Candlelighters has been shortlisted as one of the top three charities in the UK for the ‘People in Governance’ national award in the Charity Governance Awards!

Annually, over 150 children in Yorkshire are diagnosed with cancer. When a child is diagnosed, lives are turned upside down instantly: not just for the child but the entire family. We have provided support for children and families for nearly 50 years, as well as investing in childhood cancer research. 

This award is for charities that can demonstrate how all aspects of their Board’s work have supported outstanding results in delivering the charities’ mission and objectives. We are passionate about high standards of governance and our values are key to us recently becoming an accredited ‘Great Place to Work’ with a 97% average score. Strong governance is vital to make sure we are well run, and to give businesses and supporters confidence to invest in us. 

We ensure a rich variety of board talent and experience to achieve our objectives, requiring a balance of clinical staff who are medical experts, family members who have been affected by childhood cancer, and other experts to fill any skills gap. Recently, two past patients, Rohan Randhawa and Mathew Bower, who we had supported when they were diagnosed with cancer as children, joined the Candlelighters Board to offer their insight on how childhood cancer diagnosis affects families. 

Emily Wragg, our CEO, says, “We are thrilled to be shortlisted for the People in Governance Award. To put it simply, Candlelighters would not be where it is today without its incredible board leadership. The board has grown the charity from five people in a room ten years ago to 35 employees with four premises which not only ensures that families in Yorkshire face childhood cancer with a high level of support, but that we are making a difference across the UK and globally with our investment in research. Our Board are also hugely active in supporting the charity; with one of our Trustees even taking part in pink custard dunking as part of our “Pink It Up” fundraising week!” 

Last year, we funded 1,062 stays near the hospital for families with children on treatment, providing security and keeping families together. We were able to fund 384 talking therapy appointments, working with both children and adults to ease psychological concerns and develop coping strategies, and had 296 attendances at 30 of our support groups, including Sibling Groups and Bereaved Mums Groups.  This would not be possible without the wonderful fundraising efforts of our supporters, like you, who we are massively grateful for.