April updateApril update
Spring is here, bringing brighter days and fresh new updates! Happy Easter to those celebrating.
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. You can find more information about signs and symptoms on our bowel cancer webpages.
In this newsletter, we've got some exciting updates for you. We're sharing results from our latest volunteer survey, celebrating campaign success, and looking ahead to key events like Earth Day and Football Shirt Friday.
Keep reading to find out more!
Julie Byard, Director of Trading
Cancer Research UK
Sharing the insights from our latest volunteer survey
A huge thank you to everyone who completed our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) survey in February. Your feedback is really useful in helping us get a better understanding of our volunteer community and your experiences with us.
We were pleased to see positive feedback, with some highlights below:
- 88% of our volunteers reporting feeling satisfied or very satisfied with their volunteering.
- 88% of our shop volunteers said they feel well supported by their volunteer manager, and 91% feel thanked and recognised for their volunteering.
- 77% of volunteers say they feel they belong at CRUK, an increase from 72% when we held our last EDI survey in 2022.
While these results indicate that we are making steps in the right direction to ensure CRUK is a welcoming and inclusive place to volunteer, there's more we'd like to do. We’ll be using the survey results, along with our refreshed equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, to shape how we can continue to improve the experience of our volunteers.
Read more about the results and next steps below.
In-store campaign coming soon
We're excited to share that our latest in-store campaign goes live on the 28 April to recruit more volunteers. We know how difficult it is to run a store when you're low on volunteers so we're doing a big push to get our volunteer numbers up.
Featuring in the campaign is Joanna, who started volunteering in our Wimbledon Village shop when the doors first opened in September 2013.
“I wanted to do something useful in retirement with time on my hands. I love meeting and chatting to people and making them feel welcome. There is a real team spirit, and volunteering is fun, rewarding and a real pleasure to do. I also like a challenge so am very involved in selling raffle and lottery tickets when needed.”
When asked about being part of this campaign, Joanna said: “I am honoured to help this campaign. Cancer is a very important cause touching many families. This is my eleventh year and I certainly don't envisage giving up any time soon.”
Thank you for making our campaigns a success
It was brilliant to see all the innovative fundraising efforts organised by staff and volunteers across our shops to support our Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People campaign. Now that the campaign has come to an end, we’re pleased to let you know that you’ve raised an incredible £560,677! These funds will go a long way in supporting vital research into cancers affecting young people aged 0-24.
Did you know? £560,000 is enough to fund Professor Richard Gilbertson’s research team in Cambridge for almost an entire year. They’re studying how children’s brain tumours develop to pave the way to develop new drugs to treat these cancers and give young patients a better chance of survival.
This year’s Big Slimming World Clothes Throw also wrapped up on 12 April – this campaign is a huge team effort across lots of teams in Trading and Partnerships and we want to say a big thank you for all your hard work. Although the Clothes Throw has come to an end, we’re still expecting to take in Slimming World donations for up to four weeks after the official campaign has ended, so keep an eye out for those purple bags and Slimming World Consultants in store! If you’ve got any questions, or any feedback about this year’s campaign, please let your shop manager know.
Earth Day 2025
Did you know that 100% of our shops are run by renewable energy?
22 April is Earth Day, a global event highlighting the importance of protecting our planet. At CRUK, we know that beating cancer is a long game, and we need to make choices that will be good for the environment so that we can continue to make progress in the years and decades ahead.
We’re aiming to cut our carbon emissions across our shops by 50% by 2030, and we’re taking steps to make it happen, including joining forces with 12 large UK charities as part of the Charity Sustainability Network to share ideas and collaborate.
This Earth Day, why not take a few minutes to read about the steps we’re taking to make our work more environmentally sustainable?
Football Shirt Friday - keep a look out for any football tops
On Friday 25 April, we’re excited to be taking part in Football Shirt Friday! This fun campaign is in aid of the Bobby Moore Fund, and sees supporters from across the country donning their favourite football shirts to raise funds to support life-saving bowel cancer research.
As part of the campaign, our social media team is encouraging all supporters to shop their football kit second-hand wherever possible. Of course, our shops and stores are the perfect place to find pre-loved football shirts! That’s why we’re asking staff and volunteers in our shops to keep an eye out for any donated football tops and save a bit of stock ahead of Football Shirt Friday.
We're here to support you
Cancer Chat
A moderated discussion forum where you can talk to others affected by cancer, share experiences and get support.
The Retail Trust
As one of our shop volunteers you have access to tailored, free and confidential health and wellbeing support.
Volunteer Hub
Find useful information and resources for volunteers and stay up to date with the latest news and updates
If you received a link to this information by text message it is because you volunteer in one of our shops. If you’re no longer volunteering with us, please email us at volunteering@cancer.org.uk.