ESPN has announced a $1 million donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research in Cary, North Carolina.

The gift is earmarked for the foundation's endowment fund, which helps cover operating costs so that 100 percent of cash donations can be used to fund cancer research directly. The announcement was made as ESPN kicked off its sixth annual Jimmy V Week for Cancer Research — a multiplatform initiative to raise awareness of and drive donations to the foundation, which was created by ESPN and the late North Carolina State University basketball coach Jimmy Valvano in 1993.

"It's fitting for ESPN to make this commitment as we begin Jimmy V Week," said ESPN executive chair George Bodenheimer, "when our employees and sports fans are passionate in joining together to make a difference to beat this disease."