Cure Leukaemia raises over £2m with staff of just five
Melanie May | 16 March 2018 | News
Cure Leukaemia raised a record amount in 2017, breaking the £2m barrier for the first time to achieve a gross income of £2,222,720, with a team of just five staff.
The total raised by Cure Leukaemia was an increase of 50% from previous years. The charity’s primary objective was to raise an additional £1 million to complete the £3.4m funding required to expand the Centre for Clinical Haematology (CCH) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and double its capacity. The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) granted £2.4m towards the project with the Cure Leukaemia team of four full-time members of staff and one part-time employee committing to raise the remaining capital by December 31. It achieved this through a combination of trust and foundation grants, major and community fundraising events and generous donors.
Chief Executive James McLaughlin said:
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“We resisted the temptation to recruit more staff when we committed to this because we knew that by utilising our multi-skilled and commercially experienced team of five staff we could deliver the additional £1m. Developing a clear strategy for our £1m appeal was key to delivering these results.”
The expanded Centre reopened to treat patients on January 8 and has doubled its capacity for patients from 10,000 to 20,000 per year. It has also doubled its capacity for clinical trials for blood cancer patients that have exhausted standard care for the disease and also for specialist research nurse positions. A new day unit has also been created.
10% of the additional £1m came from the fundraising efforts of Wolverhampton Wanderers and its fans in support of their goalkeeper Carl Ikeme after his leukaemia diagnosis last July. The charity also applied to become one of Deutsche Bank’s Charities Of The Year for 2018 and 2019. The process began in May when Cure Leukaemia submitted its application alongside 90 other UK charities. It became one of the six charities put forward for the organisation’s 11,000 staff to vote for in October, and received vocal support from well-known figures in both business, sport and entertainment including Gareth Southgate, Gary Lineker, Andy Street CBE and comedian Adil Ray OBE.
Cure Leukaemia’s campaign was successful in becoming Deutsche Bank’s Charity of the Year for 2018/19 alongside Rays of Sunshine. The partnership has the potential to be worth £2m and the focus for Cure Leukaemia now is to not only maximise the potential of the Deutsche Bank opportunity, but also see out further national support over the next two years.
CEO James McLaughlin added:
“The Deutsche Bank partnership will undoubtedly prove transformational for Cure Leukaemia and the work the charity supports and it will also lay the foundations for sustained growth in the future.”
WATCH: Lizzie’s story
- Cure Leukaemia unveils 100 supporter plaques for World Blood Cancer Day (28 May 2019)
- England footballers lend support to Deutsche Bank Cure Leukaemia app hackathon (11 July 2017)
- Cure Leukaemia attempts world record in campaign to raise funds (1 July 2016)
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.