American Cancer Society At a Glance

History & Mission

In 1913, 15 prominent physicians and business leaders founded an organization to target a disease steeped in a climate of fear, denial and rarely mentioned in public. Today the American Cancer Society is the nation’s largest community-based voluntary health organization and has played a role in virtually every groundbreaking cancer advance realized. With volunteers as its backbone, the Society tackles all cancers on all fronts to eliminate cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering. Without volunteers, the successes of the Society would be minimal.

Recent Major Accomplishments:

• Advances in prevention, early detection and treatment have saved nearly 260,000 lives over the last decade, with recent figures showing decreased death rates for 12 of the 15 most common cancers in men and for 10 of the 15 most common cancers in women.
• To counter stagnant federal research funding, the Society currently funds $22 million in active grants for front-line investigators at Illinois institutions.  Nationwide, the Society supports nearly 1,000 multi-year research grants totalling more than $457 million.
• With more than 50 facility partnerships now in place (the most recent at Loyola Medical Center), patients and their families have easy access to the Society’s free information, day-to-day services and emotional support for their cancer journey. The Campaign of Hope, a $5 million endowment match, is helping accelerate our goal of reaching 50 percent of all newly diagnosed Illinois cancer patients via its Patient Navigation Services™.
• The American Cancer Society, Illinois Division, hosted its third Discovery Ball on April 25, 2009, raising over $2 million for the Society’s many services and programs.

How the American Cancer Society Saves Lives

• As the largest non-governmental source of funding for cancer research in the United States, our research investments have fueled virtually every major cancer breakthrough over the past seven decades and five-year cancer survival rates have nearly doubled since our research program started. 
• The Illinois Division grants seed money to initiate areas of promising research, with three out of four Illinois-funded researchers subsequently receiving national Society funds to build on their findings. Through the years, 44 scientists funded  by the Society early in their careers have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.
• Because deaths from many cancers can be lowered and some cancers avoided altogether through the choices people make, our outreach programs shared prevention and early detection information with more than half-a-million Illinoisans last year.

How the American Cancer Society Helps Cancer Patients and Their Families

• In addition to saving lives, we work equally hard to improve the quality of life by finding solutions for a host of medical, financial and practical problems so cancer patients can focus their energies on healing. 
• Our cancer professionals answer calls around the clock (more than 28,000 from Illinoisans last year alone) and more than 2,000 Illinois visitors a day turn to our web site for reliable information.
• To aid personal contact, the 70+ patient centers we operate statewide place us where more than 70 percent of new cancer patients are diagnosed in Illinois. Our social workers made more than 4,500 patient visits last year.

How the American Cancer Society Empowers Everyone to Fight Back

• American Cancer Society advocates and grassroots volunteers give cancer a voice and face by promoting effective, lifesaving cancer policies and legislation at the federal, state and local levels.
• Most recently, we led the charge to protect Illinois workers and patrons from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke, and our leadership resulted in passage of one of the nation’s most comprehensive indoor smoking bans.
• Current priorities include restoration and increase in governmental funding for cancer research; reduction and prevention of suffering from tobacco-related illness; and elimination of disparities among minority and medically underserved populations who bear disproportionate cancer burdens.
• Public policy decisions affect lives, and American Cancer Society advocates and grassroots volunteers give cancer a voice and face by promoting effective cancer policies and legislation at the federal, state and local levels.
• Current priorities include restoration and increase in governmental funding for cancer research; reduction and prevention of suffering from tobacco-related illness; and elimination of disparities among minority and medically underserved populations who bear disproportionate cancer burdens.