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5 breast cancer organizations to check out before you buy anything with a pink ribbon on it.

Every two minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States.

It is the second-most common-cancer worldwide, and there are over 2.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States alone.

Photo by Rana Sajid Hussain/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images.

With numbers like that, it makes sense that when we are shopping for groceries, we would buy the box of cereal with a pink ribbon on it rather than the one without. Part of our purchase goes to finding a cure for breast cancer, right? Or to supporting survivors and their families? Or to educating about breast cancer prevention and recovery?

Not always. For many companies, stamping a package with a pink ribbon just means that they're “raising awareness" — and that pink ribbon is rarely accompanied by any facts or figures to actually educate the public.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images.

While organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Avon Foundation are painting the country pink this Halloween season, some people are pushing them to do better and are raising public awareness of a different problem. On Oct. 7, the Better Business Bureau of Greater Houston and South Texas issued a notice to consumers to “be on alert for 'pinkwashing' and breast cancer charity scams."

Pinkwashing is what happens when your grocery store aisles and football jerseys suddenly turn pink for a month in the name of “supporting breast cancer awareness."

Technically speaking, yes, people are more “aware" of breast cancer as a result.

Those pink ribbons are pretty conspicuous. They also aren't trademarked (although the Komen Foundation has trademarked their own version of the pink ribbon), so pretty much any company can put a ribbon on a package and call it a day without actually having to give any money or do anything about breast cancer.

It sometimes feels like awareness organizations care more about the body parts and less about the actual people living with cancer.

Those awareness campaigns rarely include any information other than the obvious: Breast cancer exists, and it's scary. And while some campaigns are just empty promises of awareness, others are also fairly short-sighted.

With campaigns like “Save the Tatas" and “I Love Boobies" implying that the breasts are more important than the people attached to them, it sometimes feels like awareness organizations care more about the body parts and less about the actual people living with cancer.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

Finding a cure, building survivor support networks, and raising awareness about early detection are all admirable goals.

Donating directly to an organization helps ensure that more of your donation goes toward breast-cancer-related research and support programs. But not all organizations use their funds the same way. A portion of donations always go toward company overhead — and that's OK. Nonprofits need to pay their staff members and pay the rent on their buildings.

But figuring out where to direct your donations dollars and support to make sure they're actually being used wisely is sometimes a lot harder than it should be.

Here's a list of five organizations other than Komen or Avon that you might want to support this Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

1. Breast Cancer Research Foundation

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation believes that to achieve a world without breast cancer, we need to fund research to understand how cancer works, how to prevent it, and how to cure it. Of all money donated, 88% goes directly toward research, and only 3% goes toward awareness programming. They're still pinking out this October, but you can rest easier knowing that your dollars are funding scientists across the globe. And this month, a donor is matching all gifts to the BCRF — up to $50,000 total.

2. Sisters Network Inc.

Sisters Network Inc. is dedicated to educating about the impact that breast cancer has on black communities. Black women experience the highest breast cancer mortality rates, and breast cancer is the second-highest cause of death among black women — behind only lung cancer. Sisters Network Inc. provides financial assistance for medical-related lodging, prosthesis, copays, and office visits. They also lead educational initiatives targeted toward young women.

3. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

The Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute provides medical services for breast cancer patients, including treatment therapies, reconstructive surgeries, diagnostics, and customized treatment plans. Although their breast-cancer-related services are housed in their Center for Women's Cancers, they have a program dedicated to supporting and treating men with breast cancer.

4. Breast Cancer Fund

The Breast Cancer Fund is working to connect the dots between breast cancer and environmental factors that cause breast cancer. They educate about chemicals in food, packaging, and cosmetics that may be linked to breast cancer. You won't find a splash of pink on their website because BCF believes that we are all plenty aware of breast cancer and it's time to work on taking action.

5. Living Beyond Breast Cancer

Living Beyond Breast Cancer builds connections between people who have been affected by breast cancer. It's based in Pennsylvania, but they work nationwide. And Healthline listed their blog as one of the best breast cancer blogs of 2014. Their online resources include webinars, help chat lines, writing workshops, and live-stream panels, so anyone can access support services — regardless of where they live.

Breast cancer survivors deserve more than pretty pink ribbons — they deserve real hope, strong support systems, and accessible medical care.

So while we're painting our towns pink this Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let's make sure that we're also supporting organizations that are spreading real knowledge and working directly with those affected.

If none of these organizations struck your fancy, visit Charity Navigator to find your own.

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Military spouses often choose their spouse's career over their own. This organization is changing that.

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When Sue Hoppin was in college, she met the man she was going to marry. "I was attending the University of Denver, and he was at the Air Force Academy," she says. "My dad had also attended the University of Denver and warned me not to date those flyboys from the Springs."

"He didn't say anything about marrying one of them," she says. And so began her life as a military spouse.

The life brings some real advantages, like opportunities to live abroad — her family got to live all around the US, Japan, and Germany — but it also comes with some downsides, like having to put your spouse's career over your own goals.

"Though we choose to marry someone in the military, we had career goals before we got married, and those didn't just disappear."

Career aspirations become more difficult to achieve, and progress comes with lots of starts and stops. After experiencing these unique challenges firsthand, Sue founded an organization to help other military spouses in similar situations.

Sue had gotten a degree in international relations because she wanted to pursue a career in diplomacy, but for fourteen years she wasn't able to make any headway — not until they moved back to the DC area. "Eighteen months later, many rejections later, it became apparent that this was going to be more challenging than I could ever imagine," she says.

Eighteen months is halfway through a typical assignment, and by then, most spouses are looking for their next assignment. "If I couldn't find a job in my own 'hometown' with multiple degrees and a great network, this didn't bode well for other military spouses," she says.

She's not wrong. Military spouses spend most of their lives moving with their partners, which means they're often far from family and other support networks. When they do find a job, they often make less than their civilian counterparts — and they're more likely to experience underemployment or unemployment. In fact, on some deployments, spouses are not even allowed to work.

Before the pandemic, military spouse unemployment was 22%. Since the pandemic, it's expected to rise to 35%.

Sue eventually found a job working at a military-focused nonprofit, and it helped her get the experience she needed to create her own dedicated military spouse program. She wrote a book and started saving up enough money to start the National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), which she founded in 2010 as the first organization of its kind.

"I founded the NMSN to help professional military spouses develop flexible careers they could perform from any location."

"Over the years, the program has expanded to include a free digital magazine, professional development events, drafting annual White Papers and organizing national and local advocacy to address the issues of most concern to the professional military spouse community," she says.

Not only was NMSN's mission important to Sue on a personal level she also saw it as part of something bigger than herself.

"Gone are the days when families can thrive on one salary. Like everyone else, most military families rely on two salaries to make ends meet. If a military spouse wants or needs to work, they should be able to," she says.

"When less than one percent of our population serves in the military," she continues, "we need to be able to not only recruit the best and the brightest but also retain them."

"We lose out as a nation when service members leave the force because their spouse is unable to find employment. We see it as a national security issue."

"The NMSN team has worked tirelessly to jumpstart the discussion and keep the challenges affecting military spouses top of mind. We have elevated the conversation to Congress and the White House," she continues. "I'm so proud of the fact that corporations, the government, and the general public are increasingly interested in the issues affecting military spouses and recognizing the employment roadblocks they unfairly have faced."

"We have collectively made other people care, and in doing so, we elevated the issues of military spouse unemployment to a national and global level," she adds. "In the process, we've also empowered military spouses to advocate for themselves and our community so that military spouse employment issues can continue to remain at the forefront."

Not only has NMSN become a sought-after leader in the military spouse employment space, but Sue has also seen the career she dreamed of materializing for herself. She was recently invited to participate in the public re-launch of Joining Forces, a White House initiative supporting military and veteran families, with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

She has also had two of her recommendations for practical solutions introduced into legislation just this year. She was the first in the Air Force community to show leadership the power of social media to reach both their airmen and their military families.

That is why Sue is one of Tory Burch's "Empowered Women" this year. The $5,000 donation will be going to The Madeira School, a school that Sue herself attended when she was in high school because, she says, "the lessons I learned there as a student pretty much set the tone for my personal and professional life. It's so meaningful to know that the donation will go towards making a Madeira education more accessible to those who may not otherwise be able to afford it and providing them with a life-changing opportunity."

Most military children will move one to three times during high school so having a continuous four-year experience at one high school can be an important gift. After traveling for much of her formative years, Sue attended Madeira and found herself "in an environment that fostered confidence and empowerment. As young women, we were expected to have a voice and advocate not just for ourselves, but for those around us."

To learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy's Empowered Women program visit https://www.toryburch.com/empoweredwomen/. Nominate an inspiring woman in your community today!