To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation Announces New Executive Director

Kathleen A. Meyer Will Expand Corporate Partnership Program

(Kentfield, CA – March 12, 2009) To help meet the goals of its recently completed five-year strategic plan, To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Kathleen A. Meyer as its first Executive Director.

Since its inception in 1996 To Celebrate Life has raised and granted over $2.5 million to local San Francisco Bay Area non-profit organizations that help breast cancer survivors and/or those who have breast health concerns.  The organization plans to expand its funding in the future, particularly to those nonprofits serving minority populations, the economically disadvantaged and women under 40.

 “We realized that if we’re to make the transition from event-driven fundraising to finding and implementing new revenue streams, we’d need professional help,” said Alice Tanner, president of To Celebrate Life’s Board of Directors. The addition marks the Foundation’s departure from an all-volunteer organization to one with a full-time Executive Director.

In her new role, Meyer will provide leadership to the Board, volunteers, and other stakeholders, helping to implement the vision and mission of To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation. Her focus will be onfundraising and creating opportunities for corporations to partner with To Celebrate Life in supporting Bay Area breast health organizations.

“This position will enable me to continue my lifelong commitment to issues of importance to women and girls, as well as draw from my experience as a consultant to small foundations and start-up nonprofit organizations”, says Meyer.  “I am very impressed with the track record of To Celebrate Life and am looking forward to working with its dedicated Board and volunteers.” 

Track record in the private and nonprofit sectors

A Marin resident, Meyer brings over 25 years experience in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. She has served as Executive Director of the Academy of Friends where she helped raise $500,000 for grassroots HIV/AIDS organizations. Her background includes:

• A decade-long tenure as executive director of The Business Enterprise Trust
• Deputy director of Equal Rights Advocates
•  Provided strategic planning consulting services to family foundations and nonprofit start-ups
• Senior management positions in strategic planning and marketing for several Fortune 500 firms.

Throughout her career Meyer has volunteered with numerous nonprofit organizations. She has an MBA from Stanford University. 

“We feel very fortunate to have someone with Kathy’s background and capability joining the To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation family. Her understanding of who we are and her passion for our mission make it a perfect fit,” said Tanner.

The search for Executive Director was conducted by The Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. 

Watch Our New Video

See and hear the history of our events, the generous volunteers, the joyful models/survivors and the grants reception which is the culmination of our fundraising. We want to make a difference because everybody knows somebody touched by breast cancer.

QuickTime is required to play this video.
This video is intended for broadband connections.
If you have difficulty accessing the above video, view it on YouTube.

What People Are Saying

"I am so deeply grateful to have had the wonderful experience of being a model in this year's Stepping Out To Celebrate Life event. The opportunity came at a moment when I needed it the most." Read more.

Mending Under the Moon

Some of the women took off their wigs; others removed their prostheses. A few were young, and others were decades older. Many laughed. Several danced. It was their weekend to be together. Read more.

Marin Breast Cancer Council Is Now To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation

What’s in a name?  Plenty!  Especially when it comes to capturing and expressing an organization’s identity.  Branding is a huge component of an enterprise’s visibility and viability.

About two years ago we began to realize that MBCC needed a more identifiable logo. A branding grant from Taproot Foundation enabled us to get started on this exciting project.
 
As the team of Taproot and MBCC volunteers began to brainstorm, it soon became clear that what was really needed was a new name. “We needed to change our name to better reflect what we do and the spirit in which we do it,” explains Teri Dowling, MBCC President.

Since a name change was outside the scope of the grant, MBCC volunteer John Randazzo donated the services of his company, B.A.R.C. Communications, a San Francisco based marketing and communications firm, to take over the project.   

 “We literally looked at hundreds of alternatives before I put together a recommendation that focused on the ‘celebrate life’ words and how that could form an umbrella for MBCC’s  three fundraising events,” John explains.

The branding team and MBCC board ultimately embraced the name To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation to best describe the organization: its mission, hope, compassion, volunteerism, sense of community, education, outreach and fundraising.

The logo design phase was led by B.A.R.C. business partner and Creative Director, Alan Blavins, with initial concepts and final designs contributed by Bill Evans and Angelo Martinez, also of B.A.R.C.  
 
To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation is grateful to everyone who worked on this project.  As we move into the future we hope you — our grantees, sponsors, donors, supporters, family and friends — will join us as we continue “To Celebrate Life.”