After more than 17 years with CRUK, how was the transition to Macmillan?

On the outside, the charities look more similar than they are; they are both fundraising organisations that are trying to reduce the impact of cancer on society. However, they come from slightly different places. CRUK is a scientific, academic organisation; Macmillan is in the business of caring for and supporting people. Culturally, they are more different than you might imagine.

While I was very familiar with the fundraising, marketing and branding techniques, getting to know what Macmillan does as an organisation took longer than I thought it would. You can go a long way before you feel you’ve really got your arms around the organisation and you understand it. I would say it’s a more complex organisation than I expected. The interventions it does to help people with cancer are all along the cancer pathway, so becoming familiar with that and how we help people takes a long time.