Justine Smyth, CNZM
Chair
Message from the Chair:
The road to zero
As we reflect on another amazing year of progress in 2024/25, it's heartening to see the profound impact we've achieved together on the road to zero deaths from breast cancer.
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Every day, nine New Zealanders are told they have breast cancer. I know what this feels like. More than 30 years ago, my own mother heard this news in a time where breast cancer was taboo, survival rates were poor and treatments were not what they are now.
Together, we’re driving change to ensure New Zealanders can live and live well. This means empowering communities with education and awareness, funding innovative research, providing compassionate support and advocating for needed change to save lives.
Breast cancer is personal to me, as it is to many of us. Despite our progress the cost of breast cancer is still too high. Every person is a loved member of our community - mums, wives, sisters, partners, daughters and friends. And as we celebrate our shared success, we hold these people front of mind. A reminder of how far we’ve come and why we do the work we do.
We pay tribute to our dedicated Board, Medical Advisory Committee, and the countless volunteers who've contributed their time and energy. We are so grateful for your generosity.
Together, we can end deaths from breast cancer. Thank you for being an indispensable part of this journey. Your belief, and your support, makes a future free from breast cancer not just a vision, but a future reality.
Ah-Leen Rayner
CEO
Message from the CEO:
We’re driving change, together
2024/25 has been a year of meaningful progress, all thanks to our committed supporters. You've helped us reach thousands with essential education, fund a new clinical trial, launch a new nurse-led support service and secure key advocacy successes to improve diagnosis and care throughout Aotearoa.
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This year we've celebrated significant steps forward, including the launch of myHT Guide in Northland, the Lumina trial is progressing, and advocacy efforts have led to the extension of free mammograms to women up to age 74, starting in Nelson-Marlborough with a nationwide rollout ahead.
Looking forward there are challenges in New Zealand's health landscape. But there are also opportunities. Breast Cancer Foundation NZ plays an indispensable role and are well placed to take smart investments in research and innovative programmes that might otherwise be overlooked. It’s an exciting time and our job – powered by your support – is to ensure New Zealand is ready to leverage future advancements in cancer care when they come.
At the same time, we’re deeply interdependent, collaborating closely with clinicians, hospitals, and policymakers to integrate our efforts. This unique position allows the Foundation to bridge gaps, lift patient voices, and accelerate solutions to benefit New Zealanders with breast cancer.
Our commitment to early diagnosis, quick access to effective treatment, patient support, and research will build on this momentum for even greater impact.
Whether you’ve hosted a Pink Ribbon Breakfast, taken part in a Pink Ribbon Walk, volunteered for the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal or got involved in some other way, thank you deeply for your support.
Please enjoy reading difference you've made—it's a powerful reminder of what we accomplish when we work together.
How your donations have made an impact this year
Pink Campervan tours resulted in:
6,237
people spoken to
114
women encouraged to see GP about concerning symptoms
113
women referred to BreastScreen Aotearoa for free mammograms
97%
increase in visits to our ‘check your breasts’ page during the ‘Normal for Me’ campaign.
$1.8m
spent on research projects & Te Rēhita Mate Ūtaetae - Breast Cancer Foundation National Register
3,399
new people using our nurse specialist support services
10,022
calls to our Nurse Advice Line
2 big advocacy wins
Enhertu funded for advanced HER2+ breast cancer. Age extension pilot in Nelson-Marlborough, giving free mammograms to women 70-74.
What your support goes towards
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ receives no government funding so it’s only because of your incredible support that we’re able to fund such vital programmes to reach zero deaths from breast cancer.
Education & awareness
National health promotion campaigns, breast cancer nurse educators travelling the country with our pink campervans, community education programmes, online education and resources.
Research & innovation
Breast Cancer Foundation National Register, research grants, investment in new discoveries and bringing trials to NZ.
Operations & administration
Expert personnel, administrative functions and support (e.g. HR), offices, systems to keep your data safe, finance and reporting.
Fundraising
We’re maximising your impact – for every $1 invested, we raised $7.89.
Patient support & guidance
Patient support from specialist breast cancer nurses, counselling, physio, clinical education, formal training, workshops, conferences and webinars.
Ongoing capital projects
Critical upgrades to our patient and Register IT system, a new campervan, new patient support programme.
Advocacy
Government relations, campaigns and collective initiatives to drive change.
Please note, to give you a full and transparent view of how we use your donations, these diagrams include CAPEX, as well as investments in secure systems for managing patient information and ensuring privacy compliance. This means the numbers will be slightly different to our audited annual accounts.
The difference you’ve made in 2024/25
Every day in Aotearoa New Zealand, nine lives are forever changed by a breast cancer diagnosis: touching not just individuals, but their loved ones, communities, and their futures. Your support ensures no one faces this journey alone.
This year, more than 3,500 New Zealanders have navigated diagnosis and treatment, and sadly around 650 lives are still lost every year.
Yet, because of you, we're turning the tide. Your contributions have fuelled remarkable progress in four key areas, ensuring more New Zealanders are diagnosed earlier, treated quickly and effectively, and empowered to live and live well.
Education to promote the importance of early detection
Detecting breast cancer early gives you the best chances for survival. This is the life-saving message your support enables us to spread through our education and health promotion work.
Taking the message to all corners
With your generous support, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ’s Pink Campervans have travelled the length and breadth of the country, from events like Waitangi Day, Fieldays and Pasifika Festival to some of the most rural corners of New Zealand.
Along the way, our dedicated breast nurse educators have connected with 6,237 New Zealanders, offering guidance, reassurance, and expert advice.
Many people chatted about changes to the look and feel of their breasts, shared their family histories, or asked important questions about mammograms. This vital initiative is also supported by bp, Masfen Foundation and The Lion Foundation. This crucial support ensures more New Zealanders are encouraged to visit their GP or enrol for free mammograms.
Changing the conversation
In October 2024 we launched a new awareness campaign: ‘Normal for Me’.
Designed to spark nationwide conversation, the campaign encouraged wāhine to regularly look at and touch their breasts, empowering them to recognise what’s normal for their bodies, spot changes early, and see a GP if something doesn’t feel right.
Because of you, ‘Normal for Me’ has reached millions across Aotearoa. You helped make breast self-checks a key part of everyday self-care, shifting attitudes and reminding people that early detection saves lives.
Thank you for helping us make breast awareness a priority.
Building relationships with key communities
In Tairāwhiti, community health workers known as kaiawhina and kaiatawhai play a vital role in linking whānau with local health services. They are trusted voices, the people their communities turn to for guidance and care.
Recognising their influence, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ’s nurse team partnered with local health providers to bring kaiawhina and kaiatawhai together for a dedicated breast health study day. Head of Nursing and Community Outreach, Natalie James says the team shared practical knowledge, demonstrated self-check techniques using educational breast models, and provided toolkits to help participants deliver these messages within their own communities.
This collaboration has laid the foundation for future engagement, with plans to replicate the initiative in other regions. Together, we’re building stronger, more connected communities where everyone has the knowledge and confidence to look after their breast health.
Bringing health “warrants of fitness” to Waiheke women
Angela’s story: "Knowing my normal saved my life"
Eileen’s story: “Nurse support helped me make decisions about my treatment”
Research and innovation projects to make advances in early diagnosis and optimal treatment
Your donations are helping to pioneer groundbreaking developments in the knowledge, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in Aotearoa.
Bringing experts together
Thanks to your support, we're helping shape the future of care for people living with advanced breast cancer.
This year, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ brought together a panel of expert clinicians and patient advocates to review and vote on New Zealand guidelines for advanced breast cancer.
Led by international advanced breast cancer guidelines and shaped by robust discussion, the result was the third edition of New Zealand’s advanced breast cancer guidelines: a critical resource that helps those living with metastatic breast cancer receive the care, support, and dignity they deserve.
The power of data
Te Rēhita Mate Ūtaetae - Breast Cancer Foundation National Register is a rich database of health information from more than 55,000 people who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer in NZ since 2000. By collecting comprehensive data on all aspects of breast cancer diagnoses, treatment and outcomes, Te Rēhita provides doctors and scientists the information they need to ensure better, faster and fairer outcomes for New Zealanders with breast cancer.
Te Rēhita has been instrumental in the development of Te Aho o Te Kahu – The Cancer Control Agency’s breast cancer quality performance indicators (QPIs), published in July 2025, which tracks the performance of the health system against 10 aspects of breast cancer treatment.
By providing the data and analysis, we’re helping to drive improvements for breast cancer care.
Update from Ferrier Research Institute
With your help, we’re driving a future where innovative technology, like vaccines, could provide a permanent cure for some breast cancers.
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ contributed funding towards world-leading breast cancer research with The Ferrier Institute in Wellington. This funding helped kickstart a project to develop a vaccine to prevent recurrence of triple negative breast cancer.
The research project reached a critical pre-clinical milestone this year with several vaccine samples sent to Olivia Newton-John Institute in Melbourne for testing. This was a crucial moment in the project and tests the immune response in breast cancer cells of the different vaccine options.
We're happy to have contributed to getting this project started.
Listening to New Zealanders: mapping the breast cancer journey
Together, we’re finding a gold standard for diagnosing lobular breast cancer
Clinical trials: bringing breast cancer breakthroughs closer to home
Support for patients going through treatment and beyond
Thanks to your kindness, New Zealanders with breast cancer can receive expert advice and free practical services from our team of breast cancer nurse specialists.
Specialist and personalised advice
Through our Nurse Advice Line, thousands of women received trusted information, reassurance, and support; from the moment they noticed a worrying change, to navigating life during treatment and beyond. Thanks to you, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ’s nurse specialists are there when New Zealanders need them most, offering care in the way that works best for each person, so no one has to face breast cancer alone.
Peer support
Our myBC Facebook group has grown to a vibrant patient community of more than 1,000 members who can connect with each other to learn from their shared breast cancer experiences.
Our nurses support the community and are there to answer any questions or concerns as people go through their treatment.
Expert information
Because of you, trusted information is reaching thousands of New Zealanders when they need it most.
Over the past year, more than 10,000 people watched our expert-led patient webinars—an incredible milestone made possible by your support.
Covering everything from radiation therapy to regaining energy after treatment, these webinars offer reliable, up-to-date information for every stage of the breast cancer journey.
Best of all, they're accessible anytime, anywhere, providing comfort, clarity, and connection to people across Aotearoa.
Exciting news, myHT Guide is live!
Pamela’s story: "Nurse support boosted my sense of 'I’ve got this!'”
Breast nurse study day – learn, network, develop
Advocacy to improve access to screening and treatment
Together, we have a powerful voice in advocating for changes so New Zealanders with breast cancer can have better access to timely diagnosis and treatment. Thank you for contributing to change.
New Zealanders gained access to vital medicines
In the past year, New Zealanders with advanced breast cancer were able to access two new funded treatments. On 1 October 2024, people with advanced triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) gained access to Keytruda (pembrolizumab).
Then on 1 January, Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) became publicly funded for New Zealanders with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer. This funding expands options, bridging the gap with countries like Australia and the UK, and most vitally, it gifts precious time for people with advanced breast cancer to live fully: work, travel and cherish moments with loved ones.
Improved access to treatment in Christchurch
No one facing breast cancer should be denied timely access to treatment due to equipment shortages.
So, when surgeons in Christchurch alerted us to delays faced by women accessing radiation therapy after surgery, we stepped in to support a business case to improve staffing and access to equipment needed to deliver treatment.
Thanks to advocacy, supported by amazing people like you, we can help ensure people get the treatment they need, when they need it, so they can live and live well.
Your support gives breast cancer patients a stronger voice and a better future
A united voice can drive real change. This year, from 1 July 2025, Pharmac amended its pharmaceutical schedule rules to allow access to newly funded cancer medicines in private hospitals and clinics. A step forward for patient choice and continuity of care.
Together with Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition and Breast Cancer Cure, we submitted feedback on the proposed amendment, advocating for access to be backdated to include new medicines funded in the past year. While Pharmac did not adopt this change, they did take on board our recommendation to allow private hospitals to source the medicines directly, reducing admin barriers and helping patients receive treatment more efficiently.
This decision improves patient experience and eases pressure on the public health system.
Thanks to you, we’re able to be at the table. Speaking up, pushing for better outcomes, and working towards a future where all New Zealanders with breast cancer receive the care they need.
Christine’s story: “I was rapt they finally funded Keytruda for other women like me”
Catherine’s story: “The stigma of being financially ruined is catastrophic”
Rita’s story: "An extra mammogram saved my life"
105,896
hosted or attended a Pink Ribbon Breakfast
18,836
hours volunteered in the Pink Ribbon Street Appeal + NZ House & Garden Tours
Celebrating more than 20 years of partnership with: Estée Lauder Companies, Farmers Trading Company Ltd and ghd hair
And more than 10 years with: Harrisons, Pink Lady Apples, Robert Harris, Sealy NZ, NZ House & Garden Tours/Stuff
None of this is possible without you
All of this life-saving work is made possible by the wonderful support we are given from people like you throughout New Zealand.
We receive no government funding, so the thousands of people who back us every year are a vital part of the Breast Cancer Foundation NZ community who share our vision of zero deaths from breast cancer.
The ways you show your amazing support are varied and diverse. Whether it’s through events and appeals like Pink Ribbon Breakfast, Pink Ribbon Street Appeal, Pink Ribbon Walk, leaving a gift in your will, making a monthly gift, or through your business, your generosity continues to blow us away.
Every phone call to our Nurse Advice Line, every person supported with myHT Guide, every investment in innovation and equity begins with people like you. We couldn’t do it without your belief in a better future.
We are deeply proud to be working towards zero deaths from breast cancer. But we don’t walk this path alone. You are our partner in every step.
Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for making lasting change possible.
Xero deaths from breast cancer
Sophie's story: turning heartache into hope through community fundraising
Deb’s story: raising funds, awareness and confidence, one Towelie at a time.
Supporter recognition
We’d like to give a special thank you to some of our key supporters who are the lifeblood of everything we do: our corporate partners who we have such a strong relationships with, our major foundation, trusts and grant supporters who fund our life-saving programmes, individuals who have made a significant gift towards achieving our shared goal of zero deaths from breast cancer, and the generous people who passed away this year and made a long-lasting act of kindness by leaving us a gift in their Will.
We also want to thank our supporters who chose not to be named.
Major Partners
Major foundation, trust, and grant supporters
Gifts received through Wills in 2024/25
We extend our deepest gratitude to the generous individuals and their families who have remembered Breast Cancer Foundation NZ in their Wills this past year. Through these thoughtful gifts, their enduring legacies continue to support our mission, helping New Zealanders live and live well.
A special thank you to all members of the Athlae Lyon Pink Ribbon Bequest Society for their dedication in supporting people impacted by breast cancer by leaving a gift to Breast Cancer Foundation NZ in their Will.
“Show Us Your Tits celebrates bodies in all their forms, scars and all. Almost all of us know someone who’s been affected by breast cancer and my hope is when people are out using their Towelie at the beach it will spark conversations with others and raise awareness.”
Deb, founder of STOKEDNZ
“At the end of the day, we’re all someone’s parent, child, sibling, friend, or colleague. That’s what this is about: months of planning to create an event that everyone can be part of. One that encourages talking about boobs because those conversations save lives.”
Sophie, organiser of the Tits & Tees Tournament
“Cancer is now behind me, and I am grateful for every day…It’s so special that my workplace, Xero, has jumped on board to support Breast Cancer Foundation NZ and all the amazing work they do to support women like me.”
Bridget, Country Manager of Xero
Governance
Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is governed by a Board of Trustees who are responsible for all aspects of the Foundation's strategy, operations and financial stewardship. In addition, the Foundation is guided by a Medical Advisory Committee of medical practitioners who give direction on a variety of programmes.
Members of both of these professional bodies are leaders in their respective fields who volunteer their time and expertise in the pursuit of our shared goal of zero deaths from breast cancer.
2024/25 Board of Trustees:
Justine Smyth CNZM, Chair
Sonia Breeze, Vice Chair
Gordon MacLeod, Vice Chair
Reena Ramsaroop, Medical Advisory Committee Chair
Patricia Wright
Anna Buchly
Shalene Gray
Prue Kapua
Mary Los'e
Eugénie Masfen-Yan
Andrew Taylor
2024/25 Medical Advisory Committee:
Dr Reena Ramsaroop, Chairperson
Dr Reuben Broom
Dr Peter Chin
Dr Claire Hardie
Dr Maryann Heather
Dr Marion Kuper-Hommel
Dr Maria Pearse
Dr Monica Saini
Dr Paul Samson
Dr Eletha Taylor
We also want to acknowledge Bell Gully for their ongoing support of the Foundation.
Financial statements
As a charity that doesn’t receive any government funding, we are immensely grateful for the donations we receive, and we make sure every dollar makes a difference for Kiwis affected by breast cancer.
Click here to view the 2024/25 Breast Cancer Foundation NZ financial report, from www.charities.govt.nz.
