Featured in Photo: Craig Esders, Retail Distribution Centre Manager and Vicki Pyrah, Online Sales Manager.
The only multi-charity gift card is a social enterprise that helps people give more sustainably, buy more consciously and support good causes.
Hull based Dove House 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 not for profit that has been developed and launched in association with the Charity Retail Association.
Dove House Hospice is now selling and accepting it in its 38 shops, which provides a range of specialist services for people with a progressive life limiting illness across Hull and East Yorkshire.
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 Shelter, 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.
Marisa Head, Head of Retail at Dove House Hospice, said: “We’re thrilled to join the gift card scheme at a time when more and more people are choosing to buy in our shops. The gift card provides a sustainable gift for our supporters and with 36 shops across the region, there’s plenty of choice to spend the cards at the same time as making a real difference to local families needing hospice care.”
Lee Fellows, Co-founder of The Charity Shop Gift Card, said: “It’s great to be welcoming Dove House Hospice shops to the gift card scheme. There are now over a thousand shops that accept the gift card across the UK, providing a great range of options for customers to spend their cards. As well as a great sustainable gift, the scheme generates important funds for the participating charities to help deliver services that help so many people.”
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
Karinda Martine
Dove House Hospice
Head of Communications and Events
Tel: 01482 784343
Email: k.martine@dovehouse.org.uk
Additional information about Dove House Hospice
Dove House Hospice is a core part of the health provision in our region, providing excellent services and support to residents of Hull and East Yorkshire who have a life limiting illness. Originally created as a place where ‘greater provision should be made for the incurably sick in a loving atmosphere’ the community came together and recognised that something needed to be done, to give those in need better care and support. That special community spirit has continued, whether it’s supporting Dove House Hospice financially or through the giving of time.
The charity’s first shop opened its doors on Hull’s Beverley Road back in the early 1980s, with funds now generated for the hospice at 36 retail outlets across Hull and East Yorkshire, accounting for around 50% of the charity’s overall income. Increasingly the hospice is having to think more creatively about how it generates funds to continue its work and generate new services for patients.
Since first accepting patients in 1991, the buildings and grounds at the hospice have developed alongside the changes in the care we provide. While a lot has changed, one thing has remained the same: keeping patients and their needs at the heart of everything we do.
