We are very excited to focus today’s charity spotlight on The Love/Avon Army of Women, a non-profit that endeavors to raise breast cancer awareness and promote the search for a cure through research involving it’s volunteer army of women.  Hedi Jalon, Love/Avon’s Community Outreach Specialist, gives us a more in depth look on the partnership between Dr. Susan Love and the Avon Foundation and their achievements in scientific research, as well as their mission to recruit One Million Women to join their cause.  Read below to learn about the Foundation and their tactics on how they catapulted themselves into the number 1 spot in CommuniCause.

Please tell us about Love/Avon Army of Women, its vision and how it came to be.

The Love/Avon Army of Women’s mission is to recruit ONE MILLION WOMEN to participate in breast cancer research.  The focus of the research studies is to look at the causes of breast cancer and how to prevent it.  We need participation from all women of all ages (18 and over), ethnicities, lifestyles and faith.  What sets us apart from other breast cancer research foundations is our focus on prevention, our role in partnering women with scientists and our platform.  Where research has typically been done on animal models up until now and most research dollars are spent on looking at treatment, we are shifting the paradigm by studying real women and why breast cancer occurs in the first place.  By utilizing the web and communicating to our volunteers and scientists mainly via the internet, we are able to efficiently and vastly raise awareness and spread the word.

The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation, a global leader in breast cancer research, joined forces to launch the Love/Avon Army of Women on the Today Show in Oct 2008.

Heading the Love/Avon Army of Women is Dr. Susan Love, a distinguished breast surgeon, a trusted breast cancer authority, a best-selling author on breast cancer and women’s health, and the President of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. The mission of the Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit breast cancer organization, is to eradicate breast cancer and improve the quality of women’s health through innovative research, education, and advocacy. The Foundation works to identify the barriers to research and to then create new solutions.

The Avon Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, has raised and awarded more than $525 million worldwide for access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. Support is also being provided by Avon Products, Inc., the largest corporate supporter of the breast cancer cause, which will work through its US Avon Sales Representatives to recruit women coast-to-coast.

The Army of Women serves an unmet need that few think about…but Dr. Love did!  Currently there is no timely, efficient system for assisting researchers in securing the volunteers they need—it can take up to 18 months—and most researchers have access only to women with cancer, not healthy women.  Or they do research without using human subjects. We are changing that paradigm and helping advance research to go “beyond a cure.”

How has the foundation benefited from its partnerships with Dr. Susan Love and the Avon Foundation for Women?

By utilizing resources from the Avon Foundation for Women and the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, the Army of Women has been able to establish credibility and recruit women who want to do more to make an impact in breast cancer research.  We’ve provided an avenue for women to feel empowered and given them a place where they can feel like by donating their “bodies” to research rather than money, they can truly make a difference.

Your foundation’s goal is to recruit 1 million women to join your cause and participate in simple but vital breast cancer research. Can you explain the impact you wish to make by accomplishing this goal?

Dr. Susan Love, MD, President, Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation states, “Over and over I’ve heard scientists lament how difficult it is for them to find the volunteers they need for research studies. I’ve long believed that helping scientists overcome this obstacle would accelerate our understanding of what causes breast cancer and how to end it. By responding to this need, the Army of Women will change the face of breast cancer research.”  Marc Hurlbert, PhD, Director, Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade adds, “Among the hundreds of research studies funded by the Avon Foundation for Women, many are focused on prevention. All too often, though, researchers can’t find the volunteers they need for their studies. The Army of Women will help surmount this difficulty, and will allow researchers to pursue their studies in a more effective and timely way. It will also give researchers the tools they need to pursue novel new directions that can lead to breast cancer prevention.”

Love/Avon Army of Women has recruited nearly 300,000 women. What have been your most effective channels for recruitment and awareness, and what parts to do you see social media playing in reaching your goal of 1 million women?

A combination of PR and social media has played a key role in recruiting our nearly 300,000 women.  We look at PR as the base, the meat of the cake.  PR enables an impactful first impression with the public and garners initial interest.  We look at social media as the icing on the cake, the method in which we mobilize our volunteers to go out and keep building our organization.  By not only utilizing the web, but utilizing our women as key players in spreading the word, we have been able to reach a large audience in a rather short amount of time.  Various social media channels, like Twitter and Facebook have been great forums in connecting with unique visitors.

Why do you think your blog has been so successful in garnering so many votes for CommuniCause this quickly?  What other avenues of social media has your foundation utilized, and what have you found to be effective?

We sent our monthly e-blast out to our membership base announcing a new program and sharing information with our volunteers.  Within that eblast we gave a sneak-peek of one of our blogs which announced the CommuniCause contest.  We encouraged our members to vote and explained why it was important.  Also, our AOW members are so proud to be working with Dr. Susan Love, they trust and admire her, and their desire to be working with her to go beyond a cure propels them to take action—be it by encouraging others to join the AOW or vote for Communicause.  Blogging, Twitter, Facebook are all great avenues of social media.  We not only use Twitter to reach out to new eyeballs, but to also seek out other organizations that we can partner with.

How have you found that your volunteers connect with one another online? Do they use resources that you have provided, or are they creating their own groups?

Currently, the first phase and main function of our website is to encourage women to register with us.  We communicate to our members solely by e-blast.  The only way our volunteers connect with us or with one another (in a sense) is when replying or commenting on our blogs.  We are entering the second phase of the army and are exploring methods in which we can provide ways for our volunteers to be able to connect with one another.

What social media channel or channels are you most excited to learn more about and integrate into your outreach and communication efforts?

We are eager to learn more about the new up and coming social sites, aka “the next wave”.  Not only do we want to know what is cutting edge, but we are constantly seeking the next best WAY to use Twitter.  Being on Twitter is one thing, but really using it to its full potential is the most important.  We are also excited to educate ourselves in finding opportunities for our volunteers to become connected so they can communicate and feel like not only are they an army volunteer but also part of the army family.  In addition, we want to find the best way to stand out from the pack in the vast social media market while continuing to build our identity across all social platforms.

Impress us with your Twitter Skills: In 140 characters or less, tell us what @CommuniCause means to you.

@CommuniCause: Rockin’ the Web. Giving back to the community. Helping us grow the Army of Women to take us Beyond a Cure! RT Widely!
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We would like to thank Hedi for taking the time to talk to us about Love/Avon Army of Women!

Check our blog all this week, as we will be spotlighting not one, but FIVE different charities.

Remember Everyone - We only have ONE WEEK left for CommuniCause.  Be sure to utilize all the outreach you can to GET MORE VOTES!!!

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Phone: 407.756.1377

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