TK Maxx raises £25.5m for Cancer Research UK
Melanie May | 1 September 2016 | News
TK Maxx’s charity clothing collection campaign Give Up Clothes For Good has raised £25.5 million for Cancer Research UK through stock and cash donations since launching in 2004.
£21.5 million of this total is directly funding research into children’s cancers, with a further £4 million supporting general cancer research. According to the charity, the money raised positions TK Maxx as the biggest corporate funder of research into children’s cancers in the UK.
The campaign runs all year round and encourages people to drop off their unwanted clothing and accessories in the special donation bins provided in TK Maxx stores nationwide. The items are then collected and sold in Cancer Research UK shops across the UK. The retailer raises additional money through cash donations and staff fundraising.
TK Maxx has been supporting Cancer Research UK since 2004, and became the lead partner for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens when it launched in 2015.
Jo Murphy, AVP corporate responsibility, TJX Europe said:
“We have been overwhelmed by the exceptional generosity of our customers and associates over the years to help us reach this momentous milestone of £25 million. We are very proud of the contribution that we can make that will help Cancer Research UK do the vital work to beat kids’ cancers and support improvement in treatments and cures for children affected by cancer.”
To mark the 10th anniversary of the partnership in 2014, TK Maxx funded a flagship Cancer Research UK clinical trial with Professor Richard Grundy which aims to improve survival for children and young people with a rare type of brain tumour called ependymoma.
Money raised by TK Maxx has also gone towards other pioneering research projects carried out by Cancer Research UK. This has included funding research that changed the way a type of childhood kidney cancer, called Wilms’ tumour is treated to help reduce long-term side effects, and supporting a 10-year study that improved survival from a type of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma.
Photo by Jason Bell.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.