Charity shops still generate higher percentage for charities
Howard Lake | 18 November 2005 | News
Supporters wishing to benefit charities by buying charity Christmas cards are once again advised to buy them direct from a charity or through a charity shop. The Charities Advisory Trust’s Charity Christmas Card Awards confirms that many charity Christmas cards sold through intermediaries do not generate much for charities.
The ‘Scrooge Award’ in this year’s Charity Christmas Card AWards goes to John Lewis: although it displayed 548 designs for a range of charities it passed on an average of only 7.9% of the sale price to the charities. This is below the recommended minimum of 10% that the Charities Advisory Trust thinks charities should insist on.
Even the largest charities can’t secure high percentages from retailers. Cancer Research UK receives between 5 and 10% from cards sold through high street retailers, whereas it receives at least 50% from the cards it sells in its shops.
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A spokesman for John Lewis told Third Sector magazine that it encouraged manufacturers to donate 10% of the cost to the beneficiary charity.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.