How we raise money

WCRF UK raises money for its cancer research and education programmes in a variety of ways. It is the ongoing generosity of our supporters that enables us to keep funding cutting-edge science into cancer prevention and run key education programmes that can help individuals to significantly reduce cancer risk by making simple lifestyle choices. Also, because over 90 per cent of our funding comes from members of the public, you can be sure that the advice we give is completely independent of industry or government.

WCRF UK is registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales (Registered Charity No. 1000739) and is also a member of the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), which means that we are committed to ensuring that fundraising practices are open, fair, honest and legal. WCRF UK also adheres to Institute of Fundraising Codes of Practice.

• Donations
• Gifts in wills
• Gift Aid
• Memorial gifts
• Trusts, foundations & statutory funding
• Companies
• Recycling
• Events
• Campaigns
• Thank you to our supporters!

Donations

There are a number of ways people can financially support WCRF UK’s work: regular giving is a fantastic way for people to show their support from as little as £3 or £5 a month. Income from regular donations really helps us to plan our funding more effectively. We are very grateful to have the support of more than 18,000 people who give regular donations. Between them they raise over £1 million pounds a year towards WCRF UK’s vital work.

Alternatively, many of our supporters choose to make a one-off gift towards our work, either by responding to one of our mailing appeals, calling our Supporter Services team on FREEPHONE 0800 970 1461 or making a secure donation via our website.

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Gifts in wills

Leaving a gift in your will to WCRF UK, no matter what size, will help us to prevent even more cases of cancer. We raise almost £1million a year from those kind and generous people who include a gift to us in their will. We know that writing or updating your will can be a complex process, which is why WCRF UK provides will-writing materials to help you plan for the future of your family and favourite causes.

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Gift Aid

Thanks to the government’s Gift Aid initiative, WCRF UK claims back about £750,000 in tax paid on applicable donations each year. This means that we are able to raise a significant amount of money without it costing our supporters a penny more. It’s still a very confusing matter for many people, as they don’t always know if we can claim Gift Aid on their donations or if it will cost them anything. WCRF UK is on hand to answer questions on this and any other tax-efficient giving programmes.

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Memorial gifts

Making a memorial donation in honour of a lost loved one or setting up a Forever Fund tribute can help keep people’s memories alive whilst contributing to WCRF UK’s essential cancer prevention programmes. WCRF UK raises almost £100,000 a year from memorial gifts.

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Trusts, foundations and statutory funding

WCRF UK applies to charitable trusts and foundations and receives grants to support our cancer research and education programmes.  WCRF UK generally does not receive government funding for its work but has, in recent years, received two Department of Health grants towards specific projects; developing our children’s healthy living Great Grub Club website and publishing our Informed newsletter for health professionals.

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Companies & Payroll Giving

WCRF UK works with a number of corporate partners. Companies can get involved with WCRF UK’s cancer prevention work while meeting their corporate social responsibilities (as well as increasing staff morale) and improving their workplace health schemes: Charity of the Year partnerships, employee fundraising, sponsorship opportunities, Cause Related Marketing (CRM), gifts in kind and Payroll Giving.

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Recycling

Every year millions of used mobile phones are thrown away and left hidden in homes; fewer than 10% are recycled. In the UK alone, an estimated 15 million mobile phone handsets are discarded every year, this equates to 1,500 tonnes of potential landfill every year. Recycling your mobile phones can raise funds for WCRF UK’s cancer research and education programmes of cancer prevention, as well as helping to reduce the damage waste does to our environment (old handsets and phone parts are reconditioned for use in developing countries). To request your mobile phone FREEPOST recycling envelopes, please email recycling@wcrf.org or call our Supporter Services team on Freephone 0800 970 1461.

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Events & Campaigns

Hundreds of have-a-go individuals take part in running and challenge events such as the London Marathon, Great North Run and the Three Peaks Challenge, as well as lots of other events on behalf of WCRF UK each year. We take our hats off to these people, who all go the extra mile and beyond in pushing themselves through gruelling training programmes in addition to their tireless fundraising activities to meet or exceed their fundraising targets. We try to be at as many of these events as we can, screaming loudly in support of our runners as they whizz past our supporter points. Lots of people organise their own fundraising events to raise money for WCRF UK’s cancer prevention programmes; from sponsored swims to car boot sales, with a whole spectrum of ideas in between. We are very grateful for everyone’s support!

Fruity Friday is WCRF UK’s national fundraising and awareness campaign that is held every May. Schools, companies, community groups, health professionals and individuals can all get involved in this fun and interactive campaign. Around this time WCRF UK also hosts its own Beat the Banana! event in London, where super-fit sprinters and fun runners take on the challenge of chasing a banana-clad runner around Hyde Park to see if they can beat them to the finish line. It’s great fun and very entertaining when innocent park users see a giant banana racing past them! Many groups organise their own Beat the Banana! events by following our really simple fundraising model – we supply everything people need to get started, even a banana costume!

Over £200,000 in income is raised through our events and campaigns every year, with the additional PR exposure of our events participants featuring in local and national newspapers being of enormous value to us in terms of us getting across our cancer prevention message.

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Our many thanks go out to all of our wonderful past and future supporters, it is down to you that we are able to keep achieving great successes in the field of cancer prevention research and continue to expand our education programmes to help people reduce their risk of developing cancer.

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