Powerful partnerships

Building the future of breast cancer research and support

We receive committed project investment and multi-year grants from a range of funders who share our vision – a future where no one dies of breast cancer.

Grants can be made in support of our life-saving research; our life-changing support services; or our change-making campaigns. Or donations can be made on an unrestricted basis, allowing Breast Cancer Now to invest the funding where it is needed most.

We’ve been fortunate to build powerful partnerships with incredible trusts and foundations, including:

A key partner in our progress is the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Foundation, who have donated over £5.6 million towards our work and were one of the inaugural funders of the UK’s first dedicated breast cancer research centre.

Mary-Jean Mitchell Green, a successful business woman with a young family, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. Following treatment, her disease went into remission, only to return a year later as a particularly aggressive form. As a testament to her strength and generosity of spirit she created a foundation to fund research into a cure for breast cancer. She died in 1990, aged just 38, leaving behind her husband Peter and her sons Alexander and Andrew.

The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research opened in 1999, and was made possible by the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Foundation. The Centre is housed in the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Building, named in her memory, and our work is inspired every day by her warmth and grace in the face of uncertainty.

We are incredibly grateful to the foundation and the Green family for their continued support of our work, and for sharing our goal that by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live – and live well.

The fact that more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before is in large part down to the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Foundation, and enabling loved and needed women to spend more time with their families is a fitting tribute to Mary-Jean herself.

Breast Cancer Now is incredibly grateful for the generous and longstanding support of the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Garfield Weston Foundation have been a vital supporter of our work for many years, with their funding contributing to our biobank, and towards our core costs. Core cost funding from trusts and foundations is some of the most valuable support we receive. It allows us to invest in the people, systems and expertise that sit behind everything we do, from our research projects to the support we offer people affected by breast cancer.

Without this kind of flexible funding, we simply couldn't deliver at the scale or speed that people need. We're enormously grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation for their support.

For over 25 years, Walk the Walk has been supporting our ground-breaking research into breast cancer. With the help of their community of walkers and supporters, Walk the Walk has raised nearly £34 million for the work we do.

This phenomenal funding has contributed to many of the biggest achievements in breast cancer research - helping us to push boundaries, deepen our understanding of the disease, and pave the way for new treatments.

Most recently, Walk the Walk funded the Walk the Walk Fellowship, conducted by Walk the Walk Fellow and Breast Cancer Now Scientist Dr Damir Vareslija at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dr Vareslija’s research is investigating breast cancer spreading to the brain in the hope vital new treatments can be developed. We look forward to sharing the findings of this research in the future.

By walking and donating to our researchers, Walk the Walk are helping us move towards a future where everyone with breast cancer lives and lives well. Thank you to the incredible Walk the Walk walkers for every step you’ve taken.