When Dr. Susan Love embarked on her work, she was fueled by a quest. At the forefront of research into breast cancer, she’s led over 30 years of efforts illuminating the hard questions in a corner of medicine that was barely acknowledged when she started. Today, more than $514 million is spent funding breast cancer research — by the US government alone.
Grounded in advocacy, public education and determined to impact the growth of clinical trials, the work and mission of the Foundation have become a critical part of the efforts to detect and prevent breast cancer globally. The questions Dr. Susan Love has kept asking continue to change the lives of thousands of women. Our latest research into AI and handheld mammography was just published and will transform access and equity for breast cancer detection and treatment in communities and countries where healthcare resources are limited and lacking. Core to our mission has always been the essential question: How can we reach more women? This work is an answer.
As asking questions is in the DNA of the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, we are proud to acknowledge that we ask hard questions, even of ourselves.
For that reason, we’ve invested in a full-scale assessment of our operations with the guidance of the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative at the California Community Foundation. The Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative (NSI) is an LA-based fund that invests in nonprofit resiliency during moments of organizational transformation.
The NSI helps nonprofits based in Los Angeles County explore and implement formal partnerships leading to greater organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Sustained collaboration agreements permanently restructure the way participating organizations do their work, ranging from jointly managed programs and back-office consolidations to shared ventures or full-scale mergers.
In our case, having Dr. Love’s unparalleled and distinct vision for research and advocacy, some of those audited items are easy to review, adjust, and move forward. In other instances, and with other organizations, those questions can mean change — and not just any kind of change; growth.
This fall, we engaged in a board-led initiative to assess our assets and ideals and investigate partnership opportunities. The process included an assessment of the goals of a potential affiliation, what we bring to the table, and what an ideal partner might look like. We identified the top goals of a potential partnership as enhancing sustainability, increasing our impact, and preserving and building upon the legacy of Dr. Love. We then identified and reviewed several candidates for potential partnerships based on these goals.
Our goal is to continue to do the work that we’re best known for, and amplify the impact we have; educating, researching, and advocating. One goal is clear: we expect to increase the amount of research funded, continuously adding to the data that can improve patient outcomes. Our approach of dramatically expanding the number of patients enrolled in clinical trials across the country is unique and successful.
