Cancer Research UK has submitted its annual financial report for 2011/12, which reveals that the charity’s total income went up from £483m to £493m – an increase of 2 per cent.
CRUK's income from fundraising was £432m, down slightly from £433m in 2010/2011. It offset a reduction in legacy income with increased income from its high-value donors.
The organisation reduced the costs of generating funds to £149m, down from £151m the previous year, a 6 per cent decrease in real terms. But by reducing overhead costs, it was still able to keep up last year’s rate of 80 per cent of every £1 being used towards cancer research, despite flat income and continuing its investment into technology.
Annual research activity (derived by calculating the cost of the research work actually carried out in the year using the charities funds, regardless of awarding patterns) remained stable at £332m, the same as last year.
The report states that CRUK will be continuing to place its emphasis on long-term financial planning, and has used its ‘prudent level of reserves’ to prosper during a time of economic and financial uncertainty and still deliver on its research commitments.
'Golden age' for cancer research
“We are living in a golden age for cancer research,” CRUK’s chief executive Harpal S Kumar comments in the report. “More people are beating cancer than ever before – the pace of progress is unprecedented.”
As part of this, CRUK is on schedule to open the Francis Crick Institute in 2015, where ‘the very best scientists from around the world’ will come together to research the treatment and prevention of diseases including cancer, heart disease and strokes. The project is a collaboration with the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, University College London, Imperial College London and King's College London.
CRUK is contributing £160m to the Institute and launched its fundraising campaign ‘Create the Change’ in order to raise a further £100m for what it plans to be the leading biomedical research institute in Europe.
The campaign was boosted earlier this month when an anonymous donor gave £10m.
Future plans
CRUK also launched two new CRUK centres in 2011/12, bringing the total to 18 across the UK. The centres each have their own training budget with which to develop new cancer researchers.
Other developments during the last financial year included nine new projects using state-of-the-art gene sequencing technology; two pilot projects to identify the genetic faults in prostate and oesophageal cancer, which will lead to full projects in 2012/13; and the launch of an International Rare Cancers Initiative with research groups from the UK, Europe and US.
CRUK's objectives for 2012/13 revolve around promoting cancer prevention and early diagnosis; creating environments to support this; developing new ways of tackling cancer and tailored treatments; accelerating the translation of laboratory research into new treatments; and boosting research into rare or hard-to-treat cancers.
