October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and one of the many ways many people show their support this month is by donating time or money to foundations. There are an abundance of groups, organizations and foundations in the world that do work for breast cancer, from working one-on-one with patients to funding important scientific research. If you are considering donating your money, time or simply your support to one of these organizations, you’ll want to make sure you know a bit about them. Here is a breakdown of just a few foundations you can look into this October.
1. National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
Website: https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/
Year founded: 1991
Founder: Janelle Hail (breast cancer survivor)
Location: Based in Texas
Their mission:
NBCF seeks to educate people about breast cancer, encourage women to detect breast cancer early and to provide support for survivors. They offer a wide variety of programs for these efforts: they offer access to free mammogram services, a guide for patients to find the doctors they need, HOPE kits and support groups for cancer patients and even retreats for patients with late-stage cancer. NBCF also directly funds cancer treatment research, and offers education about breast cancer for the public and for specialized groups (such as how to teach employees in the workplace about cancer).
How you can help:
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NBCF allows people to donate money in different tiers. For instance, donating $50 will provide one cancer patient with a HOPE kit (filled with clothes, tea, lotion, lip balm, a journal, and more), $65 will provide one woman with a personalized patient navigator to help her find the right doctors, and so on. You can also raise money for NBCF through fundraising.
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You can volunteer with NBCF to pack HOPE kits, to write encouragement cards or even to do something as large as becoming a community ambassador.
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You can submit the story of your breast cancer journey to their website so it can join a huge collection of “Hope Journeys.” Many of these journeys are shared on NBCF’s Instagram.
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You can buy NBCF merchandise to support the foundation and spread awareness for breast cancer.
2. Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation
Website: https://drsusanloveresearch.org/
Year founded: 1983
Founders: Founded in 1983 by Dr. Otto W. Sartorious. After his passing, in 1995, Dr. Susan Love took over.
Location: Based in California
Their mission:
In every way, the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation is dedicated to ending breast cancer. They have a strong focus on scientifically researching the physical and emotional effects of the condition; the foundation not only funds and performs studies on people to look at the way cancer behaves, but they also support studies that look at the long-term emotional effects of cancer on both a patient and their loved ones. Nearly all of the foundation’s money goes directly towards research.
How you can help:
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You can make a one-time or monthly donation.
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The foundation has a program called “Act With Love,” which is an amazing toolkit of ways to fundraise for breast cancer research. They have complete guides for how to organize community walks, bake sales, car washes and more. You can also find on their website a long list of ongoing fundraisers that others have set up, which you can donate to. If you decide to fundraise, you can post yours on the website as well.
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You can help their research firsthand! When you sign up to be part of their “Army of Women,” you will get emails about many clinical trials you can partake in. The foundation takes pride in testing on humans, not animals.
3. National Breast Cancer Coalition
Website: http://www.breastcancerdeadline2020.org
Year founded: 1991
Founders: Fran Visco (breast cancer survivor)
Location: Based in Washington DC
Their mission:
By taking one look at the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s website, you can see their mission: end breast cancer by 2020. And they’re serious. This may seem radical, but this organization is determined to end breast cancer as soon as possible through advocating, lobbying, changing public policy and funding research. According to medicalnewstoday.com, the NBCC has “over 60,000 members and have successfully advocated for more than $3 billion in federal research funding.” This organization has made a huge difference on the history of breast cancer, and is continuing to do so everyday. Just take a look at their accomplishments.
How you can help:
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Become part of their National Action Network by simply giving them your name, email, and zip code. As part of the network you will be informed of many concrete ways to help policies surrounding breast cancer, such as signing petitions, making phone calls, writing letters to the editor of your local paper, and more.
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The coalition offers many, many more ways to take action like that.
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The organization has several summits and conferences coming up in 2020 you can attend, such as the 2020 Advocate Leadership Summit, which they describe as an event “that offers discussion sessions with top researchers and advocates, as well as skill-building, message training, and strategic planning activities needed to energize us for the important work in the year ahead.”
Utilize the many leadership resources they offer so you can become a leader in the fight against breast cancer.