Thanks to the inspired efforts of 180,000 Avon Walk participants, $472 million has been raised and donated to breast cancer programs since 2003. Your support funds research to find a cure or prevention, as well as programs that enable all patients to access quality care. A key priority is the medically underserved, including low-income, elderly, and minority individuals.
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An average 80% of net funds raised by an Avon Walk stays in the area where the event takes place. The remaining 20% helps ensure that care programs in all 50 states, as well as national research programs, have adequate funding to make the most progress possible in the fight against breast cancer. Click on an Avon Walk city to see recent grant recipients.
All money raised by the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is managed by the Avon Foundation for Women, a 501(C)(3) public charity that funds a comprehensive network of programs and services dedicated to serving breast cancer patients and their families through five areas of the breast cancer cause: awareness and education, screening and diagnosis, access to treatment, support services, and scientific research.
Select an area to see grant recipients:
The Avon Foundation is proud to support leading national organizations with grants awarded during Avon Walk Closing Ceremonies:
The Avon Foundation Breast Health Outreach Program received $5.85 million to continue supporting 120 community-based groups across the country — programs which navigated more than 125,000 people into mammography screening and clinical breast exams in 2011 and reached half a million people with critical education and information.
CancerCare received $1 million to continue providing direct financial assistance to low-income breast cancer patients, reaching women and men in 85% of all U.S. counties and all 50 states.
Safety Net Hospitals and Support Programs: In 2011, $10.8 million was provided to 75 safety net hospitals and support programs in and beyond Avon Walk cities. Funds support upgrading equipment in breast health centers, "patient navigator" staff, nutrition programs and meals, and other support services. Navigators help women and men secure appointments and financial resources for care if low-income or uninsured. For those diagnosed with cancer, navigators help patients navigate the complex medical maze — from pathology, to surgery, to oncology, and radiation therapy — and ultimately help patients achieve survival by receiving timely and quality care.
The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation received $500,000 to support the Love/Avon Army of Women. The Army of Women is changing the way that breast cancer research is conducted — significantly reducing the time it takes to recruit research study volunteers and encouraging researchers to study the changes happening in healthy women before breast cancer develops to learn how to prevent it.
Accelerating Research Progress: $13.7 million provided to support breast cancer research across the country in 2011, with a focus on understanding the causes of breast cancer and developing new ways to prevent the disease. Funds support 43 projects at universities across the country in addition to research conducted at eight Avon Centers of Excellence for Comprehensive Breast Cancer Care and Research. Funded research projects include:
To learn more about Avon-funded research in breast cancer, visit our grants database. You can search by geographical location, institution, scientist name, or keyword.
Baylor College of Medicine received two grants totaling $350,000. The first grant, for $150,000, will support research to detect the spread of cancer from the breast when it threatens to reach the brain. The second grant, for $200,000, will further strengthen the support provided through Baylor College of Medicine’s partnership with the Ben Taub General Hospital and the Quentin Meese Clinic.
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio received a $300,000 grant to support research attempting to understand what cells give rise to cancerous tumors and how to destroy them.
The Sister’s Network, the only national African-American breast cancer survivorship organization in the county, received a $25,000 grant to provide scholarships for breast cancer survivors to attend one of ten 2013 African-American Breast Cancer Conferences, educating women in Houston and around the country.
Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation received a $50,000 grant, which will pay for survivors and advocates to attend the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and to publish the new findings announced at this essential symposium, making them available to scientists, advocates and survivors across the country.
The Breast Health Collaborative of Texas received a $50,000 grant to improve care coordination for low-income and uninsured women in Houston.
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute received a $100,000 grant to support its Breast Health Initiative at the Denver Harbor Breast Cancer Clinic in Houston.
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center received a grant for $125,000 to support breast cancer nurse navigators at the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital.
Food & Friends received a $250,000 grant to assist with funding its Pink Ribbon Delivery Program that provides breast cancer patients and their families with specialized nutritional support and home delivered meals. Since 2001, the Avon Foundation has awarded Food & Friends $3.63 million to support the program, which delivered its one-millionth meal to a breast cancer patient this month.
A&G Pharmaceutical received a $300,000 research grant to assist in finding a serum biomarker for early detection of breast cancer and for use in association with routine screening mammography.
The George Washington University received a $150,000 research grant to assist with the development of a blood test for early detection of breast cancer.
Johns Hopkins University’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, home to an Avon Breast Cancer Center of Excellence, received a $750,000 grant to support the Avon Center and three research projects working to determine the causes of breast cancer and developing diagnostic tests to see who is at risk of developing breast cancer.
Capital Breast Care Center at Georgetown University received a $250,000 grant to allow the Center to expand its breast health education and outreach services, as well as critical screening services and patient navigation.
Breast Care for Washington received a $125,000 grant to assist in purchasing mobile mammography equipment.
The George Washington University’s Medical Center received a $125,000 grant to support its Avon Patient Navigator in helping the District’s most venerable women receive treatment and care.
Meritus Medical Center’s Patient Navigator at the John R. Marsh Cancer Center received a $60,000 grant to assist 800 uninsured and underinsured women receive free mammograms and clinical breast examinations.
Howard University Cancer Center received a $125,000 grant that will reduce wait times for testing and treatment procedures and provide access to genetic counseling.
Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, part of Johns Hopkins University, received a $125,000 grant to support a patient navigator to assist women with their treatment.
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, home of an Avon Foundation Breast Care Center of Excellence, received a $750,000 grant to fund research that looks at the association between pregnancy and breast cancer risk, as well as fund programs to help low-income women receive breast cancer care at the Avon Center at Massachusetts General and five neighborhood health care centers including Chelsea, Geiger Gibson, Mattapan, Neponset and Harbor community clinics.
BIOarray Therapeutics received a $150,000 research grant to develop a diagnostic test that would predict the type of chemotherapy a specific breast cancer will respond to and which therapies would be ineffective.
Silent Spring Institute received a $150,000 research grant to look at the potential role of the environment in breast cancer development.
Dana Farber Cancer Institute received a $150,000 research grant to identify if viruses or bacteria are present in different types of breast cancer through the generation and analyses of large scale sequencing data from breast cancer samples.
Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, received $150,000 to investigate the mechanisms of action whereby viruses could give rise to breast cancer.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center received a $150,000 grant to continue researching the effects of the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) infection on breast tissue.
Tufts University School of Medicine received a $225,000 grant to study the interaction between environmental chemicals and breast cells in a unique, 3D model of human cells.
Community Servings received a $90,000 grant to help continue its work to provide nutrition education and nutritious meals to homebound people suffering from life-threatening illnesses, such as breast cancer, through its Community Servings Avon Door-to-Door Delivery Program.
LifeSpan Foundation received a $125,000 grant to support its breast health navigation program, including a bilingual breast health patient navigation program for safety net care, community outreach, survivor programs and pilot complementary therapies at the Lifespan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Rhode Island Hospital and Miriam Hospital. This grant is part of the Avon Safety Net Hospital Program, which provides funding to 55 hospitals across the country to ensure women and men have access to quality breast cancer care, screening and treatment, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Additional local Safety Net programs currently being supported by Avon Walk funds this year include Baystate Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, the Cambridge Health Alliance and Central Maine Medical Center.
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University, home of the Avon Foundation Breast Care Center of Excellence and the Avon Breast Cancer Research Laboratories, received $750,000 to provide access to breast care for low income women at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Erie Family Health Center. The grant also will fund three new research projects to identify and better understand the development of breast cancer and how to stop the disease.
Sinai Health System received $900,000 to support a comprehensive patient navigation program and to fund new digital mammography and ultrasound equipment for a new women’s health center that will improve care for underserved and low-income women in Chicago. Earlier this year, Sinai Urban Health Institute and the Avon Foundation released a study on racial disparities in breast cancer mortality that found that five black women die needlessly every day from breast cancer.
Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force received $250,000 to continue its efforts to reduce Chicago’s black: white disparity in breast cancer mortality. The Task Force was established in 2008 with a $1 million award from Avon Walk donations.
University of Chicago received $500,000 to support research determining the role viruses and inflammation may play in the development of breast cancer.
Mercy Hospital received $350,000 to support patient navigation and the purchase of a new digital mammography machine.
Rush Copley Foundation in Aurora, Ill., received $93,000 to support the purchase of new digital equipment that will enable Rush-Copley Medical Center to produce high-resolution digital images of breast biopsies and lumpectomies.
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization received $200,000 to support the Y-Me Hotline, a peer counseling service that provides support in 150 languages to anyone in need of breast cancer information.
Loretto Hospital received $250,000 to develop a patient navigation and follow-up care program.
Saint Anthony Hospital received $250,000 to support the purchase of digital mammography equipment.
Swedish Covenant Hospital received $250,000 to support the expansion of a patient navigation program and a new mammography information system.
The Second Opinion received $100,000 to support an innovative program that provides no cost and independent second opinions to medically underserved women and men diagnosed with breast cancer.
Five organizations that are part of the Avon Safety Net program, a network of more than 100 hospitals and community-based programs across the country supported by the Avon Foundation, received grants. The program works to ensure that women and men who might otherwise fall through the cracks of the healthcare system have access to timely and high quality care. Following are the grants:
Zero Breast Cancer received $125,000 for its community research to better understand the genetic and environmental factors that may be involved in breast cancer.
The Marin County Department of Health & Human Services received $300,000 to support their Marin Women’s Study, a research project that is developing a saliva-based test to access breast cancer risk.
Project Open Hand received $200,000 to support their Homebound Critically Ill Program, which provides meals grocery services and education programs for breast cancer patients and families.
Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at San Francisco General Hospital, one of eight Avon Centers received $750,000 to support their mobile mammography program, as well as a high-risk genetic clinic, community outreach and two breast cancer research projects. The Avon Foundation has donated nearly $22 million since 2001 to this exceptional breast cancer research and patient care facility.
The Avon Breast Care Center at the UCLA-Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Olive View Medical Center received $750,000 to continue Avon Foundation support for the Avon Cares for Life Program, which includes on-site patient navigation, survivorship programs and a high-risk clinic, as well as support for their research clinical trials program.
Olive View Medical Center received $750,000 to support the conversion of their screening facilities to 100 percent digital equipment. The updated mammography and ultrasound equipment will enable more patients to receive breast imaging and more cancers to be diagnosed earlier, while reducing wait times.
The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation received $500,000 to support the Love/Avon Army of Women. The Army of Women is changing the way that breast cancer research is done – significantly reducing the time it takes to recruit research study volunteers and encouraging researchers to study the changes happening in healthy women before breast cancer develops to learn how to prevent it.
The John Wayne Cancer Institute received $300,000 to support its research study, which is looking into whether bacteria or a virus plays a role in causing breast cancer.
Project Angel Food received $125,000 to support meal delivery and nutritional counseling services for people fighting breast cancer and their families throughout Los Angeles County.
Four organizations that are part of the Avon Safety Net program, a network of more than 100 hospitals and community-based programs across the country supported by the Avon Foundation, received grants. The program works to ensure that women and men who might otherwise fall through the cracks of the healthcare system have access to timely and high quality care. Following are the grants:
The Avon Foundation Breast Health Outreach Program received $5 million to support more than 100 community-based groups across the country for programs that navigate more than 125,000 people into mammography screening and clinical breast exams annually and reached a half million people with critical breast cancer education and information.
CancerCare received $1 million to continue support for the AvonCares program, which provides financial assistance for transportation and child care to low-income breast cancer patients undergoing treatment, reaching women and men in 85% of all U.S. counties and all 50 states.
The Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Center at New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center, one of eight Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Centers of Excellence located in leading medical centers across the country, received $750,000 to continue funding care for thousands of underserved women in its state-of-the art mammography center and to support breast cancer research, clinical trials and imaging fellowships. This new grant brings total Avon Foundation support for the Columbia-Presbyterian Avon Breast Center to more than $22 million over the last 12 years.
NYU School of Medicine received two grants totaling $525,000. The first is a Safety Net grant that provides integrated breast cancer care for medically underserved multiethnic women at Bellevue Hospital Center. The second is a research grant that supports an International Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Consortium designed to investigate the complex interplay of inflammatory breast cancer cells on the tissue microenvironment.
God's Love We Deliver received $150,000 to provide nutrition education and meals to breast cancer patients and their families.
Four of the grants awarded at Closing Ceremony will strengthen the Avon Safety Net Hospital program, a network of more than 100 hospitals and community clinics across the country supported by the Avon Foundation to ensure women and men without insurance or resources have access to high quality breast health services. The Safety Net grants included:
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Durham, NC, received $270,000 to support a research project looking at the relationship between reproductive hormones, oxidative stress and breast cancer risk.
The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC, received $200,000 to support a patient navigation program that improves access to screening, diagnostics and treatment for underserved populations in South Carolina.
Spartanburg Regional Healthcare Foundation, in Spartanburg, SC, a first time Avon Walk beneficiary, received $100,000 to support a Community and Breast Imaging Navigator Program at Bearden-Josey Center for Breast Health. The funds will help increase the reach to underserved women in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties in South Carolina (counties that have the highest late-stage breast cancer diagnosis rates in the state).
Randolph Hospital in Asheboro, NC, received $100,000 to continue support of a patient navigation program that will better reach the medically underserved in rural Randolph County.
North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, NC, received $100,000 to support its community outreach and patient navigation services program called the Survivors in Service Navigation Network. These navigations work to reduce disparities in breast care and add high-risk screening, genetic testing and counseling for the women they serve.
