Carrying on Erin's legacy through fundraising: METAvivor's new fundraising platform Classy
By Rich Leland
Edited by Barbara Bigelow
Back in the winter of 2018, my wife Erin was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Like many others, when we learned of Erin’s Stage IV diagnosis, we were shocked. As time went on, we were surprised to find both the lack of general awareness and the lack of research funding for MBC. Erin became a fierce advocate for MBC, raising awareness by sharing her story, and raising funds for research through Metavivor. When Erin passed away in March of 2020, I wanted to continue her legacy of serving the MBC community.
Serving on the Metavivor board has given me the opportunity to not only carry on that legacy, but to empower others to do the same. One of my recent projects has been transitioning Metavivor to a new digital fundraising platform. This new platform allows anyone to set up their own digital fundraisers as a team or as an individual.
Here’s a snapshot of what one of these pages looks like:
As a fundraiser, you can add your story with text, photos, and video, provide updates for your friends and family, set a fundraising goal and see its progress, and share your page on social media or via email.
In the six short weeks since we’ve launched the new platform, we’ve seen more than $100,000 donated through half a dozen fundraising teams, 25 individual fundraisers, and more than 40 recurring donations. To top it all off, nearly 90% of all donors opted to cover the fees associated with accepting donations, meaning even more funds go to critical MBC research.
Only 2-5% of all cancer research funds in the US are dedicated to Stage IV cancer research – yet 98% of all breast cancer deaths are caused by metastasis. Fundraising is critical to our ability to continue to support this much needed research, and now we’ve made it even easier for you to fundraise for Metavivor. So, join us in our mission, and help us award even more research grants in 2021. Start your own team or individual fundraiser today.
With immense gratitude,
Rich and the METAvivor team
