Programs and results
What we aim to solve
While fighting for their lives, many women in active treatment for breast cancer lose their livelihoods, experiencing a loss of income that often leads to catastrophic financial losses and the need to rebuild financial health. This financial stress has a wide-range of social and clinical consequences leading to higher morbidity rates, sub-par quality of care, and overall poorer well-being and bankruptcy. In 2017, The Pink Fund polled 1,000 breast cancer survivors and found: • 1/3 of patients were more scared about how treatment would affect their finances than the cancer itself. • 36% report losing their job or being unable to work due to a disability caused by treatment. • 73% of patients considered altering or skipping their medication or treatment to save money– and 41% actually acted on it. The Pink Fund provides financial support which helps meet basic needs, decrease stress levels, and allow breast cancer patients to focus on healing while improving survivorship outcomes.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Financial Bridge
While fighting for their lives, many breast cancer patients in active treatment lose their livelihood. Unable to work during treatment, patients experience a loss of income that can result in catastrophic financial losses and the need to rebuild financial health. The Pink Fund provides 90 days of financial support to breast cancer patients in active treatment; covering expenses for housing, transportation, utilities, and insurance. This helps meet their basic needs, decrease stress levels, and allow patients to focus on healing while improving survivorship outcomes.
Where we work
Awards
The Giving Spirit Award 2011
National Association of Women Business Owners
Heart of a Survivor Nominee 2010
Karmanos
We Like Your Style 2011
StyleLine Magazine-Detroit
Community Recipient Award 2012
I'm Every Woman
The Diamond Award 2013
Association for Women in Communications, Detroit Chapter
Diversity Award 2012
Corps! Magazine
Healthcare Hero 2018
Crain's
The Giving Spirit Award 2018
National Association of Women Business Owners
Purpose Prize Fellow 2014
AARP The Purpose Prize
Pink Power Mom 2014
Kids II and Bright Starts
Finalist 2016
EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Michigan and Northwest Ohio
Finalist 2017
EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Michigan and Northwest Ohio
Distinguished Woman of the Year 2019
Northwood University
Patient Champion 2019
EyeforPharma
Fellow 2020
AARP® Purpose Prize® Award
Notable Women in Health 2020
Crain’s Detroit Business
Inspiration Honor Roll 2020
George H W Bush Points of Light
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsTotal number of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Financial Bridge
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Fiscal year metrics. The Pink Fund Fiscal year runs from July to June.
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Financial Bridge
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Fiscal year metrics. The Pink Fund Fiscal year runs from July to June.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
"Although progress in breast cancer treatment is laudable... Efforts must now turn to confront the financial devastation that many patients face, particularly as they progress into survivorship. To cure a patient’s disease at the cost of financial ruin falls short of the physician’s duty to serve, and failure to recognize and mitigate a patient’s financial distress is no longer acceptable."
-Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, University of Michigan
While fighting for their lives, many breast cancer patients in active treatment lose their livelihood. Unable to work during treatment, patients experience a loss of income that can result in catastrophic financial losses and the need to rebuild financial health. The Pink Fund provides a financial bridge for breast cancer patients in active treatment; covering expenses for housing, transportation, utilities, and insurance. This helps meet basic needs, decrease stress levels, and allow patients to focus on healing while improving survivorship outcomes.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Pink Fund serves breast cancer patients throughout the United States who are in active treatment and have lost income due to their breast cancer diagnosis (i.e., leave of absence, reduced hours, etc.)
Our 90-day financial bridge program pays up to $3,000 to cover non-medical cost-of-living expenses for housing, transportation, utilities and insurance. Payments are made directly to patient’s creditors.
The Pink Fund receives applications from breast cancer patients across the country representing all walks of life, from hourly workers making minimum wage, to post graduate therapists unable to work through treatment.
To provide a holistic solution for the financial impact of a breast cancer diagnosis The Pink Fund is working to "bookend" the financial bridge program. Patients will be armed with financial and health literacy education to help them navigate through their options for income, employment, health insurance, co-pay assistance, etc. while in treatment. To help patients rebuild financial health, The Pink Fund will introduce a back to work program for patients post treatment.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In the last fiscal year, The Pink Fund distributed $805,873.25 in bill payments on behalf of 337 patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer. (FY19-20)
As of May 2021, The Pink Fund has distributed $5 million, assisting 2,878 patients in active treatment.
The Pink Fund’s financial bridge program is sustained by a diverse group of donors, including corporate partners, grant makers, individual donors. In addition, there has been a groundswell of support for The Pink Fund from people around the country who have been touched by breast cancer holding fundraisers benefiting The Pink Fund, from indie rock concerts to walks, rallies, car washes, and school pink outs. In 2017, The Pink Fund received the first quarter million-dollar donation towards its endowment to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization, and received its first million-dollar pledge in 2019.
Since its inception in 2006, The Pink Fund has provided steady financial support to breast cancer patients in treatment. With an accordion style funding policy, where available funding is expanded and constricted relative to income, and a budgeted reserve the financial bridge program has never
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2005, Molly MacDonald was diagnosed with breast cancer during a job transition. Unemployed and unemployable while she underwent treatment, the addition of a $1,300 monthly COBRA premium catapulted the family into financial freefall. Within months, the home went into foreclosure, and she found herself standing in line at a food bank. Molly met other working women in treatment experiencing similar financial challenges. Unable to find a single organization to help, her quest to Get Help, became one to Give Help.
With the help of her husband and a handful of volunteers, she launched The Pink Fund at her kitchen table in 2006 and provided Michigan breast cancer patients with up to 90 days of financial support.
In 2012, with the help of Ford Warriors In Pink, The Pink Fund expanded to a national non-profit, serving breast cancer patients nationwide.
As of November 2019, The Pink Fund has made more than $3.75 million in patient financial support, making direct payments to patients' creditors for housing, transportation, utilities and insurance.
In 2020, faced with an unprecedented pandemic, The Pink Fund launched its One Less Worry Facebook Live series to educate breast cancer patients and advocates on how to navigate the financial impact of a breast cancer diagnosis. Weekly interviews with industry experts cover topics such as health literacy, navigating cost of care, insurance optimization, debt management, financial planning, wills and trusts, employee rights, and employment post treatment. The series provides a road map to guide patients through their breast cancer diagnosis to avoid pitfalls that would exacerbate the toxic financial side effects. As this series expands, we will be working to help patients get “Back To Your Future” by building a community where patients feel safe to discuss their financial burdens, seek support, and rebuild financial health.
Today, The Pink Fund provides a financial bridge to breast cancer patients across the United States; and is providing education on financial and health literacy, and advocating for patients on the policy level.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Breast cancer patients in active treatment
-
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.),
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
-
What significant change resulted from feedback?
We have simplified and color coded our application for financial assistance.
-
With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders,
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild 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.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild 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.
The Pink Fund
Board of directorsas of 3/11/2022
Mr. Gary Kadlec
Diplomat
Thomas Pettit
Tamale Group
Judy Vindici
Arbor Hospice
Gary Kadlec
Diplomat, Retired
Shannon Crone
Ernst & Young, LLP
Linda Ross
Trinity Health
Fran Parsons
Federal Mogul, Retired
Board leadership practices
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 ? No -
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
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/03/2021GuideStar 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
- 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 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.
- 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.