Greater Manchester charity St Ann’s Hospice has announced the appointment of Marla Cunningham as its new Capital Campaign Director.
Marla starts 2019 in the brand new role, which will see her lead a bold and ambitious project to help ensure St Ann’s can continue providing its world-class care for many more years to come.
Eamonn O’Neal, Chief Executive of the hospice, explained:
“We’ll be celebrating St Ann’s 50th anniversary in 2021 and have big plans. As one of the oldest adult hospices outside of London, we’ve been adept at changing and adapting to the needs of our patients for almost half a century. “As we all know, the political and economic landscapes in the UK have changed considerably, and will continue to do so, and with the devolution of healthcare budgets in Greater Manchester, we’ve been bold about the increased need for specialist hospice care for people across our local communities.
“Marla will be looking at plans to help us ensure we can carry on delivering that same world-class level of care to as many people that need it as possible, as well as allowing us to reach even more patients from our local communities. We will be looking at future requirements in more detail in the coming months.”
Marla joins the charity from her most recent role as Development Director of HOME, where she led the £25million capital fundraising campaign and established a revenue fundraising programme. She has also previously worked as Development Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in the city centre.
She said:
“I’m so pleased to be joining St Ann’s at what is an incredibly exciting time in the organisation’s history. I can’t wait to start pulling together plans that will help the charity to lay its foundations to ensure it can continue to provide the very best in hospice care for the next 50 years, and for the next generations of patients, their carers, families, and healthcare professionals in Greater Manchester. “My main focus will be to ensure that the specialist teams at St Ann’s can continue providing world-class care in the very best facilities possible to ensure patients – whatever life-limiting illness they have – continue to receive truly holistic, individualised care, at a time which can see many feel extremely vulnerable. It’s a privilege to join such a well-regarded institution.”
St Ann’s cares for patients from its three sites in Heald Green, Little Hulton, and the Neil Cliffe Centre in Wythenshawe Hospital, as well as via a range of community and outreach services. As a charity it receives just over a third of its funding from the NHS, with the rest – equating to around £20,000 a day – achieved by fundraising and trading activities.
The hospice has fourteen shops across Greater Manchester, and also runs the St Ann’s Local Lottery each week. It also carries out a range of events and fundraising campaigns and appeals to ensure it can continue to care for the thousands of local patients it supports each year.
For more information, visit www.sah.org.uk