In the summer of 2005 Sharon Anderson, LMS Advocate, Arthur Beckert, The Sarcoma Alliance, Jody Cummings, The Sarcoma Foundation of America and Gilles Frydman, ACOR met to talk how sarcoma advocacy organizations could become more effective.  From this meeting the first ever summit of advocacy organizations was held in conjunction with the Connective Tissue Oncology Society annual conference in Boca Raton Florida, November 2005.  Twenty-seven individuals representing 14 organizations agreed to collaborate in issues affecting all sarcoma patients. The International Sarcoma Patients Advocacy Network (iSPAN) was founded to increase effectiveness and coordination of activities to improve care for all sarcoma survivors. This directory was a result of this meeting.