Where does your money go?

Lizze looking at breast cancer cellsOur aim is to keep our administration costs as low as possible so that the maximum percentage of what you donate goes directly to Cancer Research UK.

As a non-profit organisation our only costs at present are our website hosting and PO Box costs.  The rest we do in-house and we try to maintain this website ourselves so that no costs are incurred above those that are absolutely necessary.

We also work very hard with John Lewis and their suppliers to ensure the best possible price for our roses so we can maximise you generosity and give the best possible return to Cancer Research UK.

In 2009 we gave £4000 to CR UK and, although a large organisation, this money has been ear-marked to go directly to research into breast cancer.  It can help with any from supplies, equipment to staffing to whole projects and trials - it really depends on how much we raise.

To give you an idea here are some examples of costs for some basic items.  We hop eit gives you an idea as to what your money could be spent on and how much we need to raise:

  1. 9p cpvers the cost of a sterlised sample tube and around 200 are used each week by a single researcher.
  2. 10p pays for a pipette and up to 20 of these are used a day by each researcher.
  3. 35p covers the cost of a small tissue culture flask which are used at a rate of about 10 per week per researcher.
  4. £1.75 pays for a rack of tips and around 20 boxes are used each day per researcher.
  5. £10 could buy around 330 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under the microscope.
  6. £62.50 could fund one cancer information nurse for half a day. CR UK's experienced cancer information nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer.
  7. £200 could buy around 22 digital timers, which allow researchers to carry out precisely timed experiments. Accurate timing is crucial in ensuring that the scientists’ results are accurate.
  8. £1,200 could pay for one woman's participation in the IBIS II breast cancer prevention trial. It will help CR UK find out whether the drug anastrozole can prevent breast cancer in post-menopausal women who are at increased risk of the disease.
  9. £7,000 could pay for a Cell Incubator for a Laboratory
  10. £14,000 could fund a research nurse for 6 months