Two-Year Fundraising Reaches $114 Million Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), the two-day bikeathon that pioneered the athletic fundraising industry, announced on November 4 a record-breaking $64 million donation to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber), a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research, and its Jimmy Fund. This impressive gift raised by the PMC community far surpassed fundraising expectations this year, topping the organization’s pre-pandemic record $63 million donation in 2019. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the PMC has raised more than $114 million for Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, bucking industry-wide trends of decreased fundraising and engagement stemming from public health crisis.

Twenty-four riders from Norfolk and Wrentham participated in this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge.

“The PMC community knows ‘there’s a lot riding on us’ and certainly rose to the occasion with this year’s record-breaking gift,” said PMC founder and executive director Billy Starr, a Dana-Farber Trustee. “To not only drastically exceed our fundraising goal, but to top our pre-pandemic fundraising record is an incredible feat. The $64 million our community raised this year – in addition to the $50 million our riders raised virtually in 2020 – makes an unparalleled impact on the fight against cancer at Dana-Farber.”

The PMC donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar to support the lifesaving mission of Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, including immediate patient care needs and breakthrough cancer discoveries. The PMC, which has contributed $831 million to the fight against cancer since 1980, is the nation’s most successful single-event athletic fundraiser and Dana-Farber’s largest single contributor, accounting for more than 55 percent of its Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue.

Thanks in part to PMC funding, Dana-Farber was not forced to suspend clinical trials during the pandemic, ensuring the advancement of critical oncology research. For example, in 2021, Dana-Farber research help garner FDA approval for a novel immunotherapy combination as a first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer. This success was made possible with PMC support. 

“I am in awe of the steadfast commitment by PMC riders, volunteers, sponsors and donors to our shared mission to defy cancer. PMC has once again exceeded expectations, raising a record amount to continue as our largest single contributor,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber. “This unmatched and generous gift, raised during an ongoing pandemic that has presented unique challenges to the cancer community as a whole, will provide integral funding for the innovation that takes place with our patient care and the cutting-edge research conducted at Dana-Farber.”

In August, the PMC brought together more than 6,000 riders hailing from 47 states and 11 countries to cycle up to 211 miles across Massachusetts for the first time since 2019. In 2020, the PMC raised an impressive $50 million through its summer-long Reimagined campaign, which kept participants engaged and fundraising, on and off the bike, through the pandemic to support lifesaving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber.

The PMC is presented by the Red Sox Foundation®. To learn more or to make a financial contribution to the cause, visit www.pmc.org, or call (800) WE-CYCLE. Connect with #PMC2021 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.