Yorkshire children’s charity Candlelighters: one of top three charities in UK for Governance Award

Candlelighters, a charity supporting children with cancer and their families in Yorkshire, 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. Candlelighters has 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 charity’s mission and objectives. Candlelighters is passionate about high standards of governance and their values are key to the charity recently becoming an accredited ‘Great Place to Work’ with a 97% average score. Strong governance is vital to ensure a charity is well run, and to give businesses and supporters confidence to invest in a charity.

Candlelighters ensures a rich variety of board talent and experience to achieve the objectives of the charity, 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 had both been supported by Candlelighters when they were diagnosed with cancer as children, have joined the Candlelighters Board to offer their insight on how a childhood cancer diagnosis affects a family.

Emily Wragg, CEO of Candlelighters, 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. This 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!”

How Candlelighters helps families

Last year, Candlelighters funded 1,062 stays near the hospital for families with children on treatment, providing security and keeping families together.

Last year, Candlelighters funded 384 talking therapy appointments, working with both children and adults to ease psychological concerns and develop coping strategies.

Last year, Candlelighters had 296 attendances at 30 of their support groups, including Sibling Groups and Bereaved Mums Groups.

Learn more about what Candlelighters do, and how you can make a difference for children