The money you raise is helping to save lives
Cancer Research UK is the single largest funder of research into breast cancer in the UK, spending over £44 million last year on groundbreaking research into the disease.
When you Join the fight for women's survival, you are helping to fund world-class research of dedicated scientists, doctors and nurses across the UK who are committed to beating breast cancer.
Our progress so far
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. Each year almost 47,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the UK and the disease claims around 12,000 lives.
More than 8 out of 10 women with breast cancer now survive their disease beyond five years, compared with around 5 out of 10 women in the 1970s. Your support is vital to help us ensure that survival rates continue to rise.
Every penny you raise helps us continue investigating new ways to prevent breast cancer, improve early detection and develop better treatments.
How your money helps
For every £1 you raise, we spend 80p on our work to beat cancer. Here are some examples of how your fundraising contribution – big or small – can help:
- £10 could buy around 300 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under the microscope.
- £22 could equip a scientist with a lab coat and a pair of safety goggles. These essential items help protect against harmful chemicals and prevent crucial experiments from getting contaminated. Without this basic equipment our scientists couldn't carry out their life-saving research into breast cancer.
- £54 could buy 22 thermometers (range -10°C to 110°C) – indispensable for many experiments that need to be performed at very precise temperatures.
- £94 could cover the cost for one woman to take part in a clinical trial aiming to improve survival for post-menopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.
- £137 could fund one cancer information nurse for a day. Our experienced cancer information nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer.
- £260 could buy a sophisticated 'microarray'; a powerful piece of technology, helping scientists to scrutinise thousands of genes in a single experiment, and identify which are switched on in cancer.
Donate directly to a breast cancer research project on the MyProjects website.
Join the fight
You can help beat breast cancer by organising a fundraising activity, making a donation or shopping for our breast cancer awareness products.