ESPN and the late Jim Valvano created The V Foundation in 1993. Valvano, the legendary NC State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster, won the hearts of sports fans across the country when his underdog NC State Wolfpack captured the NCAA Basketball Championship in an upset win in 1983.
Ten years later, he inspired millions more with his memorable speech at the inaugural ESPY Awards. A gravely ill Valvano entertained, amused and captured the imagination of a worldwide audience. He announced the creation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research and proclaimed “Don’t Give Up. . .Don’t Ever Give Up!”® as the motto in the fight against the disease that ultimately claimed him at the age of 47 after a brief and very public 10-month battle.
Since then, the Foundation that was conceived by a small group of Jim’s friends and colleagues has grown to include donors and volunteers nationwide. Since 1993, The V Foundation has raised approximately $40 million and awarded more than 200 research grants.
Perhaps most impressive of all is that today The V Foundation still operates with a small staff, a nationwide volunteer network and an all-volunteer Board of Directors and Scientific Review Committee, assuring that over the past five years an average of 83 cents of every dollar raised has been available to fund cancer research.
Today Jim Valvano’s friends and colleagues are joined by new friends and additional volunteers who contribute time, efforts and donations, both large and small, in the hope that Jim’s final dream will become a reality, that victims will become survivors, and that the disease that claims so many of our loved ones, will devastate no more.
Where Does the Money Go?
The V Foundation seeks out promising young scientists from the finest research facilities across the country who need early developmental, critical-stage grant support. These V Scholars are the backbone of our research team. Additionally, the V Foundation-AACR Grants in Translational Cancer Research Program advances research further, preparing to take it from the laboratories, and bridge into clinics and the hands of doctors treating patients. Finally, the Designated Grant Program aims specific monies toward specialized cancer interests, or perhaps to a precise geographical area, often the same as where the funding was generated.
What does the future bring?
Research to improve quality of life, extend remission, and bring undiminished hope to the lives of cancer survivors. We must continue to fund essential research that will ultimately identify the causes and develop the cures to eliminate this disease.
My dad is the treasurer for my family's church, and it is NOT cheap to run a church, of any size, even on a shoestring. Our pastors are very gracious about the money we pay them, but we know it's not a whole lot. Plus we spend a lot of money on community outreach--we work closely with the domestic violence shelter, which is right next door the the church, and we co-sponsor a health clinic (with another nearby church) for uninsured and underinsured people. 
