More than 14,000 participated in the Austin affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure‘s annual Race for the Cure downtown on Sunday, but the affiliate’s signature event raised just more than $323,000 – only 52% of the amount raised in 2011.
The local affiliate is just one of a number Komen organizations to face fundraising woes this year, in the wake of the politically charged decision by top dogs at the national organization to rewrite policy in order to keep Planned Parenthood from receiving any grant funding. Locally, Planned Parenthood and Komen have had a good relationship; since 1999, the Austin Komen affiliate has given out $10.5 million in grant funding to a variety of local providers, including Planned Parenthood, to provide women with access to life-saving breast care.
Although Komen quickly backtracked on the new policy, the damage was done and continues to plague affiliates across the country – fundraising is down as much as 30% in Colorado, 45% in Maryland, and 20% in Iowa, for example. In Austin, registration for Sunday’s race fell well short of the $1.5 million fundraising goal, pulling in $323,221.
The race was still a success Christy Casey-Moore said in a press release, but the affiliate is hoping to pull in additional donations through Nov. 30. Funds raised by Austin’s Komen are disbursed to Central Texas nonprofits to provide a variety of services, including mammograms, diagnostic exams, medical services, and breast cancer research.”We need your help to ensure these services are available at the same level next year,” she said. In 2011, Austin’s Komen let more than $1 million in grants for breast health services in the five-county region and granted more than $400,000 to fund cancer research. “It’s everybody’s fight; we need everybody’s help,” she said.
This article appears in November 2 • 2012.