Scaling Back
After 19 years building a foundation in my son’s memory, it’s time for me to scale back my involvement a bit. But, make no mistake – The B+ Foundation is here to stay.
Following Andrew’s tragic passing on July 14, 2007, and with Chris and Ali’s blessing, I left my career at JPMorgan Chase and we started The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation (www.BePositive.org). From very humble roots with family and friends, a small foundation has developed into a large, international charity, thanks to an amazing B+ team and you – our B+ Nation. From selling hot dogs and wrapping presents to fundraise 19 years ago to raising over $13 million this year, The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation is now the nation’s largest provider of financial assistance to families of kids with cancer. Andrew, I hope I’ve made you proud.
From Day 1, it has been our goal that The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation will long survive all of us…until there is no more childhood cancer. That goal will never change.
What will also never change is that I will be working on Andrew’s Foundation, in some capacity, until the day that I die. But, not necessarily at the seven-days-a-week pace that I have put in over the past 19 years. With that said, I will be turning 65 this month and, beginning on my birthday, I will scale back my B+ workload a bit. While I will still be very involved in some aspects of the Foundation, I know the day-to-day work of Andrew’s Foundation will be in good hands.
I wouldn’t be able to scale back, if I didn’t have such a great team with a great leader in B+’s Executive Director, Carly Bergstein. I’ve known Carly for 18 years and she has been my right-hand person at B+ for the past 14 years. Carly has truly been my business partner in building the Foundation and I have nothing but extreme confidence in handing over the day-to-day operations to her. Please join me in congratulating Carly (carly@bepositive.org) and wishing her well!
Please remember, The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation will be here for families of kids with cancer until a cure for childhood cancer is found. We are here to stay, so please continue to support our efforts.
Now, I get to spend a little more time with my grandkids – just as Andrew would want.
Ali & Andrew’s Dad
