Foundations often try to have their small grants serve as "seed" money, the idea being that they fund a small project which can serve as preliminary data for a larger (often NIH) grant. This in theory can turn a $25k foundation grant into a $250k NIH infusion into research in that disease. So, the foundation medical/scientific advisory committees are not necessarily looking for grants which will result in a publication or a new treatment - they're looking for grant applications which will result in a larger grant application. NIH tends to fund things which have a very high probability of resulting in an incremental increase in basic science knowledge in a field, so that's what the foundations often seek to fund too - not new treatments, not "breakthroughs".
David Jones, MD, PhD