American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is the non-profit, non-partisan sister advocacy organization of the American Cancer Society. ACS CAN is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major public health problem through voter education and issue campaigns aimed at influencing candidates and lawmakers to support laws and policies that will help people fight cancer.
ACS CAN enables the Society to use a new set of advocacy tools and tactics, because of the way it is classified as an organization. The American Cancer Society is a 501(c)(3) (or “c3”) organization, and therefore is subject to restrictions on its advocacy activities. ACS CAN is a 501(c)(4) (or “c4”) organization, meaning it is free from many of those restrictions and can engage in more direct advocacy. Because your contribution to ACS CAN is not tax-deductible, the IRS is less restrictive on the organization when engaging in electoral and legislative activity. With ACS CAN, the Society is allowed to hold legislators accountable for their votes on issues related to cancer.
Among other activities, ACS CAN will:
- Engage in more active lobbying and public policy efforts on cancer issues for our constituents.
- Educate the public and media more directly.
- Hold our lawmakers accountable for their votes on cancer issues.
- Create and distribute voter guides on specific health-related issues to volunteers and donors.
- Host debates, town forums, and other events where candidate views on issues are tested and discussed.
Because lawmakers on a federal, sate, and local level determine the face of cancer research, prevention, and control, the American Cancer Society has made advocacy a National priority leading to:
- Reduced deaths and illnesses by helping to pass smoke-free indoor air laws to protect employees and the public from secondhand tobacco smoke
- Increased federal and state funding to allow low-income women access to breast and cervical cancer screenings
- Assured coverage of colon cancer screenings by state-regulated health insurance plans
- Ensured that all people covered under Medicare receive access to clinical trials
- Restricted youth access to tobacco and created state-funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs
- Doubled the funding for the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute to increase cancer research
- Created the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network to increase advocacy efforts on behalf of people touched by cancer
- Supported funding for state cancer registries