Slimming World raises £2.1m with 2016 Clothes Throw
Melanie May | 20 July 2016 | News
This year’s Big Slimming World Clothes Throw was the most successful to date, raising £2.1m through the donation of members’ unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories to their local Cancer Research UK shops.
The annual fundraising campaign is in its fourth year, and sees members donated items they have slimmed out of to the charity’s shops over a two-week period in May. It also aims to raise awareness of the links between losing weight and reducing the risk of developing some types of cancer.
This year more than 80,000 bags were donated – an 11% rise on 2015 and a 113% rise on 2014. The most successful area in 2016 were the groups in the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire district, who raised £97,759 with 3864 bags.
With each bag collected worth around £25, the Clothes Throw campaign has now raised £5.8m since it launched in 2013.
Slimming World marketing co-ordinator Johanna Mather, who manages the national fundraising drive, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to have broken the £2million barrier this year. Not only is the Clothes Throw a perfect opportunity for Slimming World members to celebrate their slimming success and the fact they’ll never need their ‘before’ clothes again, it is also vital to spread the message that keeping a healthy weight could reduce the risk of developing ten different types of cancer – raising awareness of this fact is a key aim of the partnership overall.”
Slimming World also runs a number of other fundraising campaigns. Slimming World does Race for Life encourages Slimming World groups to hold their own activity-based event. The campaign has run for three years and will be repeated this month.
So far, Slimming World does Race for Life events have raised more than £555,000 towards the fundraising total. In January 2014, Slimming World also launched a charity donation box, encouraging members to donate the 5p change from their weekly group fees. This activity has so far raised £109,000.
Picture: Jem Marshall-Ayre, Slimming World
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.