Year End Appeal
WHERE WE ARE
This pandemic has brought unexpected obstacles to every organization and individual. Still, it has also shown us what is possible when we come together with ingenuity, resilience, creativity—and amazing heart. Due to continued Covid concern we were unable to gather for in-person fundraising events, including our famous Gilda’s Club Annual Breakfast. This has left us with a budget gap of $374,857, as of December 1, 2021, in our necessary funding for the year. We need your help to close this gap so that in 2022 we can continue to run both the in-person and virtual clubhouses while expanding our membership, helping even more people facing cancer than before. Help us achieve this goal by donating today so that in 2022 we can hit the ground running!
With your generous support, in 2022, we will:
- maintain TWO clubhouses—our virtual one and our recently re-opened physical clubhouse—to provide more than 50 free programs per month
- expand membership in 2022 through increased outreach to Minnesotans who don’t feel safe enough to leave their homes, who can’t take time off from their jobs or from caregiving, or who face other barriers to access
- fund the additional programming, licensed support, technology platforms and clubhouse access/events at the approximate cost of $2,000 per member
“Because of Gilda’s Club, I had a community that was understanding, supportive and fun – keeping me up during the long, tough cancer experience.“
– N.H., member
All of us—board, staff, volunteers—are rolling up our sleeves to seize this exciting opportunity for Gilda’s Club Minnesota’s next chapter. This is an “all hands on deck” moment—and we need your help. Please join us and give generously. The more than 30,000 Minnesotans newly diagnosed with cancer each year, along with their families, friends and those living with loss, are counting on us to prove once again that community is stronger than cancer. Your gift matters. Make a donation today.
THE WHOLE STORY
WHERE WE’VE BEEN
In March 2020 — in just 48 hours — Gilda’s Club Minnesota shifted our entire program to an online platform, demonstrating again what our members, volunteers, and supporters know so well: Community is stronger than cancer.®
In response to the challenges of the pandemic, Minnesota nonprofits have been faced with three choices: close, scale back or thrive. Gilda’s Club chooses to thrive — just as our members do when they are faced with one of life’s most difficult challenges: cancer.
Doing so, however, will require more than simply reopening our clubhouse doors with hybrid programming. Instead, thriving requires us to re-envision and embrace what Gilda’s Club can be — in fact, what it is already becoming: the go-to place for all Minnesotans impacted by cancer.
With virtual programming, we have provided support to more Minnesotans impacted by cancer who need our free services — 11% more since 2019 — including:
- people with compromised immune systems
- caregivers juggling the demands of their schedules, and
- socioeconomically and culturally diverse populations challenged by their location, access to transportation, or other barriers.
WHERE WE ARE
On October 1, 2021, Gilda’s Club welcomed in the community as we:
- reopened the red doors of our physical clubhouse
- formally opened the virtual clubhouse, and
- began the work of launching Gilda’s Club Minnesota into a new era, laying the groundwork and building the momentum for a two-year push to expand our reach and increase our budget, with a $100,000 matching grant from The Wasie Foundation.
WHERE WE’RE GOING
With your generous support, in 2022, we will:
- maintain TWO clubhouses—our virtual one and our recently re-opened physical clubhouse—to provide more than 50 free programs per month
- expand membership in 2022 through increased outreach to Minnesotans who:
- don’t feel safe enough to leave their homes,
- can’t take time off from their jobs or from caregiving,
- or who face other barriers to access.
- bring in additional programming, licensed support, technology platforms and clubhouse access/events
Reimagine Gilda’s Club with us. Donate today!
Donate
Gilda’s Club depends on the support of people like you. An independent and locally funded nonprofit, all our services are delivered free of charge—because the last thing someone dealing with cancer needs is another expense.
Make a donation