Accountability & Impact
At Fred Hutch, we bring the same level of commitment and integrity to our patients, donors and investors that we do to our clinical care and scientific research. We take our responsibility seriously, whether we’re stewarding public funds received through the National Institutes of Health or shepherding private resources. As our impact and reach broaden, our values remain steadfast.
Responsible Research Conduct
Fred Hutch upholds internationally recognized codes of ethics and applicable laws and regulations to ensure the protection and confidentiality of all human participants in biomedical research. These include ethical guidelines for general research practices as well as those that pertain specifically to HIV research.
Institutional Review Board
Conflict of Interest Policies
Research Ethics
Institutional Review Board
Accredited by AAHRPP, this board ensures that our research activities meet ethical standards and comply with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as the Fred Hutch Human Research Protection Program Policy.
Quality Care and Patient Safety
Providing our patients with the highest-quality care is a point of pride for Fred Hutch. Every day, we strive to offer health care and treatment that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. Our commitment to quality and safety has earned us The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval, an accreditation that serves as the gold standard of health care in the U.S. and the global community. We are also committed to serving our community. By providing care throughout the Puget Sound area, and by advancing the standard of cancer care as a national and international center of excellence, we know the quality of care we provide makes a lasting difference in our region and beyond. Learn more about how we create a culture of quality and safety across all of Fred Hutch’s points of care, our clinical accreditations and licenses, and additional community benefit programs on our clinical site.
Health Information
Fred Hutch is committed to respecting and upholding the privacy of every patient. For more information, please see Fred Hutch’s Notice of Privacy Practices. Fred Hutch is a hybrid covered entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. Among other things, HIPAA requires uniform federal privacy protections for individually identifiable health information. Copies of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, as well as helpful explanatory materials, can be found at the HHS Office for Civil Rights website.
Our Impact
At Fred Hutch, we look beyond today’s limits to deliver lifesaving research, life-affirming care, and healthier lives for every person in every community. Our researchers work across five divisions — from basic sciences to clinical research — to discover new ways to prevent, detect, and treat cancer and other diseases. Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services, and has network affiliations with hospitals in five states. At any time, hundreds of clinical trials are underway at Fred Hutch, bringing novel therapies to thousands of patients. More than 1.3 million people around the world have benefited from lifesaving bone marrow transplantation, a treatment pioneered here. Our teams were at the forefront of the unprecedented, global effort that led to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Our work also paved the way for the HPV vaccine, which could prevent cancer in millions of people. And the Women’s Health Initiative, headquartered at Fred Hutch, uncovered the risks of combined hormone therapy for postmenopausal women, preventing more than 20,000 cases of breast cancer per year in the U.S. alone.
Our Pledge to Donors
Fred Hutch conducts research and provides care at the highest standards and extends those same standards to the stewardship of funds that make our work possible. We ensure that donor funds and in-kind contributions are efficiently and effectively allocated to our mission of uniting innovative research and compassionate care to prevent and eliminate cancer and infectious disease. Your trust is paramount. To each of our donors, we pledge to:
- Honor your intent and allocate all gifts for the purpose for which they were given.
- Acknowledge all gifts in a personal, timely and appropriate manner while honoring your recognition preferences.
- Respect your privacy. Fred Hutch will not sell your personal information. We will be transparent about when and how gift information will be securely shared and will provide an opportunity for you to opt out. We will respect all donor requests for anonymity.
- Be open and forthright with our financial statements, both online and by request.
- Uphold the highest ethical standards in research, clinical care and funding. We comply with all federal and state requirements for 501(c)3 organizations, as well as federal research regulations and policy.
- Maintain open and professional communication with you as a member of the Fred Hutch community. You may opt out of communications, such as mailings and emails, at any time.
- Honor you as a trusted partner who shares our vision, believes in our mission and wants to make an impact on care for patients with cancer and related diseases.
Read our Donor Privacy and Confidentiality Policy to learn more.
Donor Privacy and Confidentiality Policy
We value our community of donors and are grateful for the trust they place in us when they make a gift. Just as we commit to being transparent and accountable in how we use those gifts, we pledge to protect donor privacy. Fred Hutch maintains the highest level of integrity and respect for the personal and organizational information that we are privileged to acquire from donors and prospective donors, including sponsors, partners and volunteers. Our Donor Privacy and Confidentiality Policy honors the privacy of this information and guides the actions of our employees. It states Fred Hutch’s position on donor confidentiality and anonymity and explains how we obtain, use, protect and share information.
Strong Rating by Independent Charity Evaluator
We’re proud to have a Gold Seal of Transparency on Candid (formerly GuideStar), a service that collects and analyzes data about more than 2 million U.S. nonprofits.
Because Fred Hutch receives a significant portion of its revenue from federal sources, we are not eligible for evaluation by agencies focused on private donations. For example, Charity Navigator will not conduct a formal evaluation because a large proportion of our funding is provided by the National Institutes of Health.
An Unparalleled Track Record of NIH Funding
Fred Hutch is among the top National Institutes of Health– and National Cancer Institute–funded academic and research institutions in the U.S. Because competition for federal research grants is intense, and the implementation of complex, multiyear grants requires a great deal of organizational rigor, we take pride in this achievement. We take equal pride in our record of support from private funders, whose investment in early-stage work is critical to securing federal grants.
Strong Governance
United in their commitment to preventing and eliminating cancer and infectious disease, members of our leadership team, board of trustees and board of advisors bring scientific, health care and business acumen from diverse industries and perspectives. They ensure that the organization upholds our values, stays focused on our mission and delivers on our strategic plan. They also oversee the Ethics and Compliance Program including the implementation of key policies — such as our Conflict of Interest Policy, Ethical Conduct Policy and Human Research Protection Program Policy — that are relevant to best practices in governance and the ethical conduct of research and clinical care. Fred Hutch is committed to excellence and integrity in all aspects of its operations and full compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and professional standards. If you have a concern or question about ethical conduct, please feel free to visit our EthicsPoint site.