Dense Breasts Canada

What Dense Breasts Canada does

Dense Breasts Canada (DBC) is a Canadian volunteer-run non-profit founded in 2016 by breast cancer survivor Jennie Dale, dedicated to education and policy advocacy on breast density and breast cancer screening. The organization serves primarily women with dense breasts (approximately 3 million Canadian women over age 40), the general public seeking breast screening information, and healthcare providers. Its core offerings are free digital resources: a bilingual main website (densebreastscanada.ca) with province-specific pages for all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, a secondary site (mybreastscreening.ca), downloadable advocacy toolkits, a comprehensive breast cancer screening guide, provincial comparison reports, and a supplemental screening access report.

DBC has driven approximately 20 policy changes since inception, including universal breast density notification across Canada and lowering the screening age from 50 to 40 in eight provinces/territories, with further reductions scheduled in Manitoba and Alberta. It also played a leading role in the 2026 replacement of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care with the National Advisory Committee on Preventive Health Services. The organization's go-to-market is community-led and advocacy-driven, using social media, media interviews, grassroots mobilization, downloadable advocacy tools, and a national network of volunteer advocates.

DBC's revenue model is donations only from individual Canadians, with no corporate funding, no salaries, and no product pricing. Operations are funded entirely through voluntary donations collected via a Raisely-integrated donation page. The organization holds no patents, has no parent company or subsidiaries, and is operationally independent with a small volunteer leadership team including a Founder/Executive Director, a Medical Advisor (Dr. Paula Gordon, Officer of the Order of Canada), provincial directors, and an honorary patron.

Name

Dense Breasts Canada

Legal name

Dense Breasts Canada

Website

https://densebreastscanada.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Dense Breasts Canada is a volunteer-run Canadian non-profit founded in 2016 that educates women about breast density and advocates for improved breast cancer screening policies across all Canadian provinces and territories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: DBC's efforts to raise awareness are funded solely by donations from kind and generous Canadians. The organization does not receive any funding from corporate entities. There are no salaries as the organization is volunteer-run.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Dense Breasts Canada is a volunteer-run non-profit that provides free education and advocacy resources on breast density and breast cancer screening across Canada. It publishes province-specific screening guides for all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, downloadable advocacy toolkits, comprehensive screening guides, and reports comparing screening practices. It also conducts grassroots policy advocacy that has contributed to breast density notification nationwide and a lower recommended screening age in most jurisdictions.

Product overview

Dense Breasts Canada operates primarily as a digital education and advocacy organization offering a website platform with multiple informational resources. The core offering includes their main website containing educational content about breast density and breast cancer screening across all Canadian provinces and territories. Supporting resources include the Breast Cancer Screening Advocacy Toolkit, a comprehensive e-book guide, provincial comparison reports, and supplemental screening research reports. The organization also maintains a secondary website (mybreastscreening.ca) and conducts advocacy initiatives to reform Canadian preventive health guidelines. The organization is volunteer-run, founded in 2016, and does not have a commercial product or software platform with integrations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• mybreastscreening.ca: A secondary website operated by Dense Breasts Canada for breast screening information

Products and services

• Dense Breasts Canada Website (densebreastscanada.ca) The organization's primary digital platform providing free education about breast density, breast cancer screening policies across all Canadian provinces and territories, advocacy resources, and evidence-based information to help Canadian women make informed decisions about their breast health.
• Breast Cancer Screening Advocacy Toolkit A downloadable PDF guide providing tools and resources for women to advocate for optimal breast cancer screening with healthcare providers and policymakers.
• Comprehensive Guide to Breast Cancer Screening A comprehensive e-book providing detailed information about breast cancer screening practices, breast density education, and screening recommendations for women.
• Breast Screening Practices — Provincial Comparison Report A report comparing breast cancer screening practices across Canadian provinces and territories, evaluating 7 key screening practices to help women understand regional differences in access.
• Awareness and Access to Supplemental Screening Report A research report examining awareness of and access to supplemental screening among women with dense breasts in Canada.
• mybreastscreening.ca A secondary website complementing the main Dense Breasts Canada site with focused information on breast screening for Canadian women.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30,000 women diagnosed in Canada with breast cancer every year and 5,500 deaths — DBC advocates for earlier detection to improve outcomes
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Canadian Society of Breast Imaging - Patient Engagement Working GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale is a member of the Patient Engagement Working Group for the Canadian Society of Breast Imaging, collaborating on guideline development and patient advocacy.
• Coalition for Responsible Health Care GuidelinescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale is a member of the Coalition for Responsible Health Care Guidelines, working with experts across multiple specialties to advocate for improved guideline development processes.
• Sunnybrook Hospital ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale serves as a patient partner advisor on research being performed at Sunnybrook Hospital.
• Lakehead University ResearchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale serves as a patient partner advisor on research being performed at Lakehead University.
• areyoudense.orgcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale was inspired by the successful advocacy efforts of areyoudense.org, an American organization advocating for breast density notification.
• densebreast-info.orgcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale was inspired by densebreast-info.org and Dr. Paula Gordon volunteers as a medical advisor to this American educational website.
• Canadian Breast Cancer ExpertscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJennie Dale collaborates with Canada's leading breast screening experts in advocating on a federal level, meeting with Ministers, MPs, and government officials.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• DenseBreast-Info.org: US-based educational website on breast density that DBC explicitly cites as a model and whose medical advisor (Dr. Paula Gordon) DBC shares. Directly comparable in mission: evidence-based breast density education for patients and providers.
• Know Your Lemons Foundation: Global breast cancer education non-profit focused on visual and accessible education about breast health and screening. Comparable to DBC in patient-education focus and grassroots awareness campaigns via digital content.
• Canadian Breast Cancer Network: Canadian national breast-cancer patient-advocacy organization representing people with breast cancer and those at risk. Directly comparable to DBC as a Canadian breast-health advocacy non-profit serving patients and policymakers.
• National Breast Cancer Coalition: US-based grassroots breast cancer advocacy organization known for its policy advocacy and training of advocates. Highly comparable to DBC in mission (policy-driven breast cancer advocacy) and grassroots community-led GTM motion.
• Breast Cancer Canada: Canadian charity (formerly the Breast Cancer Society of Canada) focused on breast cancer research, education, and advocacy. Comparable to DBC in mission area, donor-base profile (Canadian individual donors), and advocacy orientation around breast cancer.
• Are You Dense? Inc. US-based breast density advocacy organization credited by DBC as a direct inspiration for its founding. Operates in the same niche cause category - educating women about breast density and pushing for density notification - making it the closest direct peer to DBC.

Broad incumbents

• Canadian Cancer Society: Canada's largest national cancer charity covering all cancer types, including breast. Comparable to DBC in Canadian geography, cause-advocacy orientation, and donor-base profile, but with a broader cancer-wide scope rather than breast-density specialization.
• Susan G. Komen: The largest US-based breast cancer advocacy and research organization. Comparable to DBC in overall cause area and advocacy orientation, but operates at much broader scale across breast cancer generally rather than the breast-density niche that DBC owns in Canada.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/DrPaulaGordon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dense Breasts Canada