The National Breast Cancer Coalition* (NBCC) is a powerful voice,speaking for women and men across the country, demanding victory in the war against breast cancer. NBCC is a grassroots advocacy organization founded in 1991.

2008 NBCC Annual Report (Adobe Acrobat PDF file format)

The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC)* is a powerful voice, speaking for women and men across the country, demanding victory in the war against breast cancer. In 2003 it was named one of the twenty most influential groups in health policy based on a survey of congressional staff-the only grassroots group and the only breast cancer organization to make that list.

Since NBCC's founding in 1991, it has changed the world of breast cancer-in public policy, science, industry and advocacy-by creating new partnerships, collaborations, research funding opportunities and avenues for access to quality care.

NBCC has grown to include hundreds of organizations, representing several million patients, professionals, women, their families and friends. Coalition members include cancer support, information and service groups, as well as women's health and provider organizations.

NBCC's mission is to eradicate breast cancer, the most common form of cancer among women in the United States, by focusing the administration, U.S. Congress, research institutions and consumer advocates on breast cancer. NBCC encourages all those concerned about this disease to become advocates for action and change. The Coalition informs, trains and directs patients and others in effective advocacy efforts. Nationwide, women and men are increasing the awareness of breast cancer public policy by participating in legislative, scientific and regulatory decisions, promoting positive media coverage and actively working to raise public awareness.

To achieve its mission, the National Breast Cancer Coalition has three primary goals:

• Research: to promote research into the cause of, and optimal preventive and treatment interventions for, breast cancer through increased federal funding, fostering of innovation and collaborative approaches, and improved accountability.
  
• Access: to improve access to quality breast cancer care for all women, from screening through diagnosis, treatment and care, particularly for the underserved and uninsured, through legislation and change in systems of delivery of health care.
  
• Influence: to educate and empower women and men as advocates, increasing the involvement and influence of those living with breast cancer and other breast cancer activists wherever and whenever breast cancer decisions are made.

The extensive efforts of NBCC's nationwide advocacy network have resulted in meaningful progress in the fight against breast cancer.

In order to conduct lobbying and educational efforts, NBCC is composed of two organizational arms, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which lobbies Congress for improved public policies, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, which supports the Coalition's education programs.*

*NBCC is composed of two organizational arms: the National Breast Cancer Coalition is a 501(c)(4) corporation whose purpose is to lobby Congress and the states for improved public policies to move toward the eradication of breast cancer. The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund is a 501(c)(3) corporation that supports the educational efforts of NBCC and advocates through activities that address administrative agencies, scientists and health care professionals. Together, the two arms of NBCC issue a call to action by offering diverse and substantive activities, programs, training and events, designed to educate and empower individuals to fight effectively to end this disease.

Overview of NBCC/NBCCF's major accomplishments since its inception in 1991:

1. Created and mobilized a powerful, effective and diverse network of trained grassroots activists, giving breast cancer a meaningful voice in Washington, D.C. and state capitals, in laboratories and health care institutions.
2. Increased federal funding for breast cancer research, including over $2.1 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program.
3. Conceived and spearheaded an unprecedented model of consumer involvement and innovative research at the DOD peer-reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program, which has attracted more than 29,000 proposals since its inception.
4. Urged the Clinton Administration to create a National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, a unique collaboration of government, science, private industry and consumers, and co-chaired the Plan’s implementation.
5. Channeled the outrage that low-income and uninsured women had access to screening but not treatment into a public policy strategy and successful fight for a system of care, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act.
6. Established an innovative Annual Advocacy Training Conference to empower thousands of advocates to push for quality care, research and health care access and better serve their communities.
7. Created Project LEAD®, an acclaimed science-based training program for breast cancer advocates, with over 1,300 graduates and a website for continuing education.
8. Developed Beyond the Headlines to bring the perspective of trained breast cancer activists to research studies and media reports, to cut through the rhetoric and provide unbiased breast cancer information and offer tools for understanding the complexities inherent in breast cancer issues.
9. Launched our Clinical Trials Initiative to make certain that the right research gets done correctly and quickly, that trained breast cancer survivors are included in trial design and accrual; and that policies encourage access to trials and mandate insurance coverage for participants.
10. Assisted groups nationwide and throughout the world to strengthen their ability to speak up and out about political, scientific and health care issues.
11. Created our Environmental Initiative to lead the fight for a national strategy to address the links between environmental factors and breast cancer.
12. Developed our Quality Care Initiative to put the power in the hands of women with the disease to make informed treatment decisions and promote systems change. Created the Guide to Quality Breast Cancer Care, a consumer guidebook that helps those affected by breast cancer to better understand what quality care is and how to get it.
13. Earned recognition as one of the top 25 most influential groups in national health policy in a University of Chicago study.
14. Created breakthrough programs to shape the future of breast cancer research, including a Strategic Consensus Conference on biomarkers.
15. Launched Personal Stories, Public Action™ and Get it Off Your Chest campaigns to put a face on breast cancer.

* The National Breast Cancer Coalition is an IRS 501(c)(4) organization that lobbies Congress and other decisionmakers for public policies that impact breast cancer research, diagnosis and treatment. NBCC's sister organization, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization that empowers and trains breast cancer advocates to be effective in every aspect of the fight to end breast cancer. It educates women to make their own informed decisions and to take an active role wherever breast cancer decisions are made.