has agreed upon a dues approach that will rely on small, incremental increases in dues over time, when necessary, rather than a large increase each decade.
Therefore, the HRA Board has approved a 5% increase in HRA membership dues across all dues tiers that will be implemented beginning with the 2026 dues year (the dues invoice your organization will receive in January 2026, due by March 2026). Knowing that member organizations have different fiscal years and different budgeting requirements, we are providing as much notice as possible of this change. You can review 2026 HRA dues here.
Please make note of the HRA dues increase that will take effect in 2026 and include it in your organization’s 2026 budget.
Coming in the New Year
- Membership Survey: Be on the lookout for 2026 Member Survey in January 2026 (first full membership survey since 2021)
- 2025 Impact Report: 2025 Impact Report highlighting the accomplishments and impact of the HRA in 2025 (last year’s report for reference)
- State of the Alliance Presentation: HRA Strategic Plan Update (Q1 2026) (similar to this update in 2023)
- Federal Policy Initiatives: Continuation of our federal policy initiatives (link to December newsletter)
- Announcement: 2026 Fall Members Meeting will be hosted by the Arthritis National Research Foundation in Irvine, CA in October 2026
Program Committee for 2026 Members Meetings
Want to get involved? We are currently recruiting Program Committee Members for planning of 2026 Members Meetings. Interested? Contact Mandy Westland at [email protected]