Marie Curie vs Macmillan — charity comparison
In short: Marie Curie is built around hospice and end-of-life care; Macmillan around support for people living with cancer — related, not interchangeable, and both checkable on filings.
Data from Charity Commission register, last updated .
Marie Curie vs Macmillan is the usual search when someone wants to help people with cancer and knows both names. One is a hospice and nursing charity (not only cancer). The other is a cancer-support organisation. For research vs support, see Macmillan vs Cancer Research UK instead. Information only.
Key differences
| What to compare | MARIE CURIE | MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT |
|---|---|---|
| Primary model | Hospice, palliative and end-of-life nursing and support | Information, support services, grants and advocacy for people with cancer |
| Condition focus | Terminal illness and end of life (including, but not only, cancer) | Cancer — living with and beyond a diagnosis |
| Results timeline | Care for people at the end of life, and their families, now | Practical and emotional support during and after cancer |
| Best if you want | Hospice and end-of-life care | Support for people living with cancer |
What the latest filings show
Figures from the most recent annual accounts on the Charity Commission register. Clarity scores use our methodology.
| Metric | MARIE CURIE | MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 80/100 (4★) | 75/100 (4★) |
| Accountability & Finance | 100/100 | 100/100 |
| Spend on charitable activities | 71% of expenditure | 69% of expenditure |
| Fundraising efficiency | £3.2 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) | £3.1 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) |
| Latest income | £181m | £246m |
| Fundraising spend | 29% of expenditure | 31% of expenditure |
| Reserves | 5 months | 2 months |
| Accounts filing | On time | On time |
| Data confidence | high | high |
| Charity number | 207994 | 261017 |
MARIE CURIE on the register · MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT on the register
MARIE CURIE may suit you if…
- You want donations to fund hospice and end-of-life nursing
- You or someone you know has used Marie Curie services
- You are choosing a national palliative-care charity after reading the filings
MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT may suit you if…
- You want support for people living with cancer today
- You or someone you know has used Macmillan-style services
- You prefer cancer-support over hospice as the primary model
Common questions
Marie Curie vs Macmillan — which is better to donate to?
Neither is universally better. Marie Curie is oriented to hospice and end-of-life care; Macmillan to cancer support. Compare Clarity Scores and cause spend, then give to the model that matches your intention.
What about Cancer Research UK?
That is a research-led model, not a support or hospice charity. See Macmillan vs Cancer Research UK if you are choosing between support and research.
How we score charities +
The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.
Accountability & Transparency
Scored from filings
40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).
Financial Health
Scored from filings
30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).
Financial Efficiency
Scored from filings
20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).
Community Support
Scored from filings
10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.
Overall score
Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.