Komen Mission Statement

To eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment.

The Komen foundation believes that to truly eradicate breast cancer, it must not only invest in research for a cure for future generations, but it must also help meet the immediate breast health needs of women and their families facing the disease today.

Each year, local medical experts and community leaders join with the SW Michigan Affiliate to identify specific, unmet breast health needs in SW Michigan. Counties covered are: Allegan, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren.

A committee of local people awards the annual grants to grant applicants who fill in the breastcare medical gaps. Grants are funded by local, volunteer-organized events, such as the Komen Race for the Cure®. Other events include the BMW Ultimate Drive and Lee National Denim Day®. One Kalamazoo family established the Dance for the Cure to memorialize a family member's battle with breast cancer while raising funds to battle this disease.

Click here for information on applying for a grant.

Komen Guiding Principles

The Komen Guiding principles were born from a simple promise made between two sisters.

• We believe in the power of the individual, recognizing the extreme value of one and the dynamic force of many.
• We honor voluntarism and foster the spirit to serve by the lives that we touch.
• We nurture an environment where people are valued and treated with dignity, respect and fairness.
• We are committed to being a positive agent of change, demonstrating compassion and integrity in all that we do.
• We believe that distinguished financial performance is a must, not as an end in itself, but as a means to accomplish our broader mission.

The Komen Foundation Fact Sheet

1. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., (a Texas non-profit corporation) (Foundation) was formed in 1982. The stated mission of the Foundation is to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment. Volunteers around the world work through local Komen Affiliates and Komen Race for the CureŽ events to further the Foundation's mission.
2. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization as determined by the Internal Revenue Service.
3. The Foundation is approved as a participant in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) and is a national federation member of Independent Charities of America (ICA).
4. Since its inception, the Komen Foundation and its Affiliates have raised in excess of $300 million (gross audited figure through 1999).
5. The Komen Foundation runs one of the most innovative, responsive grant programs in breast cancer today, with a focus on research projects with potential for high impact that may not be considered by other agencies. Each year, the Komen Foundation awards project grants and fellowships in basic, clinical and translational research.
6. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 500 research and project grants totaling over $60 million. Grant recipients are selected through a blind, peer-review process recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
7. In addition to research on a national and international level, Komen Affiliates fund non-duplicative, community-based breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment projects for the medically underserved. In order to ensure that efforts are not being duplicated, Komen Affiliates conduct comprehensive community needs assessments.
8. The Komen Race for the Cure® Series is the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world. Since its origination in Dallas in 1983, the Komen Race for the Cure® Series has grown from one local race to an international series with more than 100. More than one million participants are expected in 2001.
9. Administrative and fundraising expenses remain less than ten percent of total Foundation spending.
10. Ninety percent of net revenue, or 90 cents of every dollar, supports the Foundation's mission to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease through research, education, screening and treatment.