Bright Pink’s Next Chapter

We are announcing an important update on Bright Pink and some material changes that will be taking place as we embark on our next chapter. 

When Bright Pink was founded in 2007, our goal was to reach young women with the education and support they needed to be proactive advocates for their breast and ovarian health. And because of you and your steadfast support, the impact we have had over the last 15 years has exceeded our wildest dreams. Together, we have:

• Shifted the national conversation to focus on breast and ovarian cancer prevention, shined a light on genetic testing and risk management and empowered countless women to make life-saving health decisions.

• Helped nearly 1.8 million women understand their breast/ovarian cancer risk and develop a personalized prevention plan.

• Educated more than 110,000 women on the breast/ovarian health basics through in person educational workshops, with more than half of those being collegiate women.

• Trained more than 20,000 women’s health providers to enable them to better identify and manage breast and ovarian cancer risk for the estimated 72M+ female patients they care for annually.

• Supported more than 6,500 high risk women through one-of-a-kind support programs.

In addition to the programmatic results, we have created a vibrant voice and brand, partnered with world-class organizations, and collaborated with the best and brightest to help save countless lives. The Bright Pink community is unlike any other. 

Bright Pink has an extraordinary legacy to celebrate. In some ways it has accomplished what it set out to do –changing the paradigm for young women at increased or high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Over the last few years, we had developed ambitious plans to grow that impact through expanded digital tools and increased reach among women in under-served communities.

Last month, Bright Pink’s CEO left the organization to pursue another opportunity. This led the Board of Directors to pause and reflect on our current state and future plans, with the support of an external consulting firm. That assessment revealed that while the current financial health of the organization is strong, as we look ahead to donor trends and programmatic impact, our plans for growth and expansion were no longer feasible. 

Ultimately the board felt that in order to be responsible to the organization’s mission, we must steward its assets within a different organizational structure and pathway for impact. We know that women’s breast and ovarian health outcomes will continue to be our focus – but we are exploring significant shifts in how we get there. The most promising pathway is one where we invest our resources into high-impact programs and organizations that can advance our mission at greater scale.

As of July 1st, we will sunset Bright Pink in its current form.  This means we will wind down current internal operations, find a new home for our programmatic assets and tools with entities positioned to support or grow them, and support our wonderful staff as they transition to the next opportunity in their careers. 

While Lindsay, as the organization’s Founder and a member of the Board, is bittersweet at this inflection point – she is in full support of this decision, and characteristically bright and optimistic about what lies ahead for Bright Pink.

As we design the future structure for this work, we know that the mission will hold steady, our commitment will be unwavering, and our new approach will be as efficient and impactful as possible. We intend to share more plans regarding our future structure this fall through our social media channels. 

We have established a Board-Designated Fund to accept any donations received after July 1st, 2021. The direction of this fund is to support breast and ovarian health needs of under-served women. It will remain open at least through year end and until a new structure for our work is in place.

In closing, we want to express our tremendous gratitude for your commitment, support and love all these years. We also want you to join us in celebrating the impact we together have had on women’s lives nationwide. We are humbled by the support that every single individual and company has given to us throughout these past fifteen years and feel proud that we have, and will continue, to use our donor dollars for maximum impact. The next chapter of Bright Pink will be nothing but bright. 

With warmth and gratitude,

The Bright Pink Board of Directors

Lindsay Avner
Bright Pink Founder and Interim CEO
Chicago, IL

Janet Foutty
Chairman of the Board, Bright Pink 
Executive Chair of the Board, Deloitte US
Chicago, IL

Taryn Aronson 
COO
Tovala
Park City, Utah

Kathryn Beiser
Vice President, Global Communications
Eli Lilly and Company
Indianapolis, IN

Kerhyl Gantt
Senior Brand Marketing Director
Nike
Beaverton, OR

Gregg Kaplan
CEO
Valicor Environmental Services
Chicago, IL

Tara Montgomery
EVP, Programming, Production & Development
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Chicago, IL

James Toney
Chief Strategy Officer
Maximum Effort
Los Angeles, CA

Stacey Wexler
Vice President, Legal
Google Inc.
San Francisco, CA