We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Molly MacDonald. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Molly below.

Molly, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

In general, I am risk averse. I don’t like heights or speed. I am fiscally conservative, but if I believe in something as I did when I thought of the idea to help women with breast cancer, I guess I bet on myself, meaning my abilities. Well, I had the vision and a plan in place. The risk was getting others to believe in me too. At the time we were just getting started, we had rescued our home from foreclosure, as I was unable to work while in treatment and had a hefty COBRA premium. I have learned that I not only have vision, but that I am strategic and tenacious. It helped tremendously that my husband supported my vision, even though he thought I had two heads, but ya know he sleeps with me, so he went along with it. And not only that he is far more detail oriented than I in some respects. He is my true co-founder and does all the sweeping up behind me. . .

Perhaps the greatest risk was doing all this without having a paycheck and stream of income. I worked other jobs the first six years before Pink Fund was able to provide some compensation. Another risk in the process was that one of my employers actually fired me because he did not like that I was using my lunch hour and weekends to speak about Pink Fund. He told me I had to make a choice and I told him, I had to have the job and I was not giving up Pink Fund, so he would have to fire me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was raised in a suburb of Detroit. I hold a degree in journalism from The University of Michigan, have studied and lived in Europe on two occasions. My professional life has been primarily in journalism, public relations, marketing and sales.

Molly MacDonald knows what it’s like to battle the financial burdens of breast cancer while undergoing treatment to battle the disease. Diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in April 2005, the disease was unlikely to take her life, but
did take her livelihood. She was between jobs and was unable to start her new job as planned. Her family’s already tight budget was immediately overburdened with the addition of a monthly COBRA health insurance payments coupled with the loss of her income.

Within months, MacDonald and her family faced the potential for catastrophic financial losses, including the loss their home. At the end of treatment when family and friends stopped delivering dinner, MacDonald was forced to use a local food bank to feed her family.

When MacDonald’s quest to Get Help was met with blank stares, she became determined to Give Help to others suffering from lost income as a result of their diagnosis and treatment. In 2006 she founded The Pink Fund, which provides 90 days of non-medical financial aid to cover basic cost of living expenses, such as health insurance, housing, transportation and utilities.

By providing this financial bridge, The Pink Fund helps to meet basic needs, while decreasing stress levels. These factors improve treatment adherence, improving survivorship outcomes and quality of life.

Since its founding through October 2022 The Pink Fund has made over $6.4 million in bill payments on behalf of breast cancer survivors in active treatment. In 2012, Ford Motor Company, invited The Pink Fund to be one of their charity partners benefiting from the Warriors in Pink program which allowed them to serve patients in all 50 states.

For her work, MacDonald has been the recipient of many local and national awards. Most recently she was named to the 2020 George H. W. Bush Points of Light Inspiration Honor Roll, Crain’s 2020 Notable Women in Health, and a 2020 AARP Purpose Prize Fellow. In 2019, EyeforPharma named her Patient Champion North America. In March 2018, MacDonald was awarded NAWBO Detroit’s Philanthropic Award and named a 2018 Healthcare Hero by Crain’s Detroit Business.

Ernst & Young named her a Finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Michigan and Northwest Ohio in 2016 and 2017.

She is a 2014 Pink Power Mom, awarded by Kids II and Bright Starts, and a 2014 Purpose Prize Fellow, presented by Encore.org for her “outstanding contributions toward solving the world’s most challenging problems in the second half of life” and Money Magazine’s 2014 Michigan Money Hero. A long-time columnist for Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine focusing on financial wellness, she is a contributing writer to the American Journal of Managed Care and a member of the Advisory Board for V-Bid, Value Based Insurance Design at The University of Michigan.

The Pink Fund was a finalist, recognized as a top global cancer innovator in patient centric care by the LIVESTRONG Foundation’s inaugural Big C Competition, for its work in helping to rebuild financial health. In 2014 and 2015 The Pink Fund was named by Time and Money, together with Charity Navigator, as one of five national breast cancer charities worthy of your donation, where you can feel confident your dollars will be put to good use. She is a Goldman Sachs Alumni Scholar, graduating in August 2022 from the program and in November 2022 elected to a three year term on the board of The National Breast Cancer Coalition headquartered in Washington DC.

Additionally, in January 2023, MacDonald represents Pink Fund as a member of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance.
A passionate Patient Advocate, MacDonald is a thought leader in the breast cancer space, specifically in cancer related financial toxicity. She is a sought after keynote speaker sharing her personal struggles which led to the founding of The Pink Fund while advocating for improved patient care, and blogs on those topics, which can be found on Pink Fund’s website.

MacDonald is a graduate from The University of Michigan with a degree in journalism and has extensive work experience in journalism, public relations, marketing, and sales. A mother of five adult children, and grandmother to two grandchildren, she is happily married to Tom Pettit, best known as Tom Terrific.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Our most effective way of getting the attention of potential applicants for Pink Fund support has been through our Community Outreach Manager, Rosalind Sample. Rosalind works with many underserved and underrepresented populations, attends community events and conferences where we have displays educating attendees on our mission. I also do a number of speaking engagements, sit on panels and write blogs. Our social media platforms and website are both platforms that are patient and donor facing.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well I originally started my idea under a different name and asked two other people to help m, one was my breast cancer surgeon, the other a friend who I gave my dog to during treatment because I was unable to care for him. I was recovering from treatment at the time and totally trusted them with helping to manage the business side of the operation. Within a year, they formed a board of directors and would not allow me to sit on the board. I was asked, “Can’t I just show up, speak up, make people cry and give money?” I must admit to being totally confused as I watched them begin to squeeze me out. After expressing some concerns around conflict of interest, shortly thereafter sent me a courier delivered letter severing their relationship with me and taking over the organization. I was never more stunned as one of them was my surgeon. Within six weeks of receiving that letter my husband and I rebooted as Pink Fund. The medical writer at The Detroit Free Press wrote a front-page story in what was then a section called The Way We Live, published on Monday, October 2, 2006. We got someone to donate a website and fortunately they had not taken my logo, which I traded an Eero Saarinen tulip table for. In retrospect they did me a favor. I never would have been able to accomplish what I have on behalf of women and men in treatment for breast cancer, had I remained with them.

Contact Info:

• Other: [email protected] 248-505-5222.