How It's Done at Gilda's Club

Professional Staff + Volunteers + Passion + Headquarter Support

The organization that manages the Gilda’s Club brand and the development of all Gilda’s Clubs is called the Cancer Support Community. Each local clubhouse is called an affiliate. It’s a tremendous business model where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, in that each affiliate benefits from the working knowledge of the clubhouses and the Wellness Communities opened before them. The Cancer Support Community works very hard to ensure that all clubhouses benefit from best practices, and that resources and information are shared constantly. The relationship between the Cancer Support Community and its affiliates is close but flexible. Cancer Support Community is dedicated to maintaining the standards that scrupulously reflect the philosophy and program fundamentals and vigorously supports these standards. It believes the Gilda's Club movement is enlivened by input from the personal and collective wisdom of its affiliates.

• Money that is raised locally, stays locally
• Affiliate staff training is typically provided at the Cancer Support Community with the assistance established club locations
• Cancer Support Community hosts an annual Affiliates Conferences for networking and education

Every Gilda's Club employs top-notch professional and support staff for key positions. In addition to these staff, Gilda's Club relies on our care of volunteers to deliver many parts of our program. Most Gilda's Clubs have the following volunteer positions:

• New Member Meeting volunteers share their stories and impart information about the Gilda's Club program to prospective members
• Social Event volunteers help with potluck suppers, comedy nights and joke fests and serve as greeters and hosts to members attending for the first time 
• Clerical volunteers help with mailings, phone calls and general administrative tasks 
• Program volunteers conduct workshops or give lectures in their fields of specialty, such as meditation, tai chi, nutrition, financial planning, cooking and ceramics. Some professional volunteers donate their time during social events by providing comedy, music and dance. 
• Noogieland volunteers help out during Noogie Nights (there is a trained staff that handles all activities for the Noogieland children’s program and all Noogieland volunteers are carefully screened and trained)
• Development volunteers assist in grant writing, special events, clerical, and administrative tasks