Breast Cancer Awareness Month began in 1985, when the American Cancer Society (ACS) teamed up with the pharmaceutical division of Imperial Chemical Industries (now part of AstraZeneca) to promote mammography as the most effective tool for catching the disease early. The ribbon came later: in 1991, survivor Charlotte Haley began handing out peach ribbons with cards calling for more federal funding for cancer prevention; by 1992 Self magazine and Estée Lauder had turned the idea into the pink ribbon now recognized worldwide.

Since 1989, breast cancer death rates in the U.S. have fallen 44%, according to the ACS, confirming the value of early detection and steady support.

But progress hasn't reached everyone equally. Black women are still about 38% more likely to die of the disease than white women and new diagnoses are climbing fastest among women under 50. And while breast cancer is usually framed as a women's disease, it can affect people of any gender, including men. 

Awareness starts and is reinforced in October, but it continues year-round. Behind every statistic is a person who might need a mentor or advocate who has been there, a ride to chemo or help with rent.

This article is part of our Breakthrough Nonprofits series, an extension of our monthly newsletter for nonprofit professionals. The series shines a light on organizations that refuse to accept the status quo, finding new ways to clear the path for the people they serve. Supporting any of the nonprofits below means contributing to a world that is more informed, more connected and more hopeful for people facing breast cancer everywhere.

The nonprofits

The Give Lively member nonprofits featured below are leading examples of breakthrough work in breast cancer support, screening and survivorship: from ABCD, pairing patients with trained volunteer mentors who have faced the same diagnosis, to DenseBreast-info, helping patients and doctors understand what dense breast tissue means for screening; and from the Karen Wellington Foundation, sending women living with breast cancer on beach vacations and spa days, to survivor crews rowing and paddling across the country.

Karen Wellington Memorial Foundation for LIVING with Breast Cancer

Karen Wellington was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 and lived with it for 10 years, filling that time with painting, music, volunteering and raising her family. She dreamed of sending families touched by cancer on vacation and, after she died in 2007, the people who loved her built a Cincinnati-based foundation to do exactly that. Its "gifts of FUN" include beach getaways, spa days, concert passes, game-day tickets and even skydiving, offered to women at any stage of the disease and in any financial situation. What started with a single family in its first year has grown into more than 5,000 gifts and a network of chapters.

ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Milwaukee news anchor Melodie Wilson Oldenburg announced her own breast cancer diagnosis on live television in 1992. Seven years later, she left broadcasting to found ABCD around a simple conviction: no one should go through breast cancer alone. The nonprofit matches patients, survivors, people at high genetic risk, men with breast cancer and caregivers with trained volunteer mentors, pairing them by diagnosis, treatment, age and life circumstances at no cost. From 23 mentors in 1999, ABCD now serves more than 112,000 people across all 50 states and 10 countries.

The Women's Breast and Heart Initiative

Andrea Ivory credits early detection with saving her life, so in 2005 she set out to make sure cost and access wouldn't keep other women from the same chance. Her South Florida nonprofit takes prevention door to door, reaching some 11,000 new households each year and connecting uninsured and underserved women with screenings through hospital partners. Workplace wellness events have delivered more than 2,000 breast and heart screenings since 2020, while a Virtual Advocate Program has certified more than 4,400 students to carry the message online. The initiative has since widened its lens to include heart disease, another leading threat to women's health.

Forward4Tobi

Tobi Klonecki was 38 and raising two sons when she learned she had metastatic breast cancer. She lived with it for four years. After her death in 2013, her husband Tom and her friend Jodi Soriano created Forward4Tobi so patients without Tobi’s resources could get through treatment. The all-volunteer foundation funds patient assistance at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Illinois and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, covering medical bills, childcare, rent and the other daily costs that pile up during treatment. Together, those two funds have received more than $485,000.

Coalition of Blacks Against Cancer

In 2009, a conversation between Dr. Michele Halyard and Marion Kelly about the lack of trusted breast cancer information in Arizona's Black community sparked a public program that drew 100 people. Community leaders urged them to keep going and CBAC formally launched in the Phoenix area in 2010. Survivors have met monthly since January 2011 and CBAC's work now spans prevention and early detection, support for survivors and caregivers, research and a stronger community voice in cancer care. The organization remains a place where Black people with cancer are informed, supported and heard.

Going Beyond the Pink

Kara Kenan's 2013 breast-cancer diagnosis taught her how much knowledge and support matter during treatment, so in 2017 she launched Going Beyond the Pink in Wilmington, North Carolina. The nonprofit focuses on rural and underserved communities across Southeastern North Carolina, offering a mammogram access fund, financial assistance, nutrition support, monthly workshops and self-advocacy tools. Its REACH Survivor Symposium runs on a pay-what-you-can model so cost never keeps anyone out of the room. Since its founding, it has approved more than $103,000 in financial assistance for patients.

DenseBreast-info

Roughly half of U.S. women over 40 have dense breast tissue, which can make cancer harder to spot on a mammogram. DenseBreast-info launched in 2015 on Long Island, New York, with a team that includes a leading breast imaging researcher and advocates for state density-notification laws. It gives patients and health care providers clear, medically grounded information on density and supplemental screening, along with a continuing medical education course, a video series and a state-by-state legislative tracker. Visits to its site increased from 40,000 in 2016 to more than 1 million in 2024 and its World Dense Breast Day reached 16.8 million people in 104 countries that same year.

WeCanRow-Boston

Olympic gold medalist Holly Metcalf founded WeCanRow-Boston in 2002. It was the original WeCanRow program, now with affiliates across the country. Women who have been treated for breast cancer row together on the Charles River from April through October, then move indoors to Boston University's rowing tanks for the winter. Each spring, a Learn to Row event welcomes new members with coaches and a physical therapist on hand. Built on a peer support model, it treats wellness as a team sport in the most literal sense.

Los Angeles Pink Dragons

In 1996, a Canadian sports medicine doctor challenged the advice that breast cancer survivors should avoid strenuous upper-body exercise by putting a crew of survivors in a dragon boat. The Los Angeles Pink Dragons brought that idea to California in 2003 as the state's first survivor dragon boat racing team. Based in Long Beach, the team practices twice a week, races in regattas and festivals and joins the flower ceremonies that are a tradition of survivor paddling. Its paddlers range from about 30 to 80 years old.

Bay State Connection Dragons

Bay State Connection Dragons began with an ambitious goal: send an all-breast-cancer-survivor crew to the International Breast Cancer Paddlers' Commission festival in New Zealand. Paddlers from three Massachusetts teams – the Boston Wellness Warriors (featured in our Member Stories), Northampton Paradise City Dragons and Springfield Dragon Rays – joined forces to make it happen in 2023. The crew is built on camaraderie, hope and support for survivors, and it recently participated in the commission's 2026 festival in France.

Handler Hope Foundation

Lauren Handler was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer in 2020 and later developed leptomeningeal disease, a rare spread of cancer to the lining of the brain; she died in 2022 at 38. The foundation that carries her name, based in Huntington, New York, funds research and awareness focused on HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancers, which together make up more than 40% of cases and carry a high risk of brain metastasis. It has pledged $75,000 to Northwell Health, given $25,000 to Huntington Hospital and its Lauren Handler Research Fund supports brain metastasis research. Community events like Walk for Hope and Light for Hope keep Lauren's story and the fight alive. 

Indiana Breast Cancer Awareness Trust

Since 2002, Indiana drivers have been able to fund breast cancer care just by choosing a special license plate. Each one sold through the state BMV sends $25 to the Indiana Breast Cancer Awareness Trust, which turns those dollars into free mammograms and breast health services for uninsured and underinsured Hoosiers. The Evansville-based trust also runs a patient assistance fund and awards college scholarships to survivors and to students with a parent who has faced the disease. More than $7.5 million has gone to over 58,000 free services so far.

Sadie Strong

Sharon "Sadie" Sanford found out about her breast cancer on a routine mammogram in 2017, with no family history to warn her. Her mantra through treatment was "You have been assigned this mountain to show others that it can be moved" and it became the spirit of Sadie Strong, the faith-based nonprofit she started in Buffalo, New York. Its Lift Program drives women to treatment appointments, Love Boxes bring care packages to those in the thick of it and community health fairs offer free mammograms close to home. A Sister Circle workshop series and a prayer breakfast hosted by seven churches at once keep the whole community involved.

Paddle For Life

Every summer, dragon boats race across Lake River in Ridgefield, Washington, the marquee event of Paddle for Life's annual festival. Paddlers in Washington and California founded the Vancouver, Washington, nonprofit in 2009 to support the physical and emotional empowerment of Clark County women who have experienced breast cancer. Teams travel from as far as Long Beach, California, to compete and the race has raised tens of thousands of dollars for local causes. Along the way, it introduces new audiences to dragon boating and the cultural traditions behind it.

Breast and GYN Health Project

"As survivors we heal through service and by bearing witness to others" is the idea at the heart of the Breast and GYN Health Project, which has served California's Humboldt County since 1996 with services provided by cancer survivors and the people who support them. Anyone facing a breast or gynecologic cancer concern can turn to it for patient navigation, one-to-one counseling, support groups, a volunteer warmline and help with breast forms and wigs. More than 4,000 community members have found support. Now settling into a new home in Eureka, about a mile from Providence St. Joseph Hospital, the nonprofit is nearing a $2 million capital campaign that will add a Spanish-speaking patient navigator and a social worker.

Roar for the Cause

Breast cancer is often thought of as a later-life disease, but incidence among people in their 20s through 40s has been rising. Roar for the Cause, founded by Lauren Shugrue, centers on women under 40, raising awareness of the challenges younger patients face and advocating for access to screening and treatment regardless of insurance or finances. From its base in Shelton, Connecticut, it fields Making Strides walk teams in Connecticut and Illinois and funds local clinics so young patients can get care and financial help. Since launching its first programs in 2023, it has served 600 people with a team of 10 volunteers.