2013 Annual Report - Prostate Cancer Foundation BC

The Journey Continues
2013 Annual Report
MISSION STATEMENT
“To provide leadership and resources for prostate cancer support, education and research in BC”
SERVICE GOALS
Support -Education - Research - Advocacy
HIS MEMORY LIVES ON
Prostate Cancer Foundation BC remembers past Director Ian
Baxter who passed away in November of 2013. Ian was chair
of the Burnaby Support Group and past Director and Secretary
of the foundation. Ian’s many contributions to Prostate
Cancer will not be forgotten.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Bryan McPherson, CA (Chair)
Bartrac and Associates
Fundraising:
Seth Allen, Raymond James
Ray Newstead, CGA
Jeff Morgan
Judy Rothwell
Jeff Morgan, CA (Vice Chair)
Adera Development Corp.
Ted Butterfield, CA (Past Chair)
International Water-Guard Industries
Judy Rothwell, CGA (Treasurer)
Len Gross,
CMHC (retired)
Peter Fairey,
Partner Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Dr. Michael Cox, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Urological Sciences, University of BC
Mark White
Intelligent Security Graham Mercer, B.A., M. Ed.
Ian Wilshaw, Partner,
KPMG
Awareness:
Val Strijack, Past Chair PCFBC
Eric Huffey, Coquitlam Support Group
Robb Lucy, Consultant
Bryan McPherson
Support Group Council:
Murray Gordon, Chilliwack
Cliff Murphy, Prince George
Val Strijack, Abbotsford
Graham Mercer, Burnaby
Ted Butterfield, North Vancouver
Ken Walden, Vernon
Kevin Higgins, Cranbrook
Gord Thomas, Cowichan
MESSAGE FROM OUR VOLUNTEER BOARD CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Prostate Cancer Foundation BC has grown enormously from its humble beginnings in 1998. A journey which started as a fundraising endeavor has expanded to include events and programs facilitating the attainment of the Foundation’s service goals; Support,
Education, Research and Advocacy. The Foundations fundraising efforts continue to expand but in an increasingly competitive and
over-saturated market, growth is difficult. The heart and soul of our fund raising efforts, the Fathers Day Walk Run and Westcoast
Ride to Live, are supplemented by a number of third party events and fortunately unlike many other charities we experienced modest
growth.
During the past year we introduced a number of new initiatives. The board has been expanded to include new members focused
on fundraising. An endowment fund has been established. The Foundation has contributed the initial startup capital and in time
the proceeds from this endowment fund will provide much needed capital to support the Foundations operations and many of its
programs. The Foundation continues its active involved in the Better Pharmacare Coalition – a coalition of registered charities and
not for profit organizations which advocates for patients in BC improving patient reimbursement and access to medications. The
Foundation recently had the opportunity along with other Coalition members to meet with the new BC Minister of Health advocating for better healthcare.
In addition to these new initiatives, the Foundation is continuing to direct a significant portion of its efforts towards survivorship
programs, support groups and community awareness. Support group conferences, continued education and speakers programs are
expanding. The Foundation recognizes and supports the efforts of the Support Group Council in their role of nurturing support
groups throughout the province. The Prostate Cancer Supportive Care Program (PCSC), a comprehensive survivorship program
developed by the Vancouver Prostate Centre, has benefited from startup financial support from the Foundation as well as important
networking with support groups and the newly diagnosed. The Foundation recently provided funding for PCSC staff to lecture in
Prince George. This provided an opportunity for PCSC on behalf of the Foundation, to meet with the local support group, the medical community, the general public and obtain media exposure for Prostate Cancer awareness. In response to the growing demand
for speakers from the business community, presentations and display material have been developed and new members recruited to
the speakers bureau.
Prostate Cancer is a disease that will impact many lives in BC. Not just men but their partners and families. This is why we continue
to provide education, services and a network of support to families who need it.
Looking forward, we are committed to our responsibility to help British Columbians diagnosed with prostate cancer and to support
research that will reduce the impact of the disease or find a cure. We are proud to deliver effective programs with fiscal accountability
and need your continued support. Please continue to give generously either financially or by giving of your time, so that together we
can continue the journey of support, education, research and advocacy.
PROVIDING SUPPORT TO MEN AND THEIR
FAMILIES IN BC
Who is Prostate Cancer Foundation BC
Prostate Cancer Foundation BC is a volunteer-based organization that represents BC’s prostate cancer patients, their families and communities. The Foundation is a registered charity led by a Board of Directors and
an Executive Director, and is supported by its many volunteers
and part time staff. The Foundation was established in 1998 by
a group of prostate cancer survivors who saw the need to raise
monies in order to fund and support research in the causes, detection, prevention and the treatment of prostate cancer. Until
this year event fundraising for prostate cancer research was a
primary initiative of the foundation. The Foundation also provides programs for education, advocacy and to increase awareness about the prevention, detection and treatment of prostate
cancer.
The Foundation has just established a new strategic plan and mission statement that incorporates support as
its primary function. While the Foundation will always recognize research as one of its main goals, men and
their families dealing with the devastating effects of this cancer are now its priority.
Volunteers
The Foundation is supported by hundreds of volunteers who
work in different areas. We have volunteers who assist us in
our office. Our board is 100% unpaid volunteers and our event
committee leaders are all volunteers. All of our events are put
on by volunteers who work throughout the year planning and
structuring the
events. They
put in hundreds of hours
of their own time to the cause. Our committees are all volunteers and our awareness committee provides volunteer speakers for educational talks. The dollars donated to the cause
obtain results thanks to our tremendous volunteers like Peter
and Colleen Groenland pictured right who run the Westcoast
Motorcycle Ride to Live in support of Prostate Cancer Foundation BC.
EDUCATION FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE AT RISK
In 2013 our Awareness committee spoke at over 30 different locations including:
Nine Health & Wellness Fairs for Translink
UBC maintenance crew at UBC
Twice at The Vancouver Native Housing Society
16 group sessions with the Coquitlam Fire Department
Telus Webinar for Telus employees across Canada
Telus French Webinar for employees in Quebec.
Film production complex for employees in the accounting and administration
departments
Several times at the Musqueam Nation
September was prostate cancer awareness month and we had many
cities across BC “proclaim” September as PC awareness month.
We also hosted the Cruise with a Cause celebrity event in September to bring more awareness to the cause. Our great team of Cruise
volunteers rode their motorcycles around the Province stopping at
local support group towns and raising money for PCFBC. We ended the week with a celebrity autograph signing event, gala evening
and live auction. Stars who came out to support the cause included:
Adam Beach, Arctic Air
Antonio Cupo, Bomb Girls
Amber Marshall, Heartland
Graham Wardle, Heartland
Kerry James, Heartland
Cindy Busby, Heartland
Alisha Newton, Heartland
Musicians:
Dave Martone
Kate Morgan
Sons & Daughters
Skylar
One Bullet Down
“ The reef knot kit
information
package was a
tremendous value
to me when I was
first diagnosed!”
RESEARCH FOR NEW DRUGS AND POSSIBLY A CURE
The Foundation gave $140,000.00 to grant research in 2013 including those listed
below
Nader Al Nakouzi works at the VGH Prostate Centre as a post-doctoral fellow with a
rich background in cancer research, and prostate cancer specifically. His challenge is to
find a way to kill cancer cells more efficiently, particularly when they become resistant
to treatment. Nader notes that after few years of chemotherapy treatment, fifty percent
of all men become resistant to the treatment. Cancer cells still want to divide and grow.
The challenge is to target these cells, and render them sensitive to chemotherapy again.
Elham Hosseini-Beheshti was trained as a Food Engineer in Iran, received her Master’s
degree in Food Chemistry at UBC, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Experimental Medicine (UBC). Elham is studying ‘exosomes’, which are communication ‘vesicles’
that are sent off from each cell to transfer a message to other cells. Elham has shown
that exosomes secreted from prostate cancer cells carry different proteins than normal
prostate cells. So, knowing the difference between cancerous and normal cell exosomes
could be very helpful in finding specific biomarkers for a cancer diagnosis.
Huifang Li has a background in “pharmacoinformatics”, which is computer modeling
of drug pharmacology. She is trying to decipher how factors in traditional Chinese
medicines work and has earned two MSc degrees at Universities in China and in Southern Italy (Calabria). She is also pursuing her PhD trying to identify molecules that can
block or destabilize mutants of the ‘androgen receptor’ (AR), as Huifang says is “the
most validated target for the disease”. Huifang has data suggesting that she has identified pockets on the surface of the AR, and has some lead compound to target this area.
Ravi SN Munuganti was trained as a microbiologist/chemist in India and has a M.Sc. in
Environmental Sciences. Later, he worked as a research associate in GVK-Bio Pvt. Ltd.,
handling several drug discovery projects. Currently, Ravi is doing PhD at Vancouver
Prostate Centre in the field of computational drug discovery. His major focus is to identify new drug prototypes that can overcome the limitations of current prostate cancer
drugs and capable of combating resistant forms of prostate cancer. He has screened
millions of compounds using various in silico methods and identified five compounds
that show very promising anti-cancer activity. Currently Ravi is working on a series of
experiments to improve the drug-like profile of these compounds.
Dr. Alexander Wyatt graduated with a PhD from the University Oxford in 2010, and
joined the Vancouver Prostate Centre in Spring 2011 to work on the genomics of highrisk prostate cancer. Dr. Wyatt’s early work focused on a highly aggressive subtype of
prostate cancer known as neuroendocrine prostate cancer. He has since been involved
in developing a unique set of models for studying resistance mechanisms in prostate
cancer, and has been using sequence data from patient tumors to better understand
prostate cancer progression, with the ultimate goal of novel therapeutic strategies.
FINANCIAL S
Prostate Cancer Foundation BC
Statement of Operations and Change in Net Assets
Year Ended September 30, 2013
Revenues:
Fundraising events
Donations
Interest and sundry
2013
2012
$351,573 $324,964
104,715
113,271
884
549
457,172
438,784
Expenses
Fundraising costs
General and administrative
Allocation:
Awareness and support
Grants
Excess of revenues over expenses
Net assets, beginning of year
Net assets, end of year
111,582
38,842
150,424
306,748
114,227
30,154
144,381
294,403
82,140
148,000
230,140
76,608
247,784
324,392
71,854
130,500
202,354
92,049
155,735
247,784
Note: General and Administrative Expense Ratio 8% (2012: 7%)
Fundraising Expense Ratio 32% (2012: 35%)
Statement of Financial Position
as at September 30, 2013
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and investments
Accounts receivable
Prepaid expense and other assets
Capital assets
Liabilities:
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable
Grants payable
Net assets:
Endowment
Invested in capital assets
Unrestricted
Operating Endowment
and Capital
Fund
$373,922
$43,049
29,643
10,028
$413,593
$43,049
2013
$416,971
29,643
10,028
$456,642
2012
$337,644
20,956
17,208
$375,808
6,853
6,853
7,059
$420,446$43,049$463,495$382,687
$ 39,103
$39,103
$32,583
100,000
100,000
102,500
139,103139,103 135,083
43,049
6,853
274,490
281,343
43,049
$420,446
$43,049
43,049
6,853
274,490
324,392
$463,495
28,125
7,059
212,600
247,784
$382,867
SPECIAL AWARDS IN 2013
2013 Grant recipients and honorees
Standing left to right:
Dr. Mike Cox, Director PCFBC; Dr. Nader Al Nakouzi; Mark White, Grant Committee Chair; Huifang
Li; Ravi Munuganti; Dr. Emma Gunns; Elham Hosseini-Beheshti;
Sitting left to right:
Dan Cohen; Eric Huffey
The Dan Cohen Founders Award (presented to Nader Al Nakouzi)
In 1993 Dan was diagnosed with prostate cancer and 9 years later joined the Vancouver support group. At the group
Dan was in charge of arranging speakers and growing membership. A year later he was asked to join the board of PCFBC as a director. Dan was one of the first speakers on our speakers bureau. He was the first chair of the grant in aid
committee and was responsible for implementation of the systems that are in place today. During Dan’s time as chair
of the grant committee he oversaw the dispersement of over $800,000. During his 10 years on the board, Dan has been
actively involved in promoting the foundation and working at events including running the foundation booth at the
annual Fathers Day Walk/Run.
The Eric Huffey Pioneer Award (presented to Elham Hosseini-Beheshti)
In 1999 Eric was diagnosed with prostate cancer and immediately joined the Coquitlam support group. He is still on
their steering committee responsible for arranging speakers. Eric also used his diagnosis as an opportunity to get involved with the Do It For Dad Walk/Run by serving as a volunteer, and became one of the top fundraisers in the years
following. He first started in 2000 by helping out in registration. In 2002 he joined the planning committee and took
on the course area followed by registration. In 2003-2005, Eric sat on the board of Prostate Cancer Foundation BC.
Eric, a founding member and co chair of the PCCN BC Support Group Council, was appointed to the PCCN Task
Force in 2011 and the PCCN Advisory Council in 2012. Most recently Eric has joined the speakers committee, and
this last summer he talked to 13 different fire halls shifts in a short number of weeks. He has driven out to the valley
to present to First Nations groups and has set up displays whenever the opportunity arose. All of this on his own time
while continuing his busy work as a real estate agent.
BC SUPPORT GROUP COUNCIL
The 2013
BC Support Group Council
Back row left to right:
Murray Gordon, Chilliwack;
Cliff Murphy, Prince George;
Val Strijack, Abbotsford;
Graham Mercer, Burnaby.
Front row left to right:
Ted Butterfield, North
Vancouver;
Ken Walden, Vernon; Kevin
Higgins, Cranbrook; Gord
Thomas, Cowichan.
The highlight of the year was the provincial conference. The May 3-5 conference for BC support
group leadership was the first since 2005. The feedback from the delegate breakout sessions will be
very helpful to the Council in addressing the needs and concerns of the support groups. The makeup of the Council was set with the election of six support group representatives. The foundation has
two representatives. Val Strijack served as chair and Kevin Higgins as vice-chair.
In setting its future goals, the Council has taken its direction from concerns that were raised and
suggestions that were made at the May conference. The first step is to better understand the needs
and strengths of all the groups. Support group profiles will be created and shared. Some groups are
better equipped to serve their membership and some are better positioned to continue serving long
into the future. A liaison initiative was established whereby Council members will be responsible
for establishing and maintaining regular contact with the group leaders. The groups are being encouraged to share their resources. For instance, groups are now promoting the programs of other
groups during their regular meetings. This allows for patients to attend other groups to have their
needs addressed. A more effective website is underway to facilitate this process. The ultimate goal
is to build a stronger provincial network.
2013 SUPPORT GROUP CONFERENCE
The theme of the very successful 2013 Support group conference was Sharing Our Success ... Working Together. The goal
was to engage the participants in a discussion on the current
role of support groups in meeting the needs of their membership and their ability to do so in the future. Approximately 80
delegates, representing support groups province-wide, participated in a great program. They were treated to a variety of
presentations on topics very relevant to support group leadership and issues facing prostate cancer patients. Dr Art Hister
was the keynote speaker for the Saturday evening banquet.
He spoke to 130 attendees, including both the chair and the
president of Prostate Cancer Canada.
In a follow up survey it was noted that 56% of the delegates
were from the lower mainland, 21% from the BC Interior and
23% from Vancouver Island/Sunshine Coast. The number
one reason people attended was to “gain knowledge about
leading successful support groups”. Overall the feedback was
very positive and it is hoped that we can put on another conference in 2015 or 2016.
The speakers included:
Dr. Richard Wassersug Mens Health Initiative BC, Dr. Kim
Chi BC Cancer Agency, Dr. Michael Cox Senior Scientist The
Prostate Centre, Hal Gunn CEO Inspire Health, Dr. Bev Edwards-Sawatzky Psychologist, Dr. Don Sawatzky Psychologist, John Oliffe UBC School of Nursing, Andrea Manson Enterostomal Therapy Nurse, Maureen McGrath Incontinence
Nurse.
The Saturday night evening session heard Dr. Art Hister speak
and the Two Geezers performed a humorous take on prostate
cancer.
Thank you to our volunteers, event participants and sponsors
“Being part of an event like this makes me feel like I am not alone in my
battle against this terrible disease .“
It’s A Snow Day
2013 was the first year for this annual event that takes place on Mount
Seymour. Originally called the “race
to end prostate cancer” in 2014 we
re-branded it and called it “It’s a snow
day”. The event raised over $10,000
for the cause and got participants and
sponsors together for a fun time on
the mountain.
WESTCOAST Motorcycle Ride
to Live
In 2013 we had a lot of rain on event
day but that did not stop the 100’s of
riders from completing the poker run
from Chilliwack and Vancouver. The
end of the ride was at Fraser Downs
in Surrey and combined with a Show
and Shine was a great success. Over
$140,000 was raised for prostate cancer
and a lot of awareness was created from
all the fantastic bikes roaring down the
streets.
Safeway Father’s Day Walk/Run
We had our best year yet at the 2013
walk/run events. With locations in
Burnaby, Chilliwack, Kamloops and
Kelowna we saw over 1800 people
walk or run for the cause raising over
$200,000.00! Over 200 volunteers
helped put on this great event which
saw serious runners and entire families
out enjoying the day.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES......
With a new strategic plan that focuses on support, education, research and advocacy the Foundation
is geared up to help men and their families in BC. With our volunteer speakers in our awareness committee we can tackle groups of any size. The new display kits are ready for wellness shows, public forums and education sessions. Our many volunteer committees have been formalized and are poised
to help guide us through the next few years. We will strengthen our support groups by providing
them with the tools they need and the guidance they seek. We will spread the word about the benefits
of early detection and treatment. We will continue to fundraise to assist young researchers and .......
we will continue the journey as long as we are needed.
Prostate Cancer Foundation BC
#4 17918 55th Avenue, Surrey BC, V3S 6C8, 604-574-4012, wwww.prostatecancerbc.ca