Grief-stricken Nancy Brinker made a promise over thirty years ago that has blossomed into a global movement.

In 1980, Brinker lost her sister, Susan Komen, to breast cancer. In the last moments of her sister’s life, Brinker pledged that she would fight tirelessly against eradicating breast cancer for good. This sparked a drive for changing the way the world sees breast cancer. The movement that ensued in the decades to follow fundamentally changed fundraising and not-for-profit organizations around the world. And it all started with a promise.