# Lucrative new £460 million opportunity for charities - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/06/03/lucrative-new-460-million-opportunity-charities/ - Published: 2011-06-03T09:26:57+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake | Thanks to a game changing offering from Charity Greetings, charities can finally take full advantage of the £1.47 billion UK greeting cards industry. | | | A Charity Greetings Card Shop gives charities a free, own-brand, online paper greeting card store where every card sent raises valuable funds. The greeting card hungry British public spends more on greeting cards than on tea and coffee combined. On average we send 31 greeting cards per person per year in the UK (Greeting Card Association, 2010). As 1 in 5 consumers try to buy charity cards (Mintel, October 2010) charities are missing out on an estimated £460 million per annum. Currently, the purchase of charity cards remains largely confined to Christmas and Easter. | | | | Other occasions such as birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day remain an untapped market. Charity Greetings co-founder Craig Hartzel says “ The Card Shop is the perfect way for charities to generate more year-round revenue from their current supporter base, rather than asking them to give more, as charities usually do. Supporters simply send the cards they would normally send but they raise funds at the same time.” The Card Shop can also provide all the tools required to promote itself and its charity through both online social media and printed communications.“ With the permission of the card sender,” says Hartzel “We can insert a charity flyer in each card… an intelligent way to engage with someone new, who may become a supporter themselves.” Other tools such as Incentive Sharing and the Customer Nurture Sequence can be managed for the participating charities and provide additional vital promotion at very little cost. “The technology we’ve built has been developed specifically to raise money and awareness for charities.” Hartzel states “It allows adding further donations in lieu of gifts to every card which gives charities on average £2 for every card sent.” Dogs Trust, Cats Protection, Sightsavers, Bullying UK, Guide Dogs, Diabetes UK and Alzheimer’s Society are amongst the forward thinking charities who already have their own Charity Greetings Card Shops. Jacqui O’Beirne, Digital Marketing Manager at Dogs Trust (http://greetingcards.dogstrust.org.uk) says “Dogs Trust has found Charity Greetings to be an ideal companion to our other shopping offerings. Our supporters are already sending cards with some adding further donations. We were thrilled when our first sale came through only minutes after going live. The fact the cards are real and can be sent direct to the receiver is a real bonus for our supporters who prefer this.” Periodically Charity Greetings invites new charities to open up a Card Shop for free. | | To open your own [charity card shop](http://www.joincharitygreetings.com), go to [www.joincharitygreetings.com](http://www.joincharitygreetings.com) [Charity Cards](http://www.charitygreetings.com) including [birthday cards](http://www.charitygreetings.com) powered by [Charity Greetings](http://www.charitygreetings.com) | |   |   * **[JustTextGiving extended to individual fundraisers](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/06/23/justtextgiving-extended-individual-fundraisers/)**( 23 June 2011) * **[The Smart Money’s at Vantage Toyota With Launch of Community Drive](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/08/31/smart-moneys-vantage-toyota-launch-community-drive/)**( 31 August 2011) * **[Purple Vision course to help those new to fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/09/01/purple-vision-course-help-those-new-fundraising/)**( 1 September 2011) ## Advertisement [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)