Breast cancer challenge enters the boardroom
Announcement posted by Cicero Communications 05 Feb 2014
The fun fitness event, Women in Super Mother's Day Classic, which in 2013 saw more than 135,000 Australians form a national sea of pink walking or running for breast cancer research, will take place this year on Sunday May 11, 2014.
One of the top fundraisers at the 2013 Mother's Day Classic was David Jones CEO Paul Zahra, who raised $25,640 - he is throwing down the gauntlet to other captains of industry to get on board in 2014, as is the CEO of the event's major sponsor, Jamie McPhee of ME Bank.
"I’m excited to be taking part in the first Boardroom Challenge, championing ME Bank’s efforts to raise vital funds in support of breast cancer research. Our staff and their families have supported the Mother’s Day Classic by participating or volunteering since 2005. We’re proud to further our support by getting behind the Boardroom Challenge. I’ll be encouraging other CEOs to get on board too," Mr McPhee said.
Mother's Day Classic CEO Sharon Morris said the Boardroom Challenge was a great way for industry leaders to inspire and engage staff for an important cause that impacts just about every workplace - 40 Australian women are diagnosed with breast cancer each day.
Boardroom Challenge nominees will be listed on a dedicated page on the Mother's Day Classic website in order of fundraising success and the progressive top fundraiser will be mentioned on the homepage.
"In 2013 our website received 651,633 hits so joining the Boardroom Challenge would be a positive way for corporate Australia to promote to a wide audience their involvement in the cause. We will profile top Challengers in social media and e:newsletters to encourage extended involvement," Ms Morris said.
"While this year is our first Boardroom Challenge, we did have more than 300 corporate teams at the event in 2013 and the bar has been set, with the David Jones team raising more than $100,000 combined from their individual fundraising, including more than $25,000 from CEO Paul Zahra. The challenge is on for Australian businesses and organisations!"
David Jones CEO & Managing Director Paul Zahra says: "This year David Jones celebrates 20 years of being a major sponsor of NBCF so the David Jones staff team and I are more focused than ever to raise as much money as we can for the Mother's Day Classic event. We are aiming to enter a team of 600 David Jones employees and I am very proud to be leading our team in this worthwhile challenge."
Sign up for the Boardroom Challenge at www.mothersdayclassic.com.au
About Mother's Day Classic
Mother's Day Classic will be held in more than 80 locations including every capital city - a great and meaningful way to start Mother's Day on Sunday May 11.
Ms Morris said the event, which began in 1998, is the biggest single donor to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, funding $19.8 million in research on better detection methods, treatment options and ways to improve the quality of life for the growing number of survivors.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian women (1% of breast cancer is in men).
Research has played a major part in breast cancer 5 year survival rates increasing to nearly 90% since the Mother's Day Classic began.
"The more we raise, the faster a cure can be found. We are looking forward to CEOs and senior leaders of Australian businesses to take up the challenge and inspire their organisations to make a difference on Mother's Day," Ms Morris said.
www.mothersdayclassic.com.au
How to enter the Boardroom Challenge
Challengers will be required to register for the event at www.mothersdayclassic.com.au, tick Boardroom Challenge participant and at that point set up their fundraising page to include a photo, and a brief explanation of why they are participating.
Challengers are encouraged to send an email out to their network to engage support.
The whole process is very straight forward, taking no more than 15 minutes. A small investment of time that could make an enormous difference.
A follow up email or two should be sent to Challengers' networks during the campaign (perhaps in late March and then again in late April/early May closer to the event) to maximise donations.
Contact for
*media information * photographs * interviews * Boardroom Challenge profiles
Kathryn Britt, National Media Manager, 0414 661 616 kbritt@mothersdayclassic.com.au
Organised by: Women in Super (WIS) is a national organisation of women working with and for not-for-profit superannuation funds. WIS cares about the health of women as well as their financial wellbeing.
Major sponsor:ME Bank has proudly supported the Mother’s Day Classic since 2005. ME Bank also supports the NBCF through its EveryDay Transaction Account with PINK Debit MasterCard™. For every purchase a customer makes using their Pink Card, ME Bank donates 1 cent to support breast cancer research projects.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation is the leading community-funded organisation in Australia raising money for research into the prevention and cure of breast cancer. For more information, visit www.nbcf.org.au