Cancer Research UK raises over £1m in a day after #nomakeupselfie goes viral

Anyone who was been on Twitter or Facebook over the past day will have no doubt seen the #nomakeupselfie images which thousands of women have posted, as part of a campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer.Cancer Research is reported to have raised over £1m in the past day following the influx of women taking part, although the charity has pointed out that it was not the one to start the campaign.

Thanks to all of you who have donated because of the #nomakeupselfie trend. We are overwhelmed by your support! pic.twitter.com/GjH38dufuV

— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) March 19, 2014

The charity has reported over 800,000 donations over the past 24 hours, with most coming from text messages. Carolan Davidge, director of communications at Cancer Research UK said: "The #nomakeupselfie Twitter trend isn't something Cancer Research UK started but it's great to see so many people getting involved to help raise awareness of cancer amongst their friends and family. If people would like to choose to support our work to beat cancer sooner, they can visit cruk.org."Cancer Research isn’t the only charity to see donations increase following the trend taking off on Tuesday afternoon: Macmillan, Breast Cancer Campaign and more are all seeing a lift.

Thank you to everyone who donated to us inspired by the #nomakeupselfie effort. You can still text MOBILE to 70550 to give £5.

— Macmillan Cancer (@macmillancancer) March 20, 2014

Huge, amazing, brilliant thanks to everyone who donated to us to support #nomakeupselfie for #breastcancerawareness! pic.twitter.com/4muUxGwffh

— BreastCancerCampaign (@BCCampaign) March 20, 2014

As well as women taking their #nomakeupselfies, men have not begun posting pictures of themselves wearing make-up, allowing a whole new audience to raise awareness.

We LOVE it, Ryan! RT @RyanMarkTaylor: @CR_UK What do you think? pic.twitter.com/rpNJUhIYiv

— Cancer Research UK (@CR_UK) March 20, 2014

I got nominated to take a selfie with make up for #cancerawareness I did it and also donated to @macmillancancer pic.twitter.com/hQqI3TL85o

— Kieran Beech (@kieronproskills) March 19, 2014

However, not everyone is in support of the campaign, with some complaining people should donate in private instead.

Didn't know a #NoMakeUpSelfie was a cure for cancer!! donate money instead!!

— Bowgy (@JackBowgen) March 19, 2014