Jordan Washington
October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You may witness how this month is celebrated if you go to a sporting event and you see accents of pink on men’s and women’s jerseys, posters or advertisements for walks sponsored by various breast cancer organizations, or if you go to your doctor and you identify as being female, you may hear your doctor give you an increasing amount of information in regards to self-breast examinations and risk factors for the disease.
Every year, according to breastcancer.org, 1-8 women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, and in this year alone, it is estimated that over 40,290 women will die of breast cancer in the United States. Treatment and early detection screenings have saved a good half of those lives with introductions to advanced technology; however, thousands of women (as do men) still lose their lives to this dreadful illness. Don’t forget that men can be susceptible to breast cancer, as well.
With all the technology that we have around us today, one might ask, “Why are thousands of people still dying?” Over the years, the biggest organization for stopping and preventing breast cancer is the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. The organization was founded by current CEO, Nancy G. Brinker, in 1982 as a way to remember her sister, who succumbed to the disease, and as a way to help other women prevent themselves from developing it. The biggest goal for the organization is to, hopefully one day, eradicate the illness altogether through funding in research.
Three years ago, Brinker came under fire for receiving her large salary by means of funds donated funds to the organization, as the funds that were meant for the research were severely lower than what was initially perceived. According to Sarah Hoffman of The Daily Caller, Brinker makes $684,000 annually, which was a 64 percent increase from 2010. “That’s not normal,” said the president and CEO of Charity Navigator, Ken Berger, in an interview with NBC News. “It’s about a quarter of a million dollars more than what we see for charities of this size. … This is more than the head of the Red Cross is making for an organization that is one-tenth the size of the Red Cross,” he later said.
Most individuals who donate their money want to know where it is really going these days. Thanks to technology, most financial records of where the money goes are usually posted on the organization’s website. On a side note, technology further helped when the 2010 Haiti earthquake happened, as it was found that the American Red Cross was misusing and mishandling over $488 million of donated funds; those funds should have gone toward the immediate relief effort.
Nonprofit organizations have great premises, but for some leaders of those organizations, those premises seem to be lost just for the monetary aspect in the end. If you still want to give your money to the organization, be my guest. However, always make sure that you know where your money is going, or what it’s actually going to. In the end, only you can make the decision on whether to donate or not. However, you will be somewhat responsible for the outcome of it.
