Breast cancer | Intelligent Giving

			The pink charities BREAST CANCER IS THE COMMONEST form of cancer in women, so it's not surprising that there are seven charities which concentrate on preventing, curing or living with the disease. But with so many out there - all with eerily similar names and pink websites - it's tough deciding which to support.

			Thankfully they are all quite different - so you can channel your giving to a particular kind of work if you want, or give to a bigger, multi-tasking organisation. The big, general charity: Breakthrough Breast Cancer. With an annual budget of £19m+, Breakthrough funds big research projects, lobbies the government for better treatment, publishes information and generally raises awareness of the cancer. The big patient-support charity: Breast Cancer Care. Growing very fast, this outfit funds a bewildering array of projects to support cancer patients. It's got a telephone helpline, a massive website, an email-a-nurse service - and many, many other things. It's also the charity behind the pink wristbands - which hauled in over £1m last year. The smaller patient-support charity: Breast Cancer Haven. With a tremendous quality-of-reporting score of 83%, this charity has ambitious plans for the future and a unique approach to cancer care. Currently running two 'havens' in London and Hereford, it provides an intensive programme of support and help for visitors - including a two-day residential therapy course. It wants to establish another two havens in the near future. The big research charity: Breast Cancer Campaign. Dishing out over £4m a year in grants to research teams across the country, this charity places an emphasis on improving diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The smaller research charities: The Genesis Appeal, Breast Cancer Research Trust and Against Breast Cancer all have budgets of under £1m, and fund different aspects of research, usually giving grants to scientists. Against Breast Cancer is a bit different, and employs a team of researchers at University College Hospital to find a vaccine to prevent the cancer happening at all. Back to top