Featured in photo: Shirley Parkinson, Shop Manager and Lesley Johnson, volunteer at Derian House’s Chorley shop.
The only multi-charity gift card is a social enterprise that helps people give more sustainably, buy more consciously and support good causes.
Derian House Children’s Hospice 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 social enterprise that has been developed and launched in association with the Charity Retail Association.
Derian House is now selling and accepting the card in its 6 shops, which help to fund the hospice that needs to raise £6million per year to provide respite and end-of-life care to more than 400 children and young people across the North West.
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 Marie Curie, 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.
Andrew Upton-Ford, Head of Retail and Online Sales at Derian House, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to finally be joining the scheme. With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the gift card makes a perfect present and encourages shoppers to visit our charity shops and discover something unique and special.”
“It will cost us £6 million to run services at Derian House in 2023 and we rely on our shops and the generosity of our supporters for 70p in every £1. We have ambitious plans to open more shops across the North West and so having a truly sustainable gift card that can be spent at all of our shops is a great thing for our customers.”
Lee Fellows, Co-founder of The Charity Shop Gift Card, said: “Every purchase of this first-of-its-kind sustainable shopping gift card is a donation to charity and an opportunity for established charity shoppers to give the gift of thrift and encourage their family and friends to join the second-hand revolution.”
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
