Don't misunderstand, I like pink as much as the next 5K-walking girl, and I do hope we find better treatments and solutions for breast cancer patients, but something has always bothered me about the machine that has become Pinktober. Hell, I even have the light pink Kitchenaid mixer, a gift from the doctor at the mammography clinic where my mother worked. Between the 3 day walks, and balloons, raising money for breast cancer looked more like a concert than a charity event. I'd pay my 40 bucks, get my T- shirt, wake up early, and look around year after year at all of the events and products, and think how could we have not made any real or significant progress?
I also wondered how much all of these events cost to put together, and how much does any charity actually give after all is said and done? Wouldn't it be better for me to donate straight to the organization and save them the 60 mile walk and hours of event planning? This is the most celebrated cause, but breast cancer is no cake walk. All of the pink ribbons and rallying with our matching pink shoelaces seemed to disconnect from the reality. You could tell during the race, which people were survivors, and which people had lost someone to cancer without even looking at their shirt; the attitude was much different.
I ran across an article the other day that put what I was thinking into perfect perspective. You can read it here. "Not for Sale - a case against Pinktober" I urge you to read it, because what she says from the position of being a survivor can't be summarized.
I knew some of the companies supporting breast cancer were relatively up front, stating how much of what you purchased was actually being donated, but there are so many that are not. The NFL is under fire for refusing to confirm their exact percentages, but they've raised a whopping 3 million dollars from 2009 - 2012........ Let that sink in.
The NFL ( who previously also was tax exempt??) made 8 Billion alone during that time frame from merchandise only, and 26 Billion in profit overall. 8B / 3M = .000375 or .0375% I feel relatively confident that Jerry Jones, or the NFL commissioner could have written a 3 Million dollar check from their own personal bank account any day of the week with no problem.
Not to pick on the NFL because it isn't just them; it's extremely common for companies to donate about 5% of proceeds. If you would really like to have your donations make a difference, be sure of where they are going and how much will be given. Choose a non-profit 501(c)(3) registered organization and donate directly, or to any entity that is transparent in their operations.
That is why I am choosing to donate ALL book proceeds during the month of October to METAVivor. You can read on their site the detailed report of how their operation is run, what kind of research grants are funded by the donations, and that they are run solely by volunteers. To be fully up front as well, when a book is purchased via Amazon for $2.99 or above, the author receives 70%. So essentially each donation shared will be roughly 2 dollars.
Please help me share this message, and make as much of a donation as we can to METAvivor by sharing this link to your social media.
Thank you !
METAvivor
From their site...
OUR FUNDING:
METAvivor is run entirely by volunteers, most of who are living with metastatic breast cancer. Although we do not pay any salaries, we work to obtain grants and corporate sponsors to support our operational expenses. This allows us to ensure that donations can be entirely dedicated to our research grants that fund the cutting edge research that will ultimately save lives. Unless otherwise specified by the donor, 100% of every donation and 100% of proceeds from every fundraiser (after event expenses) goes into our research grants.
Click here to purchase and support METAvivor.
Thank you!
I also wondered how much all of these events cost to put together, and how much does any charity actually give after all is said and done? Wouldn't it be better for me to donate straight to the organization and save them the 60 mile walk and hours of event planning? This is the most celebrated cause, but breast cancer is no cake walk. All of the pink ribbons and rallying with our matching pink shoelaces seemed to disconnect from the reality. You could tell during the race, which people were survivors, and which people had lost someone to cancer without even looking at their shirt; the attitude was much different.
I ran across an article the other day that put what I was thinking into perfect perspective. You can read it here. "Not for Sale - a case against Pinktober" I urge you to read it, because what she says from the position of being a survivor can't be summarized.
I knew some of the companies supporting breast cancer were relatively up front, stating how much of what you purchased was actually being donated, but there are so many that are not. The NFL is under fire for refusing to confirm their exact percentages, but they've raised a whopping 3 million dollars from 2009 - 2012........ Let that sink in.
The NFL ( who previously also was tax exempt??) made 8 Billion alone during that time frame from merchandise only, and 26 Billion in profit overall. 8B / 3M = .000375 or .0375% I feel relatively confident that Jerry Jones, or the NFL commissioner could have written a 3 Million dollar check from their own personal bank account any day of the week with no problem.
Not to pick on the NFL because it isn't just them; it's extremely common for companies to donate about 5% of proceeds. If you would really like to have your donations make a difference, be sure of where they are going and how much will be given. Choose a non-profit 501(c)(3) registered organization and donate directly, or to any entity that is transparent in their operations.
That is why I am choosing to donate ALL book proceeds during the month of October to METAVivor. You can read on their site the detailed report of how their operation is run, what kind of research grants are funded by the donations, and that they are run solely by volunteers. To be fully up front as well, when a book is purchased via Amazon for $2.99 or above, the author receives 70%. So essentially each donation shared will be roughly 2 dollars.
Please help me share this message, and make as much of a donation as we can to METAvivor by sharing this link to your social media.
Thank you !
METAvivor
From their site...
OUR FUNDING:
METAvivor is run entirely by volunteers, most of who are living with metastatic breast cancer. Although we do not pay any salaries, we work to obtain grants and corporate sponsors to support our operational expenses. This allows us to ensure that donations can be entirely dedicated to our research grants that fund the cutting edge research that will ultimately save lives. Unless otherwise specified by the donor, 100% of every donation and 100% of proceeds from every fundraiser (after event expenses) goes into our research grants.
Click here to purchase and support METAvivor.
Thank you!
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