Largest hospital-based campaign in New England helps advance cancer research and care

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute today announced the conclusion of the largest capital campaign in its history. Mission Possible: The Dana-Farber Campaign to Conquer Cancer raised $1.18 billion, making Dana-Farber the first hospital in New England to launch and complete a $1 billion capital campaign.

The campaign met its $1 billion financial goal one year early last September, and continued raising funds until its scheduled completion date, Sept. 30, 2010, in order to further support the campaign priorities and the mission to conquer cancer.

"It is gratifying and motivating that literally millions of gifts from people and organizations have supported our mission to accelerate the pace of cancer research and to promote the translation of scientific advances into new life-saving therapies," said Dana-Farber President Edward J. Benz Jr., MD. "The investments made in Dana-Farber during the past seven years have generated unprecedented insights into the causes and underlying mechanisms of cancer, giving us the knowledge and tools needed to provide care that is personalized to each person's cancer."

New Yawkey Center for Cancer Care funded by capital campaign 

The campaign was designed to raise financial support for four critical areas: construction of the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care; research and care; technology; and the Jimmy Fund and unrestricted funds.

The Yawkey Center, scheduled to open in January 2011, will enable Dana-Farber to provide its trademark compassionate, family-centered care to an increasing volume of patients, while also creating an environment that fosters healing and facilitates innovative treatment that targets the genetics of each patient's tumor.

Designed with advice from patients, families, and staff, the 14-story, 275,000 square foot state-of-the-art clinical care and research facility will house 130 exam rooms, 137 infusion chairs, and 20 patient and family consultation rooms, as well as the Clinical Research Center, which will conduct complex clinical trials and test new scientific hypotheses in patients.

Gifts made during the campaign have helped establish a number of centers critical to the development of personalized cancer care, including the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery, Blais Proteomics Center, Lurie Family Imaging Center, Linde Program in Chemical Biology, Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, and the Center for Novel Experimental Therapeutics.

The campaign's size and scope is proportionate to the growth of Dana-Farber during the last decade. Between 2001 and 2009, outpatient visits and infusions at Dana-Farber more than doubled, from nearly 128,000 to more than 292,000. The number of clinical trials available to Dana-Farber patients increased nearly 80 percent, from 409 trials to 736.

"As a two-time cancer survivor, I have firsthand appreciation of the importance of expeditiously converting laboratory discoveries into new treatments," said Larry Lucchino, president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox and co-chair of the Mission Possible campaign. "Thanks to the wide support of the campaign, Dana-Farber has the resources to expand on its leadership role in translational, bench-to-bedside research, which will mean more cancer patients will be given a much better chance to become cancer survivors."

"Achieving the campaign's ambitious goal of raising more than $1 billion to support Dana-Farber's mission is extremely noteworthy, but the campaign's real legacy will be measured in the number of lives saved through the development of new treatments that are based on advances made at Dana-Farber," said Josh Bekenstein, co-chair of the Mission Possible campaign and a managing director of Bain Capital, LLC.

To date, more than 2 million gifts of all sizes were received, with 121 gifts of $1 million or more, and 820 gifts of $100,000 or more. Every Dana-Farber trustee has made a gift during the campaign period, and 96 percent of Dana-Farber's senior faculty contributed very early on, showing their confidence in what the campaign could accomplish.

Transformative gifts were received from many individuals and organizations, including $183 million from seven Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike-a-thons, $50 million from Susan F. and Richard A. Smith, $30 million from the Yawkey Foundation, $20 million from the Linde Family Foundation, $16 million from the Lurie-NLM Marks Family Foundation, $10 million from the Renee E. and Robert A. Belfer Family Foundation, $10 million from The Charles A. Dana Foundation, and $10 million from the Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"The achievement of the campaign's fundraising goal is a testament to the widespread support for Dana-Farber throughout New England and the country, and it speaks to a collective confidence that with enough resources, cancer can be conquered," said Susan Paresky, senior vice president for the Division of Development and the Jimmy Fund.