#nomakeupselfie trend raises over £8 million for Cancer Research UK

Thanks to the #nomakeupselfie trend and generosity of the public, Cancer Research UK has raised over £8 million in donations in just six days.

“We don’t receive any government funding for our research and so it’s phenomenal to think that the generosity of the public is enabling us to fund critical research that we didn’t have the money for six days ago.” – Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive

The #nomakeupselfie trend isn’t something Cancer Research UK started. But last Tuesday, after people began tweeting their #nomakeupselfie pictures and asking how they could use them to make a difference to Cancer Research UK’s work, the charity posted a message on its Facebook and Twitter pages with information about how to support its work to beat cancer sooner. Since then, Cancer Research UK has received an unprecedented increase in the volume of donations and visits to the website.

The money raised will enable Cancer Research UK to carry out more research sooner, including ten clinical trials*, which just last Tuesday it did not have money to fully fund. Cancer Research UK supports over 200 clinical trials looking for better and kinder treatments for all types of cancer.

Dr Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support people have been showing us through the #nomakeupselfie trend.

“We don’t receive any government funding for our research and so it’s phenomenal to think that the generosity of the public is enabling us to fund critical research that we didn’t have the money for six days ago. Being able to fund more trials will bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

“It’s been an exciting week, and we’d just like to thank everyone again for their support. If people would like to support our work to beat cancer sooner, they can visit www.cruk.org.”

ENDS

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