National Gardens Scheme donates £1.5m to Macmillan Cancer Support
Howard Lake | 18 March 2016 | News
The National Gardens Scheme is to donate £1.5 million to Macmillan Cancer Support. Specifically, the donation, equivalent to the Scheme’s annual £500,000 donation to Macmillan for the next three years, will help to fund a state of the art cancer centre to be named ‘The NGS Macmillan Unit’ at Chesterfield Royal Hospital Derbyshire.
The new centre will help ensure that no one in Derbyshire, to quote Macmillan’s mission, has to face cancer alone. It is due to open in December 2016.
An artist’s impression of the NGS Macmillan Unit at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
Macmillan’s largest single donor
The National Gardens Scheme (NGS), itself a charity, is the Macmillan’s largest single donor. It has worked with the charity since 1985, during which time it has given over £15.2 million to fund 147 Macmillan professional posts and service projects.
The donation was announced at the launch of NGS’s Gardens to Visit 2016 book. It is only the second time that its annual donation to the charity has been focused on one particular Macmillan service. Indeed, it is equivalent to over half of the £2.5 million Macmillan has committed to raise towards the Chesterfield appeal.
Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive at Macmillan Cancer Support said:
“This is the second strategic Macmillan build that the NGS has significantly invested in, the first being the NGS Macmillan Wellbeing Centre at Bristol Hospital. The impact that their support will have on the local community in Chesterfield cannot be overestimated; quite simply, their donation has put us well on the way to ensuring that no one in Derbyshire faces cancer alone. We are immensely grateful.”
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The NGS was established nearly 90 years ago to fund district nurses. This explains its subsequent support for nursing and caring charities such as Macmillan.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.