About
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) is a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to preventing and curing breast cancer by advancing the world's most promising research. BCRF describes itself as the largest private funder of breast cancer research — and of metastatic (Stage IV) breast cancer research — worldwide, and as the highest-rated breast cancer research organization in the United States.
Mission
BCRF is dedicated to ending breast cancer by advancing the world's most promising research. The foundation seeks out leading scientists and provides them with funding and the freedom to pursue their most innovative ideas, with a singular goal: to end breast cancer.
What they do
BCRF funds investigator-led research across the entire spectrum of the disease. Its stated areas of focus are:
- Tumor biology — understanding how normal cells become cancer cells, what drives tumor growth, and how the tissue microenvironment influences it
- Heredity and ethnicity — understanding the genetic causes of breast cancer and how race and ethnicity affect risk and care
- Treatment — developing and testing new and existing treatments to achieve precision medicine and improve outcomes
- Metastasis — understanding how tumors spread and grow in different organs and how to prevent that migration
- Lifestyle and prevention — identifying risk factors and developing interventions to reduce breast cancer risk
- Survivorship — enhancing quality of life and improving health outcomes
History
BCRF was founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, who started the organization with Dr. Larry Norton and her husband Leonard on the belief that funding was the primary obstacle standing between breast cancer and a cure. Mrs. Lauder, herself diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer years earlier, had already helped establish the breast and diagnostic center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 1989 and, in the same year, co-created the signature pink ribbon with SELF editor Alexandra Penney while launching the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign within The Estée Lauder Companies. Evelyn Lauder died in 2011.
Scale and impact
- This year BCRF funds more than 280 scientists across 18 countries, and it recently announced more than $75 million in scientific grant awards.
- BCRF states that its funded researchers have played a key role in every major breakthrough in breast cancer research, contributing to a 44 percent decline in breast cancer deaths since 1993.
- Over the last decade, the FDA has approved 18 new breast cancer treatments based on the clinical findings of BCRF investigators and others.
- There are now more than 4 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S., the largest such cohort in history.
Financials
Per BCRF's IRS Form 990 data on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (fiscal year 2023): total revenue of $94.8 million, total functional expenses of $77.9 million, and total assets of $153.4 million. BCRF is a 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 13-3727250, headquartered in New York, NY.