MESSAGE FROM THE McGRATH FOUNDATION

Some of you may have caught the recent episode of the ABC’s Gruen Planet talking about Pinktober and the numerous pink products on the market in support of various breast cancer charities including the McGrath Foundation.  

Following the airing of this episode, we received some enquiries about our Corporate Friendships and why they are important, so we thought we would take this opportunity to provide you with an understanding of how our Corporate Friends support our mission to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities right across Australia and to increase breast awareness in young women.  

We currently have over 90 Corporate Friends we work with on an annual basis, with a number of products supporting us for either a short-term campaign or an annual campaign.  

Many of these initiatives run throughout the year and are not specific to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as for us, breast awareness is something we should be thinking about 365 days a year, so fundraising for our McGrath Breast Care Nurses and education campaign happens throughout the year.  

It’s also important that you know that outside of products, we also have a number of Corporate Friendships with major sporting organisations – these provides us with interaction, education, awareness and fundraising activities such as at the NRL, V8 Supercars and of course, the cricket.  

For us, every Corporate Friend we work with has a genuine desire to make a difference to the community and they share the Foundation’s values.  Our Corporate Friends not only provide us with financial donations, but they also support us through providing staff for volunteering opportunities or product to use for prizes or gift bags for Foundation events.

 We couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come in the past few years and we know we couldn’t have done it alone.

Some of the highlights of our Corporate Friendships include:

• IGA and Horticulture Australia raising $140,000 since 2009 for the Pink Lady Apple campaign

• RTA and MyPlates raising $140,000 since 2009 from the sale of pink plates in NSW

• Mount Franklin have committed $750,000 over a three year period

• Pink egg packs from Novo Foods (Farm Pride, Aberfeldy, South Aussie Eggs and Golden Eggs) raising more than $374,000 since 2009

• I-MED raising over $100,000 since 2010 by donating $10 per mammogram performed in October

• Mars Snackfoods raising $30,000 from October 2010 and a guaranteed minimum of $30,000 in October 2011 from the sale of pink and white M&Ms through IGA stores

• Now in the second year of our friendship with the NRL for the Harvey Norman Women in League Round, combined ground and club activity has helped raise in excess of $320,000 in two years whilst also generating awareness through media coverage and on ground activity.

• Thanks to the generous support of Cricket Australia and the Australian public, over $2.2 million has been raised in the past three years from a variety of cricket related initiatives relating to the Sydney Test (including 2011 Pink Stumps Day) and we’re looking forward to seeing this number grow during the 2012 Summer of Cricket.

Every day, the Australian community supports the McGrath Foundation by making donations, hosting or attending community events, or purchasing a pink product in our name. With the help of the Australian public, the Federal Government, our generous Corporate Friends and our supportive Foundation Friends, the McGrath Foundation continues to work tirelessly to ensure there is a breast care nurse to support every Australian woman experiencing with breast cancer and her family.  

So from all of us here at the McGrath Foundation, we’d like to say thank you to every one of you for your support throughout the year, because as we say at the McGrath Foundation, together, we can make a difference.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .