Marie Curie’s flagship fundraising event, Great Daffodil Appeal, raised a record £7m with more than half of the fundraised total coming from donations in collection boxes and buckets.

The charity attributed the unprecedented total to an increase in the number of volunteers and a new partnership with Lions Clubs. The three year partnership with Lions resulted in hundreds of collections being held by members for Marie Curie.

Street collections and donations made in boxes at point of sale accounted for 51 per cent of donations made this year. Other individual giving, covering raffles, direct mail and house-to-house fundraising, made up 48 per cent of income. 

More than 22,000 volunteers carried out just shy of 30,000 collections - both figures up on 2012 performance (the former by 4,000 volunteers, and the latter by 16 per cent). 

This March’s appeal focused on the importance of an individual’s last moments with a television advert juxtaposing first steps and birthdays with scenes of tenderness from late in life.

Marie Curie head of marketing Katherine Jacques credited the success of this year to a greater clarity and monitoring.  “The results we have seen in 2013 were a result of focusing the campaign on a clear proposition, taking our 2012 learnings and making changes to how we were using some of our key media channels, especially radio and TV," she said.

"We also monitored the campaign daily and extended the advertising campaign time period as a result, using digital channels, and drove even higher results.”

In 2012, the Great Daffodil Appeal raised £6.68m. During the last financial year on record, Marie Curie's voluntary income stood at £76.2m, with £22.6 of that from legacies.