New Day Foundation for Families today announced that the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has awarded the cancer support nonprofit a $75,000 capacity building grant to fund strategic planning designed to ensure the longterm stability of the organization. The announcement was made by Gina Kell Spehn, co-founder and president of New Day.

In 2022 New Day embarked upon a strategic plan which laid the groundwork for success. The first phase of New Day's plan was successful in raising the organization’s profile statewide and capturing transformational funding opportunities. Meanwhile, programming staff worked to simplify and scale its application processes, resulting in a 200% increase in the number of partner hospitals and a 300% increase in the number of families served since 2019.

This grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan will help fund the next phase of the strategic plan. The ultimate goal is to ensure that New Day has the tools and resources needed to continue to serve Michigan families longterm.

“We are grateful for the support of the Community Foundation in helping us manage our significant growth and ensure that New Day is here to serve families facing cancer in the future,” said Kell Spehn. “We provide essential cancer support services and this grant is an investment in the future of cancer care across Michigan.”

"Equitable access to health care is essential in order to ensure southeast Michigan is a place where everyone thrives," Community Foundation President and CEO Richard (Ric) DeVore says. "We're honored to partner with New Day Foundation to create a future where more people in our region survive cancer because they have the financial and emotional support to get the care they need."

In cancer, diagnostics and medical treatment are vital, but for thousands of patients, outcomes depend on having financial and emotional support. Research shows that nearly one in three families are unable to meet their own basic needs while a child is in treatment, and people are twice as likely to die of cancer if they have financial distress.

When financial toxicity destabilizes a family during cancer treatment, New Day provides practical resources to the most vulnerable Michigan cancer patients and families. Having housing, reliable transportation, homes with heat, electricity, and running water, and healthy food on the table is essential.  Additionally, families have someone they can trust when facing the fear and anxiety that comes with their diagnosis. Patients are referred through one of New Day’s 120 hospital partners across the state.

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development, and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $1.4 billion through more than 91,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.

New Day Foundation for Families is a cancer care leader that provides financial and emotional resources to Michigan families facing cancer to address the harmful effects of financial toxicity. Hospitals and cancer centers statewide rely on New Day to identify and support families suffering a significant loss of income due to a cancer diagnosis. New Day is a Charity Navigator 4-star nonprofit, Platinum Level Guidestar organization and top-rated nonprofit by Great Nonprofits.