Pub retailer and brewer Greene King has raised £1.6m for its first ever charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support over the last three years, surpassing its original target of £1m by 60 per cent.

To drive its fundraising, Greene King employees took part in Macmillan’s national fundraising events such as the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. Greene King and Macmillan also created bespoke fundraising challenges across its various divisions. ‘Macmillan May’, the most recent of these, raised over £118,000 last month.

160 Greene King employees from across the business raised £80,000 by taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. Greene King pubs also donated more than £150,000 from the sale of selected desserts on the menu. The brewer also made a stand alone donation of £30,000 to the Woolverstone Macmillan Centre Appeal, which will help fund a new cancer treatment centre in Ipswich. 

Rooney Anand, chief executive at Greene King said: “When we launched our partnership in April 2012 we hoped that it would bring together our teams from right across the business, and the unique fundraising ideas, team spirit and support for Macmillan has been inspirational.”

Simon Phillips, interim director of fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Support said: “To exceed a fundraising target by £600,000 is incredibly impressive and is testament to the efforts of a brilliant and dedicated team.”