A CHARITY is looking to sign up 100 businesses to help with fundraising as part of a major campaign.

Macmillan Cancer Support has started its 100+ Club in the county to encourage small businesses to drum up £1,000 each this year in a bid to reach a target of £100,000.

Fundraising manager Julian Knowles, who is based at Launton, near Bicester, said: “We are looking to involve businesses with up to ten staff and a turnover of about £1.5m.

“It will give them a chance to become involved with a major charity as part of their corporate social responsibility.”

The initiative, which has been launched to mark the charity’s 100th anniversary, will run alongside other successful Macmillan campaigns such as the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning which last year raised £230,000 in Oxfordshire out of £8m nationwide.

From that and other initiatives such as a presence at last year’s Cornbury Festival, relationships with major firms such as Banbury-based information technology firm iSoft and Oxford medical device manufacturer Becton Dickinson have already been established.

Macmillan will use the cash raised to fund its 38 cancer specialist nurses in the county as well as a range of other services for individuals and families affected by cancer.

Mr Knowles added that he hoped the 100+ Club would also lead to businesses forming lasting links with Macmillan.

He said: “We would like to work with them as closely as possible to find out what they do in terms of their business initiatives.

“We don’t have a standard way of working with organisations. We try to understand what they do and look at a long-term solution.”

For more details on the 100+ Club, call 01869 322279 or see the website www.macmillan.org.uk/oxfordshire