American Cancer Society, Inc.

Goal: $3,000.00

Specific Need

While most people know us for our research, we do so much more. We work to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. We advocate for lifesaving policy changes. We promote healthy lifestyles to help you prevent cancer. We research cancer and its causes to find more answers and better treatments. We provide information, answers, and support to people in every community who have been touched by cancer. And we do it all 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your generous donation will support these programs so they are there when members of our community need them most. Learn more about what we do HERE.

Mission

The mission of the American Cancer Society is to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.

Profile

The American Cancer Society is the leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision of ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. We are the only organization working to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.

We provide the support and guidance people impacted by cancer need at every step – from increasing access to screening at the local, state, and federal levels and advocating for more affordable health care to guiding patients and caregivers through our free 24/7 helpline and helping them get the treatment they need by offering free transportation and lodging. In addition, we fund and conduct research so people in every community have the opportunity to prevent, detect, treat and survive cancer.

How the work of the American Cancer Society improves lives

Our mission delivery efforts are focused on the critical areas of discovery, advocacy, and patient support. Despite the incredibly challenging start of the decade, we are still seeing progress being made in the fight against cancer.

As the nation’s leading cancer-fighting organization, the American Cancer Society (ACS) is committed to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone.

We are working to achieve this goal through targeted efforts that include investments in research, improving equitable access to care, urging people to resume cancer screening, and working to reduce long-standing disparities in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment outcomes. Globally, we convene government and civil society stakeholders, share our expertise, invest resources, and design programs and initiatives to reduce the stark disparities in cancer outcomes in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Colombia.

Below are some examples of our efforts to reduce the cancer burden in every community:

Research: The American Cancer Society is the largest funder of cancer research grants in the United States outside of the federal government, investing more than $5B over 75 years. We launch innovative, high-impact research to find more – and better – treatments, uncover factors that may cause cancer, and improve the quality of life for people facing cancer.

Cancer Prevention: We fund and conduct research to discover how people can take steps to reduce their cancer risk, and provide information on the causes of cancer – from environment to lifestyle choices to genetics, and more. We work to encourage healthy lifestyle choices – like avoiding tobacco, eating healthy, and being physically active – that could help to eliminate approximately 50% of deaths from cancer.

Cancer Screening and Early Detection: We publish cancer screening guidelines to help people detect cancer early, when it may be easier to treat.

Access to Care: We believe no one should die from cancer because they cannot get the quality care they need. We are working to increase screening and reduce cancer risk for underserved communities and boost our investment in our transportation and lodging programs to help patients receive treatment and support.

Patient and Caregiver Services: We provide guidance and support to patients and caregivers at every step of their cancer journey. From free rides to treatment, places to stay when treatment is far from home, and our live 24/7 helpline, we’re here for everyone with cancer questions and concerns, when and where they need us.

Survivorship: We are transforming the care and long-term health of the over 18 million cancer survivors in the US through innovative ways to mitigate the harmful long-term effects from cancer and cancer treatment.

We’re making progress: By taking what we’ve learned through research and translating it into action, we’ve contributed to a 33% decrease in the overall US cancer death rate since 1991. That means that we helped avoid nearly 4.1 million cancer deaths during that time.

Making a difference

The American Cancer Society directly and measurably improves the lives of people with cancer and their families. Thanks to those who generously invest in our mission, we are working to end cancer as we know it for everyone, by ensuring that all people have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer.

Learn about the impact we are making on the cancer burden, and on the lives of those impacted by the disease. We are dedicated to using every single donor dollar wisely to fund and provide the critical programs and services that people count on every day.