BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER
Help. Hope. Here.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Breast Cancer Resource Centers (BCRC) is a non-profit organization staffed by breast cancer survivors who provide guidance, education and assistance to for individuals facing breast cancer in Austin and its surrounding communities.
Breast cancer is a complex disease and when you add the difficulties of a fragmented health care system, lack of financial resources including health care, health illiteracy, employment issues, English is not primary language and a host of other issues, it can be insurmountable.
Our goal is to provide the women of Central Texas, regardless of age, stage of disease, sexual orientation or financial situation, or primary language, a guiding light through a ensuring that she has everything she needs to identify her disease, treat it and transition into survivorship. If she has a recurrence or is diagnosed with metastatic disease, we are here to provide her community, financial assistance and education.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Guidance
BCRC Navigators are as focused on the woman as they are on the disease. They are frontline support professionals who serve as a bridge between their clients and the health care community. Based on age, geography, and stage of the disease, every clients is matched with a navigator who becomes part of her care team. They work to ensure each woman understands her diagnosis and her treatment options. They attend doctor's appointments, and interpret insurance coverage. They help a woman prepare for surgery and prepare for what happens when she leaves the hospital. When treatment ends and far into the future, the BCRC navigators maintain a relationship of trust and compassion for as long as needed.
KEYS
Breast Cancer Resource Center's KEYS (Karing for Every Young Survivor) is directly related to our grant from the CDC. This program uses an Advisory Council and a young breast cancer survivor subcommittee to drive our work for the grant. They provide oversight and direction for this 5-year collaborative grant. We conduct robust program evaluation.
Community Education and Outreach
Breast Cancer Resource Center has grown with the help of a grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). We now are providing physician education and other health care professionals and, in partnership with the Texas Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan (TCCCP), we are able to provide continuing education credits. We have also created a comprehensive Community Health Worker (CHW) training and we are in the process of being processed in two journals.
We have created a robust video library for our clients to review on a variety of topics taught by subject matter experts including How to Choose a Mental Health Provider, Exercise and Breast Cancer, Understanding and Coping with Breast Cancer Related Cognitive Changes and many, many others.
Where we work
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Hours of mentoring
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, Young adults
Related Program
Guidance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
BCRC patient navigators spent over 5000hours guiding their clients through treatment and into survivorship.
Number of new clients within the past 12 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, Young adults
Related Program
Guidance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The pandemic has caused an 80% drop in women seeking mammography services and we saw a large decrease in number of clients served in 2020.
Number of patient consultations
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adults, Young adults
Related Program
Guidance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This number is unduplicated clients served. In 2018, our Board of Directors made the decision to no longer fund mammography and diagnostic services. This represents post diagnosis navigation.
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?
Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) is a non-profit organization that provides guidance, education, and financial assistance to mitigate the distressing effects of a breast cancer diagnosis. Survivors themselves, BCRCs team of Certified Patient Navigators identify barriers and refer clients to internal and external resources to overcome these obstacles. BCRC is the only nonprofit organization in Central Texas that focuses solely on individuals affected by breast cancer, and remains a pioneer in survivorship and metastatic care. BCRC provides services regardless of age, race, socioeconomic status, or stage of disease.
At present, it is not uncommon for women in Central Texas to coordinate their care among multiple providers and facilities. Although, local healthcare institutions employ nurse navigators, these onsite healthcare professionals typically help patients streamline medical treatment. BCRC focuses on identifying a multitude of obstacles that – while outside the parameters of medical treatment – represent serious impediments to positive health outcomes. Challenges related to primary language, health literacy, financing treatment, adapting to survivorship, and life-long metastatic treatment protocols can all stop a woman's progress through the continuum of care. These obstacles are further magnified for underserved populations. Patient navigation plays a critical role in assisting women as they enter and move through a complex healthcare system.
BCRC leadership has established four strategic long-term goals to improve and expand services:
1. Standardize and deepen the level of care provided to clients.
2. Conduct targeted outreach to the medical community to improve their understanding of BCRC's role in an integrative care team.
3. Expand service opportunities to include demographics not currently served: African Americans, caregivers, and pre-vivors (those with BRCA gene mutation).
4. Fundraising Sustainability.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Goal 1: Standardize and deepen the level of care provided to clients.
Careful analysis of client data has revealed our client base could benefit from the standardization of care across three key areas: 1) we established an appropriate active client load for each navigator; 2) we defined standardized “touch-points" to guide communications between navigators and clients; 3) we are creating a Client Bill of Rights to ensure the highest standards of care.
Goal 2: Conduct targeted outreach to the medical community to improve their understanding of BCRC's role in an integrative care team.
Through targeted efforts, BCRC expanded the number of partnerships with physicians and health centers
Goal 3: Expand service opportunities to include demographics not currently served as well as we would like: African Americans, caregivers, and LGBTQ). BCRC has initiated a partnership with the Alliance for African American Health in Central Texas to provide patient navigation services to their clients diagnosed with breast cancer.
Goal 3: Analyze our current fundraising mix over the last 3-5 years
-Learn from funding approaches of peer non-profits
- Includes consideration for beneficiary / donor segmentation, and donor relationship management
- Select funding model(s) to implement
- Implement and evaluate new funding model
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
BCRC's patient navigators originally received certification from the Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute and are Community Health Workers certified through the Texas Department of State Health Services. All but our newest navigator, hired in June 2018 have received their certifications from either the Academy of Oncology Nurse Navigators (AONN+) or the National Consortium of Breast Centers.
The Manager of Programs manages seven program staff (six Patient Navigators and the Intake Specialist). Her careful and regular analysis of key metrics has allowed BCRC to eliminate less effective programs and expand those that have proven to meet the needs of our client base.
BCRC cultivates strategic partnerships to increase our clients' access to available resources. These relationships allow BCRC to communicate with medical professionals about gaps in service and provide technical support to practitioners requesting assistance in filling gaps they themselves have identified in service availability.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
BCRCs ultimate intended impact is to help as many women as possible overcome the barriers to care and quality of life encountered with a breast cancer diagnosis. Over the years we have evolved from an all-volunteer lending library into a professionally trained staff of support specialists. Five years ago we codified the meaning of “patient navigation" as it relates to the work we do in the community. Today, we continue to refine services modalities, standardize practices, and deepen the breadth of services we provide to thousands of women annually throughout Central Texas.
BCRC's client-centric approach to providing direct services allows us as “boots on the ground" to quickly and proactively determine emergent needs in a shifting landscape, and then to design and deliver immediate solutions through the development of internal programming or referral to a multitude of community partners. Owing to our established reputation as the “go to" organization for issues related to breast cancer and breast health, BCRC is uniquely positioned to facilitate new partnerships such as those with the Alliance for African American Health in Central Texas and FORCE (for women with BRCA gene mutation) to expand the delivery of our highly effective service model.
BCRC is also dedicated to maintaining a diversified funding stream, and has placed great importance on the development of a sustainable giving pipeline that begins with a highly successful annual event, moves donors into a program-driven monthly giving program, and ultimately identifies those donors who possess the passion and capacity to make transformational investments in the mission of the organization. The establishment of a sustainable major giving platform has been defined as a targeted area of focus for the next 24 months.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, 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, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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
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.
BREAST CANCER RESOURCE CENTER
Board of directorsas of 04/21/2023
Tammy Benter
Public Utility Commission
Term: 2023 - 2022
Norma Jean Chapa
Jamie McLeroy
Retired Attorney
Norma Jean Chapa
Infinity Ward
A. Elizabeth Colvin
RAISE Texas
Tammy Benter
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Kelly Martinez
Baylor Scott and White
Gail Papermaster
Grable, Martin, Fulton, PLLC
Debi Brannon
Austin Radiological Association
Kenya Johnson
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Alison Raffolovich
DemandTec
Susannah Stinson
Stinson, Moyle, PLLC
Lotus Douglas
IBM
Maria Garrett
MG Leadership, LLC
Christine Fisher, MD
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Christine Fisher
Austin Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/14/2022GuideStar 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 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.