It is relatively easy to start a foundation to support medical research.  It is quite another thing to maintain it and do long-term good.  Unfortunately, memorial gifts tend to peter out after a short time and are not usually enough to sustain an organization without significant on-going fundraising efforts.  We can all think of national organizations formed in honor of a loved one that have become major players in dealing with specific illnesses.  There are many more situations, however, in which someone like your son raises a few thousand dollars for a specific cause immediately after a death but no one has either the desire or the willingness to continue raising funds.

You can create a new organization but without continuous fundraising it will become a private foundation.  Because of the administrative costs of operating a private foundation, we almost never recommend one without at least $1 million, preferably at least $2 million in assets.  The costs of administering a separate public charity may be slightly less because there is no excise tax on net investment income, but it has the added expense of fundraising.

Your best bet if you don’t anticipate growing this into a multi-million dollar organization and you still want to influence the use of the funds may be to establish a donor advised fund at a community foundation in your area. They can be established almost immediately, the costs are usually lower, the community foundation takes care of the administrative work, and you (and/or your children) get to advise on the distribution of the funds without having a constant requirement to raise new money.  The fund can carry your wife’s name and honor her memory with permanent, though smaller, support for cancer research.  (See Ready Reference Page:  “Donor Advised Funds Still Compare Well with Private Foundations”)