A Letter From Our Chairman & CEO | Part I: Who We Are

In 2014, stomach cancer ranked in the top five of commonality worldwide, death rates were higher than most, and research spending was so low there were little institutions viewing this disease as a priority, and in fact, less than a quarter of a single percentage point of the research budget of the National Cancer Institute was directed to the disease.  On top of that, regardless of their mission or charitable area of focus, some nonprofits had huge overhead expenses, wasteful budgets, and little oversight and transparency on the overall program cycle (starting at donors and ending at mission results).  These created a reputation that unfortunately impacted nearly all others.  This was the same year that my cousin, Michon, passed away from stomach cancer at the age of 30.  I was about to head back to college for my junior year, and as I looked at the options to help others in the wake of a tragedy that struck my family, nothing existing out there stuck out in a way that drove me to want to contribute.  What I mean by that is I felt my time and money, and the money of maybe whatever I would be able to help fundraise seemed to be going into a bigger pile with mirky results that didn’t quench the fulfillment I was seeking. I quickly realized that maybe I could make a difference while also solving two of the biggest issues I was seeing.  For me, being able to see the direct connection between my support (either time or financial) and the results that came from it, and eliminating all the waste and middle steps that would link the two made the most sense.  But how?

Project Periwinkle was born out of this search to do better.  Not just in research, but in general as a world with how we face challenges, and more specifically, how we tackle arguably one of the heaviest challenges we face as a society: cancer.   So, that call for action and change established our three value pillars: 1) Fiscal Responsibility, 2) Transparency & Trust, and 3) Innovation & Excellence.

I was traveling to Michon’s funeral shortly after she passed away, in July of 2014, with my parents and brother.  While in the car on the way to the airport, I shared with them that I wanted to start a nonprofit that would raise money for research.  I don’t think any of the four of us knew what would come from that short sentence of mine.  It created a long journey over the next ten months that brought to life an organization that sought to do things differently, to create hope, to shape research, to elevate progress, to never stop in the pursuit of something better that would make our world a better place.

Fiscal Responsibility.  I started Project Periwinkle while I was in college, and it never crossed my mind that it would or ever could be a full time job or a career for me.  Rather, I didn’t want that, and I was pursuing other facets of business in the real world.  I knew, and hoped, that whatever would come from my life professionally, that this organization would remain in the background.  That is why since Day 1, we have and will always be, a completely volunteer based nonprofit.  No salaries, no compensation, just time given for the prospect of growth and advancement of our mission.  It is something all involved decide on their own when they join our organization, it is a value we all hold close and are proud to live through, and it makes everything we do together more valuable and powerful than it possibly otherwise could be.  Compensation makes up a large portion of any organization’s budget, and by not having this as a part of ours, it allows us to direct more to what matters most with our work.  What remains, we are extremely conscious of how it is spent.  Before our program funding, we look closely at overhead, limiting waste and being economical where possible.  As we are all volunteers, and do not need a space for our programs to live, we don’t have an office, cutting more expenses from our budget.  When we fund programs, we deeply vet the recipients and proposals we are presented with.  Do they align with our goals?  Do they offer potential?  What are the values of those we would support?  While getting programs off the ground and providing funding for a first phase always has its risks, we do everything we can to mitigate these and make our investment as sound as possible while also ensuring we push progress forward.

Transparency & Trust.  One of the most rewarding aspects of charitable giving is seeing what comes of it.  For our donors, being able to see where every dollar they gave went, what it created, and the people it impacted is vital to transparency.  By being transparent in our financial reporting, sharing updates on our work, and opening the curtain into what happens in the background, we’ve shaped trust and continue to change how nonprofits are viewed.

Innovation & Excellence.  Holding ourselves to the highest of standards doesn’t end with how we operate as an organization.  It continues through the work we support, the programs we help build, and the outcomes we chase.  Being able to constantly innovate is in our DNA.  Project Periwinkle started because of the need to fill a gap in research for stomach cancer, and while that research remains our focus, we have seen results translate to other upper GI cancers.  We fund dreams.  We fund progress.  We fund results.  We fund those who seek innovation and the constant pursuit of excellence.  We fund those who believe better is possible.  We fund those who do everything they can to create and contribute to a better world.  We fund those who know us, our donors, and the sacrifices made to shape what is given to allow all of that to become a reality.