Become a Small Meaningful Enterprise

We’re fighting to reverse rising cancer rates, and we need your help. We want to work with like-minded small businesses of all shapes and sectors who share our vision of living in a world where no one develops a preventable cancer.

As a small business owner, you have the power to make a change!

On this page:

> How your small business can support WCRF
> Why doing good is good for you
> What you can expect
> How to sign up as a Small Meaningful Enterprise
> Why Work For Good?

In 2019, there were 5.82 million small businesses – over 99% of all businesses in the UK.

If 1 in 20 of those companies donated just 1% of their income, it would raise over £1bn every year for the causes they care about most.

With your help our lifesaving cancer prevention and survivalinformation & projects can reach thousands of people in your community that might have been missed.

The latest research shows that 1 in 2 of us will now hear the words “you have cancer” in our lifetime. This is only due to get worse, as global annual cancer cases are predicted to rise 58% by 2040.

There has never been a more crucial time for you to use the power of your business to make a difference and be recognised as a WCRF Small Meaningful Enterprise.

> Sign up today

The simple way your small business can support WCRF

Running a business is challenging and time-consuming at the best of times, so we’ve worked hard to think of a partnership model that is simple, sustainable, and works for both parties:

We’re asking for you to pledge a percentage of your sales from goods or services.

How this pledge looks and what percentage (%) you choose to give is up to you, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • % of sales in a year
  • % of sales in a given month
  • % of sales on specific products or services
  • % of sales on a given day/days of the month

By linking the amount you give directly to your sales, it means your donations are sustainable and raised with minimal fuss (who’s got time to organise a fundraising event or bake a thousand cakes… unless you run an events company or bakery), so you can continue to focus on your main job of running your business.

> Sign up today

Why businesses doing good is good for business

Partnerships need to benefit both parties – research suggests partnering with charities like ours isn’t just the right thing to do for your business, but the smart thing.

As well as providing the warm feeling of doing your part to help people reduce their cancer risk, studies show businesses are more likely to succeed by having a clear purpose and supporting good causes:

  • Unilever found that their purpose-led, socially responsible brands grew 69% faster than their others1
  • On average, over the last 12 years, businesses that are seen to be making lives better and have a clear purpose grew three times faster in value (Milward Brown’s BrandZ 2017 index)
  • Consumers were 4 times more likely to purchase from a company they believe had a strong authentic purpose (Zeno Group’s global study on ‘Purpose’)
  • When faced with a choice between two companies offering the same goods/services at the same price, 82% said their decision would be affected by whether a company engaged with a charity (A study commissioned by Foresters)
  • Finally, a whopping 60% of consumers were willing to pay up to 17% more for socially responsible goods/services

Now that’s a lot to take in, but it simply means: businesses doing good is good for business!

> Sign up today

What you can expect from us as a WCRF Small Meaningful Enterprise

If you’re taking the time to support our work then it is only fair we do the same.

Once you decide to take the plunge and pledge a percentage of your sales from goods or services you’ll be recognised as a WCRF Small Meaningful Enterprise.

You can expect:

  • A social media shout-out across any channels your business features on once you’ve made your pledge
  • Our WCRF Small Meaningful Enterprise logo for you to use on your website, social media channels, and email signatures
  • Further social media support for any promotional posts on products or services that link to your donation pledge that we’re tagged in (@wcrfuk) (as long as those products or services don’t clash with our Cancer Prevention Recommendations)
  • The opportunity to feature on our website’s blog by sharing your story on why preventing cancer and supporting WCRF is so important to you and your business

How to sign up and become a WCRF Small Meaningful Enterprise

Getting started couldn’t be simpler:

Step 1

Register your business on Work for Good

Then select World Cancer Research Fund UK as your chosen charity

Step 2

Create your desired donation pledge (eg. 1% of all turnover in a year) via the donations form to generate your Commercial Participation Agreement with us

Step 3

State at the point of sale (e.g. your website) how funds are being raised to comply with charity law

Step 4

Start telling anyone who will listen about your good deeds by proudly publicising it to your customers or clients

OR of you fancy talking to someone first get in touch with our Corporate Partnerships Team. Drop us a line on fundraising@wcrf.org – you can put any questions to us, and we’ll help get you started.

Why do we ask you to go through Work for Good?

Setting up a commercial partnership can be messy, expensive and time consuming – not words a business owner likes to hear.

Our partners Work for Good are an online fundraising platform designed to make it easy for small business to donate to charities like ours.

They handle the legalities of a company/charity partnership by automatically generating a Commercial Participations Agreement, allow you to donate in a few swift clicks, and takes care of processing all donations.

In short, Work for Good deal with the boring stuff, saving both our charity and your business; time, money and resources better spent elsewhere.

You can also expect:

  • A Work for Good welcome email and new member pack to guide you through setting up a donation and ideas on how to publicise your charitable pledge
  • On hand support from their team who have a wealth of experience supporting other small businesses through this exact process
  • Use of a public profile to promote your business’s charitable giving story
  • Records showing all tax-deductible charitable donations in your business tax year
  • Social media support and engagement when you tag @WorkforGoodUK in your posts

Get started now!

Register your business on Work for Good today