The Seany Foundation - Battling rare Pediatric Cancer

Organization Information:

Organization Name:
The Seany Foundation
City & State:
La Jolla, 
California
Organization Website:
www.theseanyfoundation.org
Organization's Mission Statement

Our mission is to carry on Sean Lewis Robins' legacy of battling Ewing's Sarcoma in order to find a cure, and to enhance the quality of life for kids and teens as they struggle with cancer.

Submission Information

Impact Essay

The Seany Foundation is an IRS and California registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded to carry on Sean Lewis Robins’ legacy of battling Ewing’s sarcoma and to help find cures for childhood cancers.

We are working to ensure that research programs devoted to rare childhood cancers such as Ewing’s Sarcoma get the funding they need. All funds raised go toward cancer research at the UCSD Medical Center and projects such as a much needed Teen Activity Center in the new oncology wing of Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. All expenses of The Seany Foundation are paid for by local businesses and the Robins Family, allowing 100% of contributions to go toward these goals. Without Microsoft, we wouldn’t be able to do any of this.

We were founded in 2005, and since then have raised over $350,000 thanks to our donors and volunteers, as well as Microsoft, who has enabled us to get our message to everyone possible. With the use of Microsoft Office Outlook we are able to manage all of our contacts, including donors, potential sponsors and volunteers. Not only do we send emails to our donors about our upcoming events so they are informed of integrative ways to be a part of our foundation, but we also communicate to each and every person involved so that we are able to voice Sean’s battle with cancer, and inspire those whose lives are affected by cancer. Because of this, we have increased the number of people touched by Sean and our mission.

With the use of the calendar in Microsoft Office Outlook we are able to track our event dates created throughout the year to raise money for our goals. This allow us to effectively manage our daily tasks and their due dates, as well as color code important deadlines.

We even take it a step further with Microsoft Office Project. With this we have numerous Gantt charts used to track our gala events, including The Seany Foundation Poker Night, a Motorcycle Ride, and Movie Night, all created to raise money for pediatric cancers. We are able to list every detail of planning these events with Microsoft Office Project, and assign work to each of our volunteers. Its functionality to have projects start and end dates, with multiple milestones in between helps us productively plan every event through its entire duration. In addition, because so many of our events require resources for silent auction items and donation pieces, we can track those resources and their contact information all in one area. Each resource is assigned to one or multiple tasks, and can be easily managed within the project.

Microsoft Office Project also allows us the capability to create and print reports to help effectively manage our events. With up-to-date information, we are able to display the charts and graphs on the amount of money we have raised, and what our exact goals are to be achieved within a timely fashion. With project budgets for catering, decorating, and printing and design, we are able to manage all of our monies within one area and maintain control on our current projects, as well as what-if scenarios.

In addition, we are able to track a majority of our grant makers and grant submissions in Microsoft Office Excel. The Seany Foundation’s immediate goal is to raise two million dollars to put in place an endowed Research Chair at Moores UCSD Cancer Center in San Diego. In order to raise this money, we are applying for grants pertaining to our area of needs with pediatric cancer. Because Microsoft Office Excel has the functionality to create multiple worksheets, we are able to manage each grant found, the information pertaining to the grant, the deadline and amount to which we have applied. We have created macros which enable us to color code each line item, when it is in process and when it has been completed. This allows us the opportunity to take a quick glance at any moment in time to know where we stand with our grant writing process.

Also, with the use of Microsoft Office Powerpoint, we have slide shows to present to our potential sponsors and groups of interest for all of our events. Not only can we use it to display The Seany Foundation information and introduce our mission to new groups, but it also interacts with all of the other Microsoft Office technologies in that we can copy and paste charts and graphs from other tools and use for display in our presentations. This has helped increased our marketing considerably, and therefore increased our funds raised.

Not to mention, we use Microsoft Office Word to draft all of our letters to our sponsors, donors and board candidates to effectively correspond all of our communications. We use it with a template to create our quarterly newsletter, make flyers for our events, and write grants, all of which facilitates us to check our spelling and grammar and ensure we are properly publicizing The Seany Foundation.

We want to thank Microsoft for giving us the tools to get our message out there. Sean will be remembered and loved through his mission, which The Seany Foundation is carrying out. With Microsoft we have touched so many lives, and look forward to touching so many more in the years to come.

Submission Category
Optimize Mission Delivery
Project Image
SF Logo.gif