Showing how every pound helps change Yorkshire’s cancer story

Charities operate in an environment where trust is earned through transparency.  

Alongside delivering life-changing work, they must meet clear regulatory standards, demonstrating not only what they do, but how responsibly they use the funds entrusted to them.

One of the frameworks underpinning this is the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice, or SORP. It guides how charities report in their Annual Report and Accounts on finances, governance and activities, bringing consistency and clarity across the sector.

To meet evolving expectations, recent updates to the SORP place a stronger emphasis on helping charities explain not just how money is spent, but the difference it makes, how decisions are taken and how organisations are planning for the future.

As a Director of Finance, these changes provide an opportunity to show, more clearly than ever, how financial stewardship directly enables life-saving impact. 

From funded research to measurable impact 

One of the most important shifts is the move from describing what charities do, to demonstrating what difference they make.

At Yorkshire Cancer Research, this is already central to how we communicate our work. We look beyond outputs to outcomes, by measuring the real-world impact of our research and services, including the additional years of life they deliver.

As expectations increase, so too does the need to connect these outcomes more clearly to our strategy.

Yorkshire Cancer Research exists to ensure more people in Yorkshire live longer, healthier lives, free from cancer.

Our strategy sets out five clear aims to achieve this: Action Research, Research-Backed Services, Research-Active Region, For Everyone, and Shaped by People.

Each of our five strategic aims plays a distinct role in changing cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment in Yorkshire, from bringing clinical research to the region and delivering evidence-based services, to tackling inequalities and ensuring our work is shaped by people affected by cancer.  

The updated SORP framework strengthens the link between these ambitions and how we report on them, helping us provide a clearer account of how we turn funding into meaningful change for people affected by cancer.  

Transparency that builds confidence  

Transparency has always been important to the charity sector, but it is increasingly a defining measure of credibility.  

For organisations like ours, this means being open not just about income and expenditure, but about how decisions are made, how resources are prioritised and how we balance ambition with financial sustainability.  

Cancer research is, by its nature, long term. It requires sustained investment and careful planning. Clearer reporting encourages us to explain this more effectively, whether that is how we manage reserves, fund multi-year programmes or plan for future challenges.  

This level of transparency builds trust with supporters and partners, giving confidence that funding is being used effectively to deliver the greatest possible impact. 

Owning both progress and challenge

Alongside transparency, expectations around accountability are also changing.

Our strategy places strong emphasis on reducing health inequalities and ensuring our work is shaped by people affected by cancer. These are complex challenges.

There is now greater expectation that charities share not only progress, but also insight into what is working, what is not and what is being learned along the way.

This shift reinforces the idea that transparency is built on openness and continuous improvement. 

Reflecting our broader impact

The new SORP update also places a greater focus on the wider impact charities have through the way they operate.

For Yorkshire Cancer Research, this includes our environmental impact and the role we play in our communities. Our retail network, for example, does more than generate vital income for research. It supports more sustainable shopping, encourages reuse and brings people together in communities across Yorkshire.

Developments in reporting are prompting charities to bring these elements together, showing not only the impact of the work we fund, but how we operate responsibly as an organisation. 

Looking ahead

Finance teams play a central role in showing how resources translate into impact and how financial decisions support long-term strategy.  

At Yorkshire Cancer Research, this means working across the organisation to bring together finance, impact and strategy into a clear, coherent story - one that is meaningful to those who support us.

SORP may sound like technical jargon, but in reality, it will play a key role in explaining our work more clearly, strengthening trust and helping people better understand the difference they make.

For Yorkshire Cancer Research, that means continuing to show how every pound helps save lives in Yorkshire by preventing cancer, diagnosing it earlier, and improving survival for everyone, wherever they live.