CISS

What CISS does

CISS (Cancer Information & Support Services) is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee founded in 1993 and headquartered in Swansea, Wales. It provides free emotional support, counselling, and cancer information services to anyone whose life has been affected by cancer — including patients, carers, family members, and friends — across South West Wales, with physical counselling centres in Swansea, Neath, and Port Talbot. Service delivery is multi-channel: a telephone helpline operating weekdays with 24-hour answerphone, face-to-face counselling at centres, hospital and hospice visits (Singleton, Ty Olwen, Neath General), home and workplace visits, and video sessions via Zoom and Teams; 93% of clients are referred by medical professionals, and the organisation adheres to BACP ethical standards.

The underlying operational technology is modest: a standard SSL-secured website with Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Google Conversion/Remarketing tags for marketing analytics — no proprietary platform, app, or AI components are disclosed. The product portfolio centres on human-delivered counselling (including a 2025-launched Children & Young People's service for ages 3–18), bereavement support, and information services; fundraising products include a CISS Lottery, online donations, and a legacy giving programme.

Revenue is generated through a diversified charity funding mix: a retail charity shop in Swansea described as accounting for a "significant proportion" of income, the CISS Lottery, individual donations (online, cheque, postal order), legacy giving, and grants from the National Lottery and Tesco's Bags of Help scheme. The organisation states that 80% of income is spent directly on beneficiary services. CISS is governed by seven trustees and led day-to-day by Charity Manager Ian Addison (in role since 2008), with a paid staff of a Shop Manager and multiple qualified outreach counsellors.

Name

CISS

Legal name

Cancer Information & Support Services

Website

https://cancersupport.wales

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CISS is a registered Welsh charity providing free cancer counselling, emotional support, and information services to patients, carers, and families across South West Wales, delivered via telephone, physical centres, hospital/home visits, and video, and funded by a charity shop, lottery, donations, and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Swansea

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Charity Shop Retail: CISS operates a charity shop in Swansea that generates significant proportion of the charity's income through sale of donated goods.
2. Lottery: CISS Charity Lottery where players can win £25 each week, providing regular contributions to services.
3. Donations and Legacies: Online donations via credit/debit card, cheque or postal order payments, and legacy giving through bequests in wills.
4. National Lottery Funding: Received Lottery funding to open second centre in Neath in 2004 and expand outreach services into Carmarthenshire in 2010.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CISS is a registered charity providing free cancer information, emotional support, and counselling services to anyone whose life has been affected by cancer in South West Wales. Services are delivered through a telephone helpline, three physical counselling and information centres, hospital/hospice visits, home and workplace visits, video conferencing, bereavement counselling, and a specialist Children & Young People's Counselling programme (ages 3-18). All services are free at the point of delivery and funded by donations, lottery proceeds, charity shop income, and grants.

Product overview

CISS (Cancer Information & Support Services) operates as a registered charity providing free cancer support services across South West Wales. The organisation offers a unified service portfolio centred on emotional support and counselling delivered through multiple channels: telephone helplines (Swansea and Neath Port Talbot), face-to-face counselling at three Information & Counselling Centres, hospital and hospice visits, and home/workplace visits. Additional services include bereavement counselling, a dedicated Children and Young Peoples Counselling programme (ages 3-18), and fundraising activities including a charity lottery, online donations, legacy giving, and a retail charity shop. Services are accessible to anyone over 18 (or 3+ for the CYP programme) whose life has been affected by cancer, including patients, carers, family members, and friends. The organisation is governed by a Board of Trustees and maintains BACP ethical standards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CISS Lottery: Weekly charity lottery with chance of winning £25 each week.

Products and services

• Telephone Helpline Telephone-based emotional support service covering Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, offering confidential support to anyone whose life has been affected by cancer. Available 9am-5pm weekdays with a 24-hour answerphone outside these hours.
• Counselling & Information Centres Face-to-face counselling and cancer information drop-in services at three locations: Gwydr Crescent, Uplands, Swansea; Dyfed Road Surgery, Neath; and Port Talbot Resource Centre, Baglan. The Swansea centre also provides a drop-in information facility.
• Hospital and Hospice Visits Outreach visits by CISS counsellors to patients in hospitals and hospices at their request or when referred by family, carers, or health professionals. Locations include Singleton Hospital wards, Ty Olwen at Morriston Hospital, and Neath General Hospital wards.
• Home and Workplace Visits Counselling support delivered at client-chosen locations such as their own home, a friend's house, community centres, or places of work, across the South West Wales community.
• Emotional Support and Counselling Free, confidential listening and counselling service for patients, relatives, friends, and carers. Counsellors can meet clients at home, in hospital, at workplaces, in centres, by phone, or via Zoom and Teams.
• Bereavement Counselling Bereavement counselling and emotional support delivered across the South West Wales community for individuals grieving the loss of someone to cancer.

Quantifiable outcome

• 93% of people helped are referred by medical professionals
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Hancock & BrownminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 June 2023Corporate team from Hancock & Brown raised over £4,000 through a sponsored climb of Pen y Fan for CISS, demonstrating community business support.
• Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLogo displayed as health board partner; CISS visits patients at Singleton Hospital wards and Ty Olwen, Morriston Hospital as part of hospital support services.
• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)coreOthersCISS adheres to BACP's ethical standards and Code of Ethics and Practice. Staff include accredited members of BACP and the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cancer Research UK: The world's largest independent cancer research charity, with a much broader research-led mission but also providing patient information and support services. Competes for donor share within the same UK cancer charity category.
• Hospice UK: National umbrella for hospice and palliative care providers across the UK. Comparable to CISS on end-of-life emotional support and hospice partnership engagement (e.g., CISS visits Ty Olwen hospice).

Direct peers

• Cruse Bereavement Support: UK bereavement charity offering free bereavement counselling, support and information. Directly comparable to CISS's bereavement counselling service line and free-of-charge delivery model.
• Marie Curie: UK charity providing hospice care and emotional/practical support for people with terminal illness including cancer. Comparable on bereavement support and end-of-life counselling services offered alongside clinical care.
• Sue Ryder: UK charity providing bereavement counselling, hospice care and emotional support. Comparable on bereavement support service line and multi-channel delivery (in-person, helpline, online).
• Macmillan Cancer Support: The UK's largest cancer charity, providing emotional, practical and financial support to people affected by cancer. Directly comparable to CISS on the emotional support and counselling service line, though operating nationally with substantially greater resources.
• Young Lives vs Cancer: UK charity supporting children and young people with cancer and their families. Directly comparable to CISS's newly launched 3-18 CYP counselling service line and an indicator of the addressable niche CISS is entering.
• Maggie's: Operates a network of cancer support centres offering free emotional, practical and social support, with a centre-based counselling model highly analogous to CISS's Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot facilities.
• Tenovus Cancer Care: Wales-based cancer charity offering emotional support, counselling and a mobile support unit across Welsh communities. Directly comparable geographic overlap with CISS and similar service mix, including helpline and outreach support.

Regional players

• Brain Tumour Charity: UK-wide specialist cancer charity providing support and information for those affected by brain tumours, with comparable online information and helpline services but focused on a single cancer type.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CISSCharity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CISS