CT Challenge

The vision for Mission is to be the pre-eminent resource for cancer survivors seeking a path forward outside of hospital-based treatment and acute stage care. A growing body of research supports the benefits of exercise, nutrition and mind-body health in:

1) countering the after effects of treatment
2) enhancing the effectiveness of treatment
3) extending life
4) maximizing quality of life for cancer survivors

Yet, there remain few resources for cancer patients outside of hospital-based care. Mission aims to change this paradigm, embracing a cutting-edge approach in everything we do. Given the rising number of people surviving cancer,* it is more important than ever for Mission to claim the leadership vacuum in cancer survivorship.

As the recognized leader in survivorship, Mission will be the reliable, effective provider of actionable, game-changing content and programs. Our efforts will continue to be guided by what is best for survivors, where we can make the most difference.

Rebranding CT Challenge programs as Mission in 2017 was a bold initiative, implemented to propel the organization to national preeminence among survivors. An aspirational lifestyle brand full of vitality and delivered with an inspirational look, feel and voice, Mission is
positioned to appeal to a broader audience of cancer survivors as well as mainstream America for the reach and impact needed to facilitate claiming this leadership role.

The economic ramifications of cancer survivorship add tremendous impetus to our goals. According to information released by the National Institutes of Health: “If cancer incidence, survival, and costs of care remained at constant levels, by the year 2020, the costs of cancer care in the U.S. were projected to increase to $157.8 billion dollars from $124.5 billion dollars in 2010. This 27% increase in projected costs reflects only U.S. population changes. If recent trends of declining incidence, improving survival, and increasing costs continue, the estimated cost of cancer care would increase to $172.8 billion dollars in 2020, a 39% increase from 2010.”

By empowering survivors with knowledge, habits and resources to maintain better health, Mission programs will reduce this drag on the American economy.

*Currently, there are 17 million survivors in the U.S.

We will continue to realize new lessons about healthy survivorship, distilling and communicating this new information to an ever-broadening number of cancer survivors and employing best, cutting-edge practices in content delivery as we progress through the program expansion facilitated by our fundraising work. Our five-year strategic plan, starting in 2019 and running through 2023, with its projected results, ROI targets and fundraising strategies, reflects our commitment to realizing our ambitious vision for survivorship and directs our selection of goals, priorities and resource allocation.

GOAL #1: Reach 10% of all cancer survivors in the U.S. by 2023 by building out a video library of content for yourmission.org; using best practices in digital marketing to maximize distribution and visibility of content among cancer survivors; developing strategic partnerships with leading medical institutions and KOLs to enhance our visibility; aggressively growing our social media following.
GOAL #2: Reach 15% of young survivors by 2023 through a continued build out of the Mission Adventure Project for survivors ages 12 to 30, social media and online community-building.
GOAL #3: Continue to support and partner with programs for cancer survivors in local communities

Currently, Mission is supported primarily by an annual bike fundraising event. We are working to diversify and strengthen alternative revenue streams including online giving, peer-to-peer / do-it-yourself fundraising, event beneficiary partnerships, satellite bike events and spin-a-thons while continuing to build our traditional fundraising channels (annual appeal, large donor cultivation, grants, corporate sponsorships).

Human resources and systems shift as needed to achieve our goals and support high-impact results. Mission personnel consists of staff, consultants, interns, advisory boards and a board of directors. Maintaining a balance of input, knowledge and points of view across the full range of cohorts is a key brand value at Mission and forms the core of our staffing objectives. Advisory boards and outside expertise are used on a project-by-project, as-needed basis to bridge the internal knowledge gaps. This ensures cost-efficient best-in-class support across all areas.

After two years of careful discernment, a detailed gathering of information and viewpoints from a wide range of cancer survivors and a deep dive into a long list of possible names, the game-changing CT Challenge programs were officially relaunched and expanded under Mission in early 2017 with the unveiling of our new website at www.yourmission.org, the rebranding of the Center for Survivorship as the Mission Training Center. Along with its name change the Mission Training Center received a major refit, positioning it more in line with what survivors want. We also repositioned our social media under the handle @Mission:NoLimits on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as part of our expanded digital health and wellness initiatives. We continued to deliver our education and community outreach programs as well as academic and camp scholarships for young survivors.

The pillars around which our programs are built remain exercise, nutrition and mind-body health and we continue to deliver the critical knowledge and tools in these areas, as well as the mindset and community survivors need to get beyond cancer and the effects of treatment.

While these critical milestones on our trek to claim the leadership vacuum that exists in the area of cancer survivorship are complete, we’ve only just begun with all that remains before us to reach a critical mass of survivors, to help them get to the other side of cancer and stay there.

We have deployed SEO and marketing automation tools and strategies. We will continue to work with these tools and SEM campaigns to build our reach. Most immediately, we are focused on building out our video library of content, on boarding more young survivors into our Adventure Project program, growing our social media channels, testing online delivery of Center programs and diversifying our fundraising channels to generate the dollars needed to reach the critical mass of cancer survivors who need our programs.