Tenant Spotlight:
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Massachusetts Affiliate
 Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Massachusetts Affiliate, opened its offices in the downtown Boston NonProfit Center in spring 2005. “The Komen Foundation works to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease through research, screening and education,” explains Miriam May, executive director of the Massachusetts affiliate. “That's the national goal, and that's what the affiliates around the country are dedicated to.”
A quarter of the funds raised by the Boston office are used to support Komen National's innovative research work, and, as May explains, the local affiliate concentrates on two other key areas. The Massachusetts affiliate focuses on cancer survivors and survivorship and supports local needs by funding community-based outreach programs.
National Impact with a Local Focus
“We do a biannual review of the needs of Massachusetts vis-à-vis breast cancer, and we give grants to organizations that help meet those needs,” states local affiliate director May. “For instance [we support] a mammography van that goes around the city of Boston. We work with Spirit Wise Sisters, which is an African-American support group for women with breast cancer. We funded a Brazilian immigrant group this year in a community where a lot of the people are uninsured, uninformed and work with household chemicals, which is another risk factor.”
The Massachusetts Affiliate also works in partnership with other local funders, programs like the American Cancer Society, to coordinate their efforts and avoid overlapping and duplication, so its funding strategy can be most effective.
Current Research
In the area of research, Komen's Massachusetts office is currently supporting two key areas, genetics and environmental factors. “One of the things that Komen prides itself on is funding cutting-edge research,” shares May. “As a matter of fact, Komen National spends over $4 million dollars in Massachusetts, funding research at our hospitals and universities.” That’s more than four times what the local affiliate raises.
Komen is working with MGH to help fund the Spanish edition of the Breast Cancer Resource Guide. It has not been redone since 1998, and the new one is eagerly anticipated throughout the state. According to May, the national office produces the practical application of its research in multiple languages, including Arabic and Cantonese, regularly to reach the widest audience.
Tenancy at the Center
NonProfit Center
Tenant Spotlights
Moving to the NonProfit Center, developed by Third Sector New England, was a great decision May believes. “I love the space. I love the attitude of the people,” she says. “I love the fact that they are forming a team for our Race for the Cure, which is on September 10. We fit well; it fits well with our mission. We love the access to shared things.”
For example, the Komen affiliate needed to show its board a video that national had sent to inform them about a major change coming up. As a tenant of the NonProfit Center, the organization was able to use the Videoconferencing Room with its large flat screen plasma television. The group also hopes to use the center’s communal meeting space for things like a volunteer recognition program celebration.
“Because we are here and we have such great space available to us,” states May, “we have volunteers in all the time.” Given that 90 percent of their people power comes from volunteers, the center provides comfortable space with good light and good facilities for periodic meetings.
A Great Location and Program
“And this is a great location,” May comments. “We love the location because we can get here easily. My colleague comes in by boat. And I take the commuter rail. But if I need to, I can get the express bus or the “T” (subway train). There are a million ways of getting here without having to bring a car in. It’s better for the ecology. It’s better for the economy, and it’s better for the personal psyche to be able to get into the office without having to drive a car.”
May is also pleased with the center’s tenant-focused programming. Trainings, discussion groups, and opportunities to just mix and mingle with staff from the other nonprofit organizations are offered several times a month. One of the Komen staff attended a media relations seminar and “really enjoyed that.”
May was especially pleased with the recent Yoga series offered, explaining that it was a welcome interruption in workdays that can easily stretch to 12 hours. “I don't even have to worry about getting sweaty,” she jokes, “because if I do I can use the showers down here. My husband, who bikes to work, would love to have such a convenience.”
Tenant Cooperation
While moving to the NonProfit Center has served the Massachusetts Affiliate of the Komen Foundation well, the NonProfit Center tenant is doing the same for other members of this new community. May shared a recent incident. A staffer of a center organization walked into the Komen offices one day, saying that she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and wanted to speak with someone who had gone through what she was currently facing. The foundation staff was able to make that connection for her, getting her the information and human connection that she needed.
 Like all of the center’s tenants, the Komen Foundation is committed to, in the words of the NonProfit Center Charter, “working in a community of organizations that support each other both philosophically and in daily practice.” Additionally, Komen provides other tenants of the NonProfit Center with a new found awareness of the risk factors, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
The Race
The Komen Foundation was founded on a promise made between two sisters – Susan (Suzy to her sister) Goodman Komen and Nancy Goodman Brinker. Before she died at the age of 36, Suzy asked her sister to do everything possible to bring an end to breast cancer. Nancy kept her promise by establishing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1982 in Suzy’s memory.
One of the key public awareness and fund-raising vehicles for their work is the Race for the Cure. Read more about past races, and learn how you can get involved in the next race and other events and activities to support Komen’s work.
Learn more about other NonProfit Center tenant organizations by visiting Our Tenants and Tenant Spotlight sections.
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