Cancer research, treatment, and education require dedicated individuals and proper facilities, to be sure. Yet without adequate financial resources, none of the work done at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) would be possible.

Each year, HCI receives significant financial support from Huntsman Cancer Foundation (HCF). HCF is a nonprofit organization that funds HCI exclusively. It’s a year-round and multifaceted effort: from golf tournaments to matching gift initiatives, naming opportunities to the Hometown Heroes Program, the HCF team builds relationships with organizations and individuals on local and national levels.

“HCI goals are HCF goals— we work together for a common mission,” says Janet Bingham, PhD, who accepted the position of HCF president in January 2006. When asked what motivates the HCF team, Bingham replies, “Everyone has many sources of motivation. It only takes one experience with cancer to know we must all fight harder to eradicate it. My personal experience was losing my husband to pancreatic cancer in 2003. When you witness the ravages of this disease and watch someone diminish from an athletic, brilliant attorney—verbally gifted and the funniest comedian—to a skeleton unable to speak his own name, you never want to see or even think of it happening to anyone else. But it does … every day.”

“To advance cancer research and treatment, we rely on the generosity of individuals and organizations in our community and beyond,” Bingham says. Because of HCF’s help, HCI can expand its lifesaving work, enabling people who might have died in the past to live. In 2006, HCF launched a website, huntsmancancerfoundation.org, which makes contributing even easier. All online donations occur at this secure website. Other resources include a registration form for volunteers, information about giving opportunities, and the latest event news.

“All contributions—whether time volunteered or in-kind and monetary gifts—are valuable,” Bingham says. “Everyone can do something to help bring an end to cancer.”