Now in its 27th year, WBCS is marking a significant, measurable research impact of $157.665 million.
By: Jan Lennon
WBCS was founded as a charitable organization in 1998, with the intent of raising funds to advance breast cancer research. One might even say it began on a wing and a prayer, with its founder, Nancé Kinney a then recent breast cancer survivor, marshaling a small group of friends to help her create a WBCS Showhouse as a means to raise those funds.
Despite the odds, this fledgling effort was successful enough to allow WBCS to make its first investment of $42,000 to the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center (MCWCC). That initial donation was a catalyst for MCWCC scientists to embark on novel breast cancer research that might otherwise have gone unfunded. Early-stage prostate cancer research was later added as a focus of the group’s support, as well.
The initial small group of friends engaged their networks to increase the number of volunteers and to solicit creative ideas on how to expand the organization’s reach. In its second year, a luncheon and survivor fashion show now called the Pinktacular Event was added to augment the second annual Showhouse fundraiser. Other annual fundraising events soon followed. Through the efforts of countless volunteers, WBCS has become the largest annual philanthropic donor for adult cancer research at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center.
The Pinktacular Event, emceed by Joyce Garbaciak for many years, is an annual celebration of survivors who walk the runway accompanied by a support person important to their breast cancer or prostate cancer treatment journey. Hair and makeup, clothing, and run-of-show planning are donated by generous salons, boutiques and volunteers.
Generous event sponsors leverage Pinktacular’s attendance revenue to invest in our mission to support early stage breast cancer and prostate cancer research. Guests attending the event always leave inspired by the courageous stories of our survivor models. Pinktacular‘s heartwarming, celebratory ambiance is an expression in real time of the “why” of our mission. Survivors often comment that participating as a model or volunteer has helped their emotional healing. For many, the Pinktacular Event is a day where hope meets celebration in a festive way.
Now in its 27th year, WBCS is marking a significant, measurable research impact of $157.665 million.
Its cumulative investment is $7.765 million to fund research awards, to endow WBCS professorships in breast cancer and prostate cancer research and the newly established WBCS Endowed Innovative Research Fund, which is expected to kickstart novel, peer-reviewed proposals into discoveries to advance personalized medicine. To date, WBCS-funded researchers have leveraged WBCS awards into a substantial return on investment of $149.9 million in external research funding. That sum increases year by year, in addition to WBCS research investments.
WBCS funding is impactful far beyond the hallowed halls of our local academic medical center. The collaboration among cancer researchers worldwide, along with increasing technological breakthroughs, facilitate “aha” moments, with discoveries made in one discipline providing insights into addressing other confounding disease inquiries. A dollar’s investment in one cancer can be said to be a potential investment in all cancers.
According to MCW Cancer Center Director Gustavo Leone, PhD, “WBCS philanthropy is a model of what can be accomplished by passionate, like-minded individuals who come together in partnership with gifted scientists to advance discoveries.”
WBCS is a uniquely impactful community of “like-minded individuals” who together play critical roles in support of fundraising initiatives that support discoveries. As researchers and clinicians work together to translate those discoveries into new treatment options, survival becomes possible where once there was no hope. Together, we are changing the odds in favor of survival. Together, we are impactful change makers individually and collectively, as we work in community to defeat cancer and save lives.
Pinktacular SURVIVOR LUNCHEON
AND FASHION SHOW
October 9, 2025 ~ Milwaukee, WI
This article is from the EY August 2025 Issue