Marie Curie to lose £3m through cancellation of public collections for its annual Daffodil Appeal

Marie Curie is cancelling public collections for its annual Easter Daffodil Appeal for the first time in the campaign's 35-year history, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The campaign will take place online but the removal of the public collection side to the annaul fundraising push is set to leave the charity with a potential loss of more than £3m.

“Despite the cancelled collections, the charity is calling on the public to dig deep and donate online,” said the end of life and hospice charity.

Marie Curie’s executive director of fundraising and engagement Meredith Niles said that each volunteer collector raised an average of £80 per collection shift.

The cancellation of face-to-face fundraising coincides with a survey in demand, with the charity seeing a 16.5% rise in the number of people they are caring for.

"The campaign would normally bring together millions of people across the country to volunteer, fundraise, donate and wear a daffodil and we're still encouraging people to do this in any way they can in a safe manner,” said Niles.

"Around 300 people a day already miss out on the end of life support they need and we expect this figure to rise as a result of the pandemic, combined with usual winter pressures associated with seasonal flu and the backlog of people who have missed diagnoses.

"In these unprecedented times we need people's support now more than ever in helping us raise money to continue our vital work across the country and ensure Marie Curie Nurses can be there to provide end of life care when people need it."

As part of the Daffodil Appeal the charity is staging a National Day of Reflection to support those who have been left bereaved since the first Covid-19 lockdown last year.

“We need to mark the huge amount of loss we’ve seen this year and show support for everyone who has been bereaved – be that from covid or any other cause." - @matthewreedblog

Join us on 23 March for a National #DayOfReflection. Find out more: https://t.co/Rbd2395Dlf pic.twitter.com/Ivn47O1JKh
— Marie Curie (@mariecurieuk) February 13, 2021