Professionals and National Breast Cancer Foundation celebrate 15 years of funding life-saving breast cancer research

Since 2003, our Real Estate Group has been a proud Partner of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), with our offices donating a portion of their commission from each property sale along with holding fundraising events throughout the year. As one of only two Diamond Partners of NBCF, along with Ford Australia, our Member offices take part in fundraising, particularly during NBCF’s Pink Ribbon Month, holding fundraising events throughout the year in their communities in support of breast cancer research.
Our CEO, David Crombie states, “October is special month at Professionals with an NBCF Marketing pack provided to all our offices to use in their marketing in support of NBCF”.
Over our long-standing partnership, Professionals have contributed over $3.3 million dollars in support of game-changing breast cancer research”, he stated, “in addition to raising life-saving awareness of breast screening and early detection over the last 15 years”.
Exciting news from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, is that even since last year, the Australian Government has reported 5-year survival rates for breast cancer have increased from 90 to 91%. A significant change considering the population of Australians diagnosed with breast cancer each year. This is the second such increment in 3 years, and a sure sign that NBCF’s audacious goal “Towards Zero Deaths by 2030” is on track thanks to targeted breast cancer research.
Our Group won’t stop here though, because there is still so much work to be done.
Some facts about breast cancer:
• Incidence grows faster for breast cancer than any other type of cancer.
• The number of new cases increased by 38% in the last 10 years alone.
• Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer with a staggering one in eight Australians being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
• This equates to 50 women facing a diagnosis each and every day in Australia – that’s over 18,000 per year!
• Sadly, it’s also the cause of eight deaths per day in Australia – more than 3000 per year.
• Nearly every household in Australia will be affected by breast cancer, whether it’s a family member, friend or colleague.
• Additionally, more than 200,000 women (and some men) are living with the side effects of breast cancer treatment.
In Australia, there is a limited research budget with many researchers competing for the same funding. This means a lot of high quality research simply doesn’t get funded, unless that funding comes from the community.
That’s why Professionals has had such a long-standing relationship with NBCF, because we are both looking to change breast cancer outcomes for patients and their families. The now over $3.3 million dollars that have donated by our Member offices and their communities over the past 15 years is a significant contribution to funding outstanding Australian research projects and initiatives that will support the NBCF’s objective of Zero Deaths by 2030.
“We know that research is not just a stop gap for today, it is the key to stopping breast cancer deaths in the future. The only way we will do this is through developing better methods to identify, treat and prevent the disease,” said NBCF CEO Professor Sarah Hosking.
“As NBCF is 100% community funded, we are completely reliant on support from the community and the generosity of our corporate partners like Professionals, so their donations will go a long way to helping us achieve our goal of zero deaths from breast cancer by 2030. This is the result of our strong, 15 year partnership with the Professionals and is a reflection of your passion and dedication to helping NBCF fund world-class breast cancer research”, she continued.
The future that NBCF and Professionals want to see is a world where women don’t die from breast cancer. A world where targeted, effective treatments with fewer side effects leaves those diagnosed with breast cancer with a normal quality of life beyond diagnosis and treatment.

Statistics sourced from https://breast-cancer.canceraustralia.gov.au/statistics