Quote:
Originally Posted by southbymidwest
My peeve- There is a SGK Three Day Walk here in DC in October. I swear, ads for this already are on the radio and local tv channels 752 times a day. It's early February, for Christ's sake. i wonder what the percentage of funds raised by these walks actually go to research-that ad budget must chip away at a nice chunk of it. In addition, there is an Avon Three Day walk in May. They advertise 389 times a day. You can't get away from it.
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Disclosure: I am a former board member for a local SGK affiliate. That was 6 years ago in a former city. I have not had any involvement since that time except to participate in the local Race For The Cure.
SGK nationally, as well as the local affiliates, must abide by a very strict limit of 75% of funds raised must go directly to research, education, screening or treatment. As someone else mentioned, those spots are donated. However, since it is a 3 day event that they are advertising for, this is probably about the right time. The people who participate in 3 days are often a very different segment than those who do the RFTC. Many women have to train to be able to walk 12 hours a day for 3 days. The lead time gives women the time to truly think about the event, decide if they can commit to that kind of exercise, and then begin training. Yes, walks of that distance do require training, especially given that many of the women doing them many not be regular exercisers.
And now just general comments re: this thread, not specifically directed to SouthbyMidwest:
Back to the 75% ratio- I was a Race Chair for one of the RFTCs. There are many elements of the Race that can be donated, but some absolutely cannot. Examples: police/security along route (you must have cops at all road crossings), ambulance/EMTs (we could often get a doctor to donate time but the on duty EMTs and the ambulance was $$), road barricades, port-o-potties, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. In other words, those of us who have planned those types of events must be very, very careful with our spending, because we absolutely could not go over the 25%. My team worked and worked and worked, and our ratio was 8%. That means that AFTER we paid all our bills, we were still able to donate 92% of all the money raised directly to breast cancer causes. That particular Race yielded over $800,000, so 92% stayed in our local community.
To address als463: I have never, ever heard of an affiliate requiring a specific donation amount. In fact, the RFTC concept is typically the opposite- pampering the survivors. I am sorry this happened to your mom and would be interested to learn more about the situation. Not saying this is the case with your mom, but we fielded all kinds of angry calls about "our" event, however, upon more questioning we learned that the angry callers had attended a different breast cancer walk in town and not the RFTC. This is likely (speculation here, no first hand knowledge) why they are so careful with their trademark. There are already several other breast cancer walks, and again, there is much confusion at least in my former city.
Finally, addressing the main point of the thread, boy facebook has been blowing up for several weeks on both sides of this issue, many of the comments in my feed lacking the full story. First, again in full disclosure, I am probably one of the few people on the planet that is politically neutral on PP. Therefore, I approach PP without any sort of political leanings or agenda.
Komen HQs has never given money directly to PP. However, the local affiliates are free to grant their money (brought in from RFTC or any other local fundraising efforts) however they see fit. PP has applied for grants in through some affiliates, but this has not been a widespread situation. Any local entity that can demonstrate a need in delivering research, education, screening or treatment for breast cancer is invited to submit a grant proposal. These come from a wide range of community entities- hospitals/clinics, mobile mammography, as well as other non-profits. Komen HQ and many local affiliates (mine included) even fund the American Cancer Society, Y-Me and other breast cancer non-profits. Effort is given on the parts of the affiliates to fund underserved populations, as well as ethnic minority groups that demonstrate disproportionally high diagnosis and mortality rates.
My particular affiliate funded numerous organizations that provided free/reduced cost mammograms, with PP never applying in my city. Komen HQ and the local affiliate will continue to fund non-profits, and this money will continue to go to fund mammograms. That part hasn't changed. Those women who previously received a mammogram via PP would likely have other non-profit avenues within their community to continue receiving this life saving service. Obviously this would require some social work involvement to get them plugged in correctly. Not being a SWer, and no longer working in the medical community, I want to be careful not to speculate too much. However, any money that previously was given to PP would still be used in the local community and would now go to a different non-profit.
As for the commercialization of breast cancer, I can't agree more. It turns my stomach to see how corporations play into the disease to make a sale., and I despise any shopping during October. However, I can at least say that SGK gives 75%, at minimum, of the money that they make off these products away. Other organizations that are also lending their name to toilet plungers, kitty litter and who knows what, well, there may not be that level of financial commitment. I saw some bracelets last year where the fine print indicated they "give up to 10% of proceeds."
Sorry for the novel, but this thread obviously struck a chord and I hope to have cleared up some misconceptions that may be out there. Again, it's been 6 years since I have had direct involvement with SGK, so there is no current "dog in the fight." Just wanted to pull the curtain back as to how the organization operates.
What a shame, on both counts. It's a shame that politics got involved with a charity, and it's a shame people will stop donating to SGK as a result. 
Hybrid Mode
