Key Takeaways
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK: It accounts for 15% of all cancer cases and affects both women and men. Raising awareness of this type of cancer saves lives.
- Plan ahead: Consider all aspects of an event, including costs, legalities and feasibility before running with an idea.
- Be creative: There are so many ways to raise money for breast cancer in the workplace. Think about how you can get others involved and make it fun while still supporting an important cause.
In the UK alone, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every ten minutes. However, it doesn’t only affect women. Each year approximately 55,000 women are diagnosed but so are 370 men. While most people survive breast cancer for five years or more, sadly 11,500 women and 85 men die from breast cancer each year.
With early detection and diagnosis, the chance of surviving breast cancer is more than 90%. It’s for this reason that raising awareness of breast cancer, its symptoms, and the NHS’ breast screening programme is so important. Raising awareness of breast cancer also helps people to understand the emotional impact that cancer has, which is beneficial in helping coworkers support one another with cancer. In addition, raising funds for breast cancer charities helps progress vital research and provide support to those who are affected by the disease.
Fundraising ideas
When it comes to ways in which to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer charities, the possibilities are endless. However, bear in mind that whatever method you choose, it’s important to plan it thoroughly to ensure it is safe, legal and successful. You’ll also need to consider how you will promote your event to drive engagement in the initiative and increase its chances of success.
Whether you’ve hosted an event before or are a first-time fundraiser, we’ve put together a list of breast cancer awareness and fundraising ideas for the workplace, to give you some inspiration.
24-hour event
A 24-hour event challenges one person, a team or even an entire workforce, to do a continuous activity for 24 hours. It’s a demanding but also a highly rewarding way to fundraise. You can base a 24-hour event on sports and fitness, such as cycling or walking; make use of peoples’ talents in the form of a cook-a-thon or do something that involves a new skill, like a whole day darts championship.
To expand engagement, why not update people about the challenge as it progresses? You can post videos and photos on your workplace’s social media channels, intranet or website.
Bake sale
Bake sales and coffee mornings are great ways to bring people together and get them talking about breast cancer. To hold a bake sale, select a location, time, and date, then, ask your employees to show off their baking skills by donating treats that staff can buy, with all the proceeds going to charity.
If you want to add an extra touch to your bake sale, you can select a theme or have it coincide with a specific time of year or event such as Christmas or World Cancer Day. Adding a level of competition is also a great way to encourage participation.
Quiz
Quizzes are an excellent way to support a good cause while giving employees the chance to show off their general knowledge. You can create the rounds yourself or ask other team members to join in by creating a round on their favourite subject. Charge a donation amount per person or team and consider if there are any other ways to raise money such as offering refreshments or adding in bonus games.
Raffle
Raffles can be a simple way to engage lots of people and raise money, but you do need to abide by any licensing and regulatory requirements. To increase involvement, you can ask employees to donate prizes or have the raffle be part of a larger fundraising event, such as a charity dinner.
Silent auction
With a silent auction, you can give your entire workforce the chance to donate money anonymously, meaning that they can help a good cause regardless of how much or little they can contribute. Silent auctions can be fairly informal as all you need is a room, prizes, organisers, and bidders. But if you want to make it a bigger event, you can turn it into an entire evening and combine it with other fundraising efforts.
Gala
A charity gala is a party that has entertainment and performances, such as musicians or comedians, as part of the event. Galas are generally considered to be quite special and are often black-tie occasions. Attendees pay a ticket fee, which covers the cost of the event and a contribution to charity. It does take a lot of time, effort, and money to organise a gala, but they can raise a significant amount of money.
Wear it pink day
Wear it pink day is a national event led by Breast Cancer Now, which is a research and care charity. It takes place on October 21st each year. The idea is straightforward: people wear pink and give a donation for doing so. Workplaces can sign up to take part in the day and Breast Cancer Now even provides downloadable and orderable materials to help your fundraising go smoothly.
Sponsored walk
If you are looking for a way to raise awareness of breast cancer that won’t take lots of planning, brings the community together and encourages physical activity, then a sponsored walk is worth considering. Those taking part can seek donations from family, friends, and other people they know for completing the walk, and/or they can pay to enter the event. There are already lots of breast cancer awareness walking events available to sign up for, so you don’t even have to organise one yourself.
Craft market
Opting for a craft market as a fundraising event can ensure that breast cancer awareness is the main focus whilst also allowing employees to showcase their creative sides. There are many ways you can approach a charity craft market. For example, you could charge stallholders and attendees or ask employees to donate their wares with all sale proceeds going to charity.
Activity challenge
An activity-based challenge gives the option for employees to do something daring or particularly ambitious. If this is the type of fundraising you think is best suited to your workforce, perhaps you can ask them to put forward ideas. For instance, there might be an employee who is willing to shave their head once they reach a target donation amount or a team from your organisation who want to do the Three Peaks Challenge together.
As an employer, you can help raise awareness of cancer and support your team further with Perci’s cancer care employee benefits. Our cancer specialists are here to help anyone who has been affected by cancer, including employees diagnosed with cancer and their families.