Jill Clark, fundraiser, Irish Cancer Society
When the Irish Cancer Society began its search for a new head of fundraising last year, they looked to the US and a career fundraiser, Jill Clark. The Chicago native has 15 years' experience in the not-for-profit sector and was previously vice-president of amfAR, the Foundation for Aids Research in New York.
What convinced her to up sticks and move to Ireland? "There was a personal element to it in that my father died of cancer, but from a professional perspective it's a role where there are very achievable goals. I was hired in anticipation of the fact that we are going to need to grow to cope with the cancer epidemic we are facing. There will be over 20,000 new cases in Ireland this year, but by 2020 that will double."
Daffodil Day remains vitally important for the charity. "It still represents a huge chunk of our revenue each year, which is a risk. Last year, for example, the weather was terrible and it was a credit to the Irish people and the media that they rallied around and helped us raise €3.3 million."
What do those funds achieve? "The key service that it funds is our nursing programme. We provided 5,000 nights of home nursing care free of charge last year to people in an advanced stage of the illness."
This year is the 20th anniversary of Daffodil Day and the busiest week in Clark's calendar. "We will be frantically trying to get pins, packs, merchandise, silk and fresh daffodils out to our volunteers. We have approximately 5,000 volunteers who are on the streets all over Ireland on Friday, March 23rd, so it's a massive logistical challenge. On the day itself I will spend time with our corporate customers. The likes of Citibank, Hewlett Packard and the Institute of Chartered Accountants do enormous work for us. I will also be on the streets, thanking our volunteers. Nowhere in my career have I seen an effort quite like Daffodil Day. I am astounded by it."
The telephone number for the National Cancer Helpline is 1800-200700