The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute raised $2.5 billion over a seven-year campaign, completing one of the largest fundraising initiatives entirely focused on cancer Monday.
“It has been an honor to lead this historic campaign that has allowed Dana-Farber to make great strides in cancer research and patient care,” said Laurie Glimcher, the outgoing president and CEO of Dana-Farber, who stepped down Monday. “I am grateful to the many benefactors whose generosity and dedication have enabled remarkable progress in the ambitious effort to find cures for cancer.”
The Dana-Farber Campaign, which launched in Oct. 2017 and was announced in May 2021, raised funds for the institute’s clinical trials, increases in patient care and diagnoses, and initiatives in areas including prevention and early detection.
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute specializes in cancer care and research, offering over 1,100 clinical trials. The organization stats estimate around one in three women and one in two men will develop cancer in their lifetime.
The seven-year campaign included donations from all 50 U.S. states and 117 countries, the institute said, and over 2.2 million gifts from more than 900,000 donors. The largest single contributor was the Pan-Mass Challenge, a annual bike-a-thon, with $425 million raised through over two million gifts over the seven years.
Michael Eisenson, chair of the Dana-Farber Campaign, said campaign funds “have already helped Dana-Farber make progress for our patients and families.”
The fundraising campaign has helped expand the clinical trial program by more than 22% in the last seven years, the institute noted, and over doubled the size of the Cancer Care Equity Program.
The organization said fundraising assisted creation of three new patient care facilities in Merrimack Valley, Chestnut Hill, and Foxborough over the last five years, bringing the total facilities to seven. The Dana-Farber Centers for Early Detection, a “first-of-its-kind, integrated clinic to increase early detection of precancerous conditions and to prevent cancer,” also opened in 2023.
The institute will host a celebration for the campaign’s completion with donors and others in the spring.
The incoming Dana-Farber President and CEO Benjamin Ebert said he “looks forward to continuing momentum in this next chapter.”
“The vast community of support during this campaign helped exceed our lofty goals, enabling breakthroughs in the laboratory and the development of life-saving therapies for cancer patients,” said Ebert. “While the incidence of cancer is rising in the U.S., I am hopeful for the future and inspired by the new treatments that are transforming cancer care.”
Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald
The Pan Mass Challenge was the single largest fundraiser during a multi-year campaign by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute that raised more than .5 billion to fund cancer research and care. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald, File)
