Introducing our Charity of the Year

We’re pleased to announce that our new Charity of the Year is Saving Faces, championed by Tanya Del Federico, Deputy Head of Strategic Partnerships at Charles Stanley.

As our Charity of the Year, Saving Faces will be at the heart of our fundraising activity. Tanya will lead the partnership, helping us collaborate with the charity and maximise the support we can offer throughout the year. 

About Saving Faces 

Saving Faces is the UK’s only national research charity dedicated to improving outcomes for people affected by facial and oral cancer, serious facial injury and facial disfigurement. These conditions can profoundly impact identity, communication and wellbeing. 

The charity leads research through the National Facial, Oral and Oculoplastic Research Centre, working to drive early diagnosis, improve surgical care and influence NHS standards - filling a gap not covered by NHS treatment funding.

Their work has already shaped global clinical guidelines and improved survival rates. Saving Faces is now raising funds to establish a new professorship in clinical trials in oral cancer to accelerate future breakthroughs. 

Why Saving Faces matters to me 

Tanya Del Federico shares why she chose to nominate Saving Faces as Charity of the Year. 

Our face is how we communicate, express emotion and connect with others. When facial disease or injury occurs, the impact goes far beyond physical health – affecting speech, eating, confidence, identity and dignity. Despite this, facial disease and injury remain among the most under-researched and under funded areas of medicine. Saving Faces exists to close that gap. 

The charity spearheads national clinical trials, early detection programmes and reconstructive surgery research that the NHS relies on but cannot fund. Its work continues to save lives, restore function and rebuild identity for patients and families facing some of the most challenging diagnoses imaginable. 

For me, this cause is deeply personal. 

In early 2025, my brother, a consultant head and neck cancer surgeon himself, was diagnosed with mouth cancer. Overnight, he went from treating patients to becoming one. 

For years, he had been involved in major clinical research, including the SEND trial – a landmark study that proved early neck dissection saves lives in mouth cancer patients. Like many surgeons, he led and contributed to the research without ever imagining that one day he would rely on that very evidence to survive.

What began as a small tongue lesion progressed rapidly. Within weeks, he faced a long and complex operation, a neck dissection, a radial forearm free-flap reconstruction to rebuild his tongue, and radical radiotherapy. The treatment that saved his life was built on the research, surgical techniques and clinical trials spearheaded by Saving Faces. 

Seeing someone so close to you go through that experience changes your perspective completely. It brings home just how life-altering oral and facial cancer can be – not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. 

That’s why this charity means so much to me. Saving Faces exists to drive the research, early detection and surgical advances that save lives and help people rebuild them afterwards. 

Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing ways for everyone across the firm to get involved, whether through fundraising events or simply learning more about the charity’s work. Every bit of support helps drive the breakthroughs that make stories like that of my brother possible.