Founded in 2013, Realm of Caring (RoC) is an independent 501c3 non-profit organization who serves anyone in need of more information about cannabinoid therapies. Through revolutionary research, innovative education, and life-changing grants, RoC seeks to facilitate and encourage the mainstream acceptance of transformative, plant powered therapies to benefit individuals and families and serve healthcare providers as well as the hemp and cannabis industries. Since becoming a formal non-profit in 2013, RoC has cherished a vision that has remained unchanged: the belief that the quality of life matters.
The impact of RoC knows no bounds. Individuals have been helped globally, in these last 8 years, to find that quality of life through research, education, increasing access to, and one on one support with cannabinoid therapy.
The Observational Research Registry (ORR) with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has included 4,000 participants over time, providing 5 million data points. These significant findings have paved the way for clinical trials, helped companies to determine how their products are helping people, and informed millions on the benefits of cannabinoid therapy. The first paper based on this research was published in 2020 finding that 77% of users attributed positive effects to the medicinal use of cannabinoids.
The data accumulated over the past eight years has informed quality education. This education has been delivered through many mediums by Realm of Caring to help medical professionals assist their patients, dispensaries responsibly serve their customers, legislation pass at state and federal levels, and consumers make informed decisions about their health.
Realm of Caring has played an important role in helping to increase access of cannabinoid products to customers. One way they are able to do this is through providing grants and products to those who cannot afford the high cost of cannabinoid therapy. Realm of Caring has given away almost $3 million to clients in need since the Realm Cares program’s inception in April, 2015; a number that will hopefully continue to grow over time.
Along with providing financial support, Realm of Caring offers the best resource to those who are looking for success with their cannabinoid therapy – time. Over 350,000 inquiries have poured into the call center and we now have more than 67,000 clients. Over 2 million minutes have been spent on the phones with individuals worldwide, looking for support and resources. This is a service that has been and will hopefully remain available for free. The support services offered to clients include administration suggestions based on published data, pulling information based on peer-reviewed research, and taking the time so each individual may find success. Oh, and let’s not forget that RoC has aided 22 states in passing cannabis legislation!
What Realm of Caring has accomplished so far, could not have been possible without the loyalty and dedication of their donor base. The generosity over the years has contributed more than $10.1 million in contributions and in-kind gifts. Overhead costs are able to remain low with a small but mighty team. An average 82% of the funds contributed go directly to programs and services since inception. This ensures that the majority of the money collected goes straight to collecting and improving research, furthering education, and giving back to the community in financial need.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
RoC has a handful of initiatives that they know will have a monumental impact on their clients and the cannabis and hemp industries.
- Huge data initiative to make sense of and make available the 5 million+ data points and share findings with the community and industry. RoC’s demographics have changed significantly and they believe they are sitting on predictive data that can help determine future trends. The only way to find out is to dig deep. RoC has hired a team of data scientists and engineers to help, and are happy to report that they are 6 months into the most ambitious effort they have ever undertaken. They are interacting with the data on dashboards and have gotten a glimpse at the powerful insights, but this endeavor needs significant investment.
- Increasing participation and retention in the second version of the JHU registry that is a better user experience and a shorter, more impactful survey is a goal of RoC in the future. They also need more cannabis and hemp brands participating in this research allowing for more health outcomes and insights on their products. RoC recently brought on a new Research Director to lead this charge.
- Roc wants to reactivate and remove the waitlist for the Realm Cares grant program. People are in need more now than ever before. RoC also needs to recruit more brand giveaways like the campaigns they have run with Aspen Green, Charlotte’s Web, and Stratos. Stratos is the perfect case study; they increased their market share of the registry data over 39% after initiating this program that also gives them a tax break* and a place to give aging inventory. Win, Win, Win.
- The industry needs a meaningful and data driven education platform that encompasses the wealth of practical knowledge and data that RoC has collected over the past 8 years. RoC aims to expand services in this area. The goal is to make a learning program so informative, engaging and user friendly that individuals will seek their services above all others.
If you are feeling inspired and wish to contribute to RoC’s initiatives, fill out this form and a RoC team member will get back to you!
Realm of Caring has been featured on: |
*check with your tax accountant on in-kind donation of hemp products.
