Our mission

To take the fear out of cancer, and replace it with hope and strength!

We want to raise lots of money so we can fund promising and ground-breaking cancer research. Cancer shouldn’t be a potential death sentence, but something that can be cured. Or at least make it as manageable as, say, hay fever. Ambitious? Of course. But, hey - it takes just one seed to plant a rainforest, one drop of rain to end a drought, and one cent to reach a research funding milestone.

That’s why we created a massive donate button, a wonderful webshop with tools to support cancer patients and their relatives, and a stunning action page to help you turn your energy into cherries that will eventually contribute to curing cancer!

Our foundation

Cherries on Top was started by five friends, one of whom was diagnosed with cancer. We had two choices: rely on others to save our friend, or do everything within our power to raise funds that would help find a cure for cancer. We went for the second option, and that’s how Cherries on Top was born.

The five friends and board members are:

Erik van der Ven
Chairman

Hi! I’m Erik, and online content creation is my profession. I wake up with new cool ideas every morning. But one day, I woke up in a world that looked completely different from before. Jany, my beloved wife, got diagnosed with cancer. And although cancer fully stops many things, it never stops us from putting a Cherry on Top of each day. But to keep doing so for many days to come, we need cancer to be curable. At Cherries on Top, it is my task to come up with new innovative ideas to collect funds for groundbreaking cancer research while keeping all ducks in a row because I can’t wait to wake up again in a world where cancer isn’t one of the first things on my mind.

Kees Vedder
Administrator

Hi! I’m Kees. Engineering is my profession, and when I’m not working, I like to spend as much free time as I can in my shed building furniture or customizing motorcycles. When I heard about Jany’s cancer diagnosis, I wished I could grab the biggest sledgehammer in my shop to kick that thing out of her brain. But unfortunately, not many people get any better by getting slapped with a sledgehammer. So when the idea of Cherries on Top came up, I was right there to help. I’m responsible for all the secretary work needed when running an international cancer foundation like Cherries on Top. And although you might not think so when you see me working in my shed, I’m a very well-organized person. So making sure every document gets sorted by date, name, color, length, thickness, you name it, is something that suits me very well. But please do tell me when you see any cancer laying around to be hit by a hammer because I’ll be right there to give it my all.

Rémon Saaltink
Finance

Hi! My name is Rémon. Managing projects is my profession, and when I’m not working, I’m behind my desk writing thriller novels. But to be honest, the cancer diagnosis of Jany exceeds every thriller plot I’ve ever written. As much as I’d like to write the best death threat to cancer to make it go away, I know well enough that it doesn’t work like that. So when the idea of Cherries on Top came up, I couldn’t wait to join my friends and give this foundation my best. Together with our fantastic bookkeeper from Count for You, I’m responsible for all the finances of Cherries on Top. I make sure every cent gets well spent on the best cancer research out there. But I can promise you when the day comes that all cancers can be cured, and that day will come, I’ll be writing its last goodbyes.

Jany Veldstra
Motivator

Hi! I’m Jany, and I am diagnosed with a brain tumor. But I’m also blessed with the best friends in the world! So when I got diagnosed with cancer, not only my whole world changed, but so did theirs. I wasn’t ready to give up my future. I just turned 29 and became a mom just a few weeks earlier. So I needed an action plan that would go beyond hope. Since we learned that one out of three people gets diagnosed with cancer globally and that just 60% is curable, we realized that this wasn’t just my problem. We’re all in this together. So that’s why we came up with Cherries on Top, to empower everybody to make one big fist against cancer, together, globally, to show that there’s no place for cancer anywhere on this planet. Together with my friends, I’m here to help you contribute to a cancer-free world.

Eline Vera de Reus
Design

Hi! I’m Eline, and singing is my profession. Whether it is on YouTube, in the shower, for commercials, or on my bike (yes, I’m very Dutch), singing is what I love doing most. The only thing that ever stopped me from singing was Jany’s cancer diagnosis. It literally took my breath away. Since I’m no doctor, I couldn’t find her a cure myself. But I could take all my creativity and channel it through Cherries on Top. So that’s what I do. I make all the Cherries on Top designs for our shop, social media, and the Cherries on Top website, but also for our newsletters, packaging, and even our videos. I do all I can to make us look better than cancer and have cancer sing a different tune.

None of us are compensated in any way for our participation. The board meets regularly to take necessary decisions, sharpen our strategy and deal with the various matters that come with the territory when you run a global foundation. If decisions are put to the vote, only a majority will suffice. All members have a single, equal vote. As a result, no individual can decide how Cherries on Top allocates its funds.

Our first-hand experience of a C-diagnosis gave us lots of new insights. One was that it can be tough to find the right words of encouragement in a situation that is so unpredictable. Cancer often triggers fear and sadness, whereas you actually want to build strength and hope. That’s what we aim to do.

Overhead costs, like maintaining and developing the Cherries on Top platform, are covered by hard work from many volunteers, wonderful partners and sponsors, and from our web shop. That’s something we are extremely proud of.

Sponsors

We’re able to keep our overhead costs extremely low because of wonderful sponsors who share the same vision as we do. With more fantastic support like this, we’ll continue to fund research aimed at taming cancer.

Thank you cherry much to each of them! Without these great companies we wouldn’t be anywhere near to having the scale of operation we currently do.

Collaborators

We're proud to collaborate with the foundations below to fund the most promising and groundbreaking cancer studies. They do all the nitty-gritty work of selecting, tracking, and evaluating projects that get funded by Cherries on Top. For more info about our previous and upcoming projects, click here.

ANBI (public benefit organisation) status

Cherries on Top is based in the Netherlands, and has been granted ANBI (public benefit organisation) status. This gives Dutch companies and donors tax benefits when they make a donation. You can find out more about the ANBI status here.