The only multi-charity gift card is a social enterprise that helps people give more sustainably, buy more consciously and support good causes.
PHOTO CAPTION: Volunteers – Jennifer Bottomley and Janet Habgood
Big C is now accepting The Charity Shop Gift Card — the only nationally accepted, multi-retailer gift card that can be spent exclusively in charity shops.
The Charity Shop Gift Card is a not-for-profit that has been developed and launched in association with the Charity Retail Association.
Big C is now selling and accepting it in its eleven shops, which provides a significant contribution to the work in supporting families impacted by cancer across the region and also funds specialist equipment and internationally significant research projects based at the Norwich Research Park.
The gift card for good is being accepted by regional charities in most areas of the UK and in the national network of shops run by Sense, Marie Curie, Shelter, Crisis, YMCA and The Children’s Society.
The scheme will support the growing second-hand revolution, which is helping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. It will also help national and regional charities boost their own income by giving them their first collective opportunity to tap into the £7billion-a-year gift card market.
The Charity Retail Association has 450 members with 9,000 shops, and together they are already diverting over 300,000 tonnes of textiles away from landfill and contributing over £300million to help fund the work of their parent charities.
As a social enterprise, a minimum of 65% of the gift card scheme’s surplus will go towards funding charity gift cards for good causes to donate to the communities they are supporting.
The gift cards themselves are recyclable and compostable and are available from participating charities and at supermarkets and other major high street retailers. They can be purchased as e-vouchers from www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.uk,
The Charity Shop Gift Card is a member of Social Enterprise UK, and the Gift Card and Voucher Association.
Suzanne Comaskey, Retail Operations Manager for Big C said: “We’ve been waiting to join the scheme for a while now so thrilled to finally launch the gift card. We truly believe that the gift card will be well received by our customers and it will hopefully introduce some new people to the benefit of charity shopping.”
Lee Fellows, Co-founder of The Charity Shop Gift Card, said: “We’re delighted to now be working with Big C adding some great charity shops to the network in Norfolk. The scheme is now growing rapidly making it an ideal gift for people that want to shop more consciously and reduce their impact on the environment.”
For more information:
www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.uk
ENDS
Notes to editors
*Valuing the UK Gift Card Industry 2020 report was compiled by the Gift Card and Voucher Association (GCVA)
Key statistics from the Charity Retail Association — www.charityretail.org.uk/key-statistics
- Charity shops contribute £331million a year to parent charities
- Charity shops save councils £31million a year in waste disposal charges by divert 339,000 tonnes of textiles away from landfill or incineration
- Charity shops have more than 25,500 FTE employees
Find out where The Charity Shop Gift Card is being accepted across the UK at www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.uk/stores
Big C
Big C is one of East Anglia’s largest cancer charities, having raised £40 million since it was founded 40 years ago. Today, Big C’s loyal supporters help the charity raise on average £3 million pounds every year to help those in our community who are affected by cancer.
Eight Cancer Support and Information Centres and Hubs, located in Norwich, King’s Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Gorleston, Wells Community Hospital, Thetford Healthy Living Centre and the Peartree Centre in Suffolk, provide friendly, specialist, practical and emotional support for those with a cancer diagnosis and their families in a non-clinical environment. Services include professional counselling, complementary therapies, group therapy, wellbeing programmes and welfare advice in partnership with Citizen’s Advice.
Support is available via the Big C virtual centre, offering video 1:1 support, virtual support groups and over the telephone too, for those who can’t travel to Big C’s centres, or who prefer support from the comfort of their own home.
Big C is based in the heart of the Norwich Research Park, where the charity has helped to fund internationally significant research projects, greatly benefiting local people and having a global impact on our understanding of preventing and treating cancer.
