Sharing is a wonderful concept, isn’t it? As a father to 3 young children, I feel I spend a high percentage of any given week talking about the importance of sharing…
In my role as Head of Volunteering at Macmillan, I’m often humbled and inspired by the stories of volunteers who have shared so generously with Macmillan in support of our shared vision: ‘We do whatever it takes to get every person the best support today and spark a revolution in cancer care for the future.’
As 2025 draws to a close, I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to you. We’re so grateful at Macmillan to all our volunteers who share their time, talents and voices with us.
In reflecting on the concept of ‘sharing’, this has reminded me of a very simple yet profound thought that explains the wonderful paradox of volunteering… This paradox is perhaps best summed up by the late great actor Leonard Nimoy, better known as Spock from Star Trek, who is famous for saying, “The more we share, the more we have”.
A paradox stated in plain language: And there is practical wisdom here if you think about it. Share time, and you gain relationships. Share credit, and you gain trust. Share ideas, and you typically gain better ideas, because others take them and grow them. In volunteering, what could seem like ‘giving away’ precious time, often returns as meaning and a sense of purpose and hopefully a sense of pride in all you go on to achieve through the time you generously share.
That’s the wonderful economy of volunteering. But this volunteering economy can only occur when generosity replaces greed, when selflessness replaces selfishness, when sharing replaces excluding: When this happens, communities become bigger, the world becomes larger, and so do we.
Today, Macmillan has a vibrant and diverse volunteering community of over 28,000 people. Our volunteers share their time, talents and voice in a variety of ways, including:
- Macmillan Buddies: Providing personalised emotional support for people living with cancer. Our trained volunteer Buddies offer a confidential space to listen and provide support.
- Action Team: Whether it’s running a collection, cheering on our brilliant fundraisers at an event, or supporting promotions in the community, our Action Team are ready to go!
- Campaigners: Our Campaigner network, add their voice to Macmillan’s campaigns, focused on influencing the decisions and systems that affect everyone living with cancer.
- And many other ways: Cancer Information Reviewers, Corporate Volunteers, Committee Members, Online Community Champions and Micro Volunteering.
Your generosity has made a world of difference. Because of you, our Macmillan Buddies service has been able to reach 18% more people living with cancer than ever before. Because of you, our marathon cheer points saw record-breaking sign-ups – making them the loudest cheer points we’ve ever heard! Because of you, we’ve inspired more people to host a coffee morning, written more thank you cards to Macmillan fundraisers, created more partnerships and because of you we have reached 99% of all MPs through Macmillan campaigners. Because you shared, we could do more together.
So however you shared your time, talents and voice with Macmillan this year, thank you for all you did and for the difference this has made.
Chris Parker, Head of Volunteering