PLATINUM2024

Patient Empowerment Network

Knowledge Is Your Superpower

Bothell, WA   |  powerfulpatients.org

Mission

Patient Empowerment Network (PEN) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving cancer treatment outcomes and health equity. PEN’s mission is to fortify cancer patients and care partners with the knowledge and tools to boost their confidence, put them in control of their healthcare journey, and assist them in receiving the best, most personalized care available to ensure they have the best possible outcome. Through free programs and online resources covering diagnosis and testing, treatment, clinical trials, financing, to recovery, we empower cancer patients and care partners at every step of their journey.

Ruling year info

2011

Executive Director

Tracy Rode

Main address

2020 Maltby Road Ste 7 PMB 124

Bothell, WA 98021 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

27-1295230

NTEE code info

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (E01)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

New cancer cases are rising each year. A cancer diagnosis often makes patients feel overwhelmed, which can diminish health outcomes. Our programs educate, then ACTIVATE cancer patients and their care partners to ask the right questions, at the right time, to become co-decision makers with their doctors, in order to achieve the best possible treatment outcomes.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

digital sherpa Train-the-Trainer Program

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Empowerment)
Trains community-based and healthcare organizations to deliver digital literacy skills training. Through digital and in-person workshops held throughout the U.S., older and underserved patients and caregivers learn from student volunteers how to use online resource to improve their health and treatment outcomes. To-date, this program has empowered nearly 7,000 individuals across America. http://bit.ly/2MXdWNn

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Seniors

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Treatment/Empowerment)

Start Here targets newly diagnosed cancer patients and their loved ones and guides them through PEN’s robust library of resources. This program includes a quiz that generates a customized 90-day plan with curated resources for each respondent. Start Here bridges the expert and patient voices, enabling patients to ask treatment questions of their healthcare team with precision through live webinars. http://bit.ly/3JnnrAL

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Caregivers

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Empowerment)
A free and easy-to-complete course that develops the skills necessary to use online health resources, including telehealth. Requires <90 minutes to complete and available in English and Spanish. https://iamdigitallyempowered.org/.

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Seniors

(Health literacy/Testing/Empowerment)
While essential cancer testing is emphasized at diagnosis, it’s also important to understand that crucial biomarker testing happens throughout the course of one’s disease. Insist will continue to provide up-to-date information and advice regarding essential testing while improving health literacy among patients through videos on how testing can affect outcomes, webinars with experts on the role of genetics in treatment, a Take Action Guide to bring to doctor's appointments, and more.

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Caregivers

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Empowerment)
EPEP will provide healthcare providers/professionals with the tools to feel empowered about shared decision-making and connect patients in underrepresented communities with resources to help them overcome barriers to accessing care and improving their cancer outcomes through curated video series, resource library, and infographics. PEN will partner with FQHCs to ensure that all patients and families have access to and feel confident using empowerment and health literacy resources. http://bit.ly/3wDAE0E

Population(s) Served
Caregivers
People with diseases and illnesses

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Treatment/Empowerment)
For cancer patients at any stage of their journey, Evolve will provide patients and care partners with an understanding of the importance and benefits of new therapies, clinical trial participation and research. By raising patients' awareness through expert interviews and animated explainer videos of the latest research and treatments, they will feel well-informed when discussing newer therapies and clinical trials with their healthcare team.

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Caregivers

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Treatment/Empowerment)
By providing patients with the tools to understand their diagnosis and navigate their care, they will feel informed and educated when collaborating with their team to make key decisions. Thrive program seeks to do this through webinars with accompanying downloadable guides, expert interviews, animated explainer videos, and a downloadable resource guide.

Population(s) Served
Caregivers
People with diseases and illnesses

(Health Equity/Health Literacy/Empowerment)
[ACT]IVATED provides patients and care partners with tools to feel activated and connect with resources to help overcome barriers to accessing care and bridging gaps in underrepresented communities through expert interviews, patient vignettes, and downloadable resource guides.

Population(s) Served
Chronically ill people
Caregivers

Empowerment Leads are compassionate volunteers who represent specific cancer areas based on their own experience. They create broader awareness of PEN’s free resources within the cancer community, contribute to content, and help fellow patients and care partners gain the skills and confidence they need to become empowered self-advocates.

Program objectives include:
• Educate cancer patients and caregivers about the availability and benefits of free, cancer-specific resources
• Support patients and caregivers along a path to empowerment to feel more confident in communicating with and voicing concerns to their healthcare teams.
• Broaden, deepen, and diversify content creation for blogs, videos, webinars, and other free, digital resources within individual cancer areas.

Complementing PEN’s digital resources, ELs are a human bridge to survivorship, offering a first-hand understanding of the anxiety and uncertainty that can come with a cancer diagnosis. http://bit.ly/3DNI

Population(s) Served

This program provides actionable insights on how to improve cancer care for all patients by focusing on meaningful coping techniques that help maximize their well-being. https://powerfulpatients.org/rx-for-community-wellness/

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Caregivers

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of free digital sherpa™ Workshops

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

People with diseases and illnesses

Related Program

digital sherpa Train-the-Trainer Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of programs

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

People with diseases and illnesses

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of chronically ill patients served

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

People with diseases and illnesses

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total dollar amount of grants awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

People with diseases and illnesses

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total percent of revenue directed back into programs

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

People with diseases and illnesses

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Patient Empowerment Network is dedicated to improving cancer patients’ health outcomes and health equity.

New cancer cases are rising each year. Being empowered to ask the right questions, at the right time, is critical for achieving the best cancer treatment outcome. Yet a cancer diagnosis can make patients and caregivers feel out of control. We are a virtually-based nonprofit where anyone can go for help.

Through our Path to Empowerment framework, we provide patients and care partners with the knowledge and tools to boost their confidence, put them in control of their healthcare journey, and find their voice to insist on receiving the highest quality, most personalized care available to ensure the best possible health outcome.

Our programs and resources are free thanks to the generous support of our partners and donors. Through our website, workshops, webinars, and social media channels, cancer patients and their care partners can easily access medical experts, industry leaders, peers, patients, advocates, and curated resources addressing a broad range of topics. These include:

• Extensive video programs, including virtual meet-ups for patients, virtual panel discussion programs on topical issues in specific cancers, cancer conference coverage, videos from live town meetings for patients at major cancer centers such as MD Anderson Cancer Center, Robert Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern University, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and others

• Toolkits with tips, links to organizations, specific videos, and helpful resources to help empower patients.

• An extensive blog with contributions from patient advocates, healthcare providers, patient bloggers, caregivers, and others who have a strong voice in the cancer patient community.

Patient Empowerment Network’s collaboration with an ever-growing list of partners ensures we can provide cancer patients and care partners with timely, expert, and actionable knowledge to improve their and their loved ones’ health outcomes.

Our partnerships include AA MDS International Foundation, American Urological Association, Cancer Support Community, CLL Society, Diverse Health Hub, Health Content Collective, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Leukemia Research Foundation, Lung Cancer Research Foundation, Moffitt Cancer Center, and many others.

Our volunteer Network Managers specialize in specific cancer-types. In addition to influencing the Patient Empowerment Network content within their area of expertise, are a person-to-person resource available to cancer patients and their care partners.

In recent years, we have offered ~10% more programming each year, in tandem with increased investments from corporations and individuals. We pride ourselves on contributing more than 85% of revenue back into our programs

Our 2022 programs served more than 362,000 patients and care partners—a 4.84 % increase over the year prior—and our 2022 programs are on track to help even more people to access—and act upon—the knowledge they needed, for free, from any location, at every stage of their healthcare journey.

Through the investment of individual and institutional donors, we will be in a position to expand the reach and impact of our digitally-based programs, thus setting more cancer patients on a path to empowerment to achieve the best possible outcome for their treatment.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback

Financials

Patient Empowerment Network
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Patient Empowerment Network

Board of directors
as of 02/26/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Darla Brown

Darla Brown

LaWanda Byrd

Nancy Gatschet

Sajjad Iqbal

Ray Parisi

Alyssa Gutjahr

Eric Vicks

Sujata Dutta

Andrea Marquez

Lauri Bolton

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 4/3/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 10/20/2020

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.