The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks unite communities to honor those touched by the disease and raise awareness and funds for a world without breast cancer. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the largest network of breast cancer events in the nation, uniting more than 1.2 million passionate participants supporting the noncompetitive 3- to 5-mile walks each year. Dollars raised help the American Cancer Society fund innovative breast cancer research, provide education and guidance to help people reduce their risk, and offer comprehensive patient support to those who need it most.
Facts and figures
Since 1993, more than 15 million walkers in the U.S. have helped raise more than $935 million to help save lives from breast cancer.
Number of events in the U.S.: more than 200
Number of participants in 2018: more than 1.2 million walkers
Number of dollars raised in 2018: more than $60 million
What we want people to do
Visit MakingStridesWalk.org today to find an event and sign up.
Create and personalize your fundraising web page with photos and stories.
Recruit family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to join your or support you with a donation.
Check with your employer to see if they match donations.
Download the American Cancer Society FUNdraising App and you’ll have your Making Strides dashboard with you wherever you go.
We believe in a world without breast cancer. And we believe that one day we’ll be able to say we beat it. But to get there, it’s going to take all of us working together. Your energy, your commitment to this cause – it’s contagious. And that dedication, that emotion, pushes everyone forward to do even more for those with breast cancer. So, join us at your local Making Strides event. We can’t do this without YOU.
How dollars make a difference
Our mission is to save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer. From research to education, prevention to diagnosis, and treatment to recovery, we provide support to everyone impacted by breast cancer. Together with millions of supporters, we empower communities worldwide to join us.
Helping people stay healthy
We know that finding breast cancer at an early stage can increase the chances of treating it successfully. The American Cancer Society provides screening guidelines and education for health care professionals, and engages in efforts to increase public awareness about the importance of awareness and tests in reducing breast cancer deaths.
In 2018, ACS staff helped guide more than 34,000 cancer patients through every step of their journey as they moved through the health care system, including helping with insurance problems, referring them to ACS and other local services, assisting caregivers, and addressing obstacles to care.
Fighting breast cancer starts with education. The American Cancer Society works in communities across the country to get health care professionals and providers the information and resources they need to help people reduce their risk or find cancer early, when it may be easier to treat.
The American Cancer Society produces three peer-reviewed journals that present health care professionals with emerging science and evidence-based medicine, so they can provide the best possible care for their patients. We also have award-winning books like Breast Cancer: Clear & Simple to help women after a cancer diagnosis.
Helping people facing cancer now
Our 24/7 helpline handled 1.42 million calls and live chats from concerned patients and those seeking support, information and resources last year.
The American Cancer Society helped to provide nearly 480,000 rides to treatment and other cancer-related appointments in 2018.
The American Cancer Society provided over 477,000 nights of free lodging at more than 30 Hope Lodge communities, and more than 66,000 nights of free or reduced lodging through our hotel partners, saving patients and caregivers approximately $59 million in 2018.
The American Cancer Society provided more than 5,400 peer support services to breast cancer patients in 2018 through the Reach To Recovery program.
Finding cancer’s causes and cures
As of March 2019, the American Cancer Society is funding 160 breast cancer research grants nationwide totaling $64 million.
Through these grants, we’re investing in research to uncover strategies for more effective diagnosis, new treatments, new options for patients who do not respond to or become resistant to existing strategies, and more.
We have a successful track record of identifying the brightest early-career investigators with the most promising ideas, across a wide range of disciplines. In fact, we have funded 47 researchers who went on to receive the Nobel Prize. The work of our researchers has helped lead to the use of life-saving therapies like Herceptin and Tamoxifen.
Fighting cancer through policy
During the past two years, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the ACS, helped maintain or increase funding for breast and cervical cancer screening programs in 30 states.
