Leeds charity St Gemma’s Hospice is now accepting the first-of-its-kind Charity Shop Gift Card.
Second-hand shopping continues to grow in popularity, and much-loved Leeds charity St Gemma’s Hospice has joined the growing network of charity shops across the UK that are accepting the first-of-its-kind Charity Shop Gift Card. This is the only nationally accepted, multi-retailer gift card that can be spent exclusively in charity shops.
The Charity Shop Gift Card is now accepted at St Gemma’s 24 shops across Leeds. The shops support the hospice in providing expert care for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses.
St Gemma’s joins Yorkshire Cat Rescue and Prince of Wales Hospice in accepting the card in the West Yorkshire region, with the shops of Kirkwood Hospice and Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice joining one of the UK’s most sustainable shopping gift cards this month.
Chris Davey, deputy head of retail for St Gemma’s Hospice: “To continue our vital work this year, we need to raise 72% of our running costs ourselves. The revenue generated in our chain of charity shops forms a significant part of this. Therefore, we are delighted to join the rapidly growing Charity Shop Gift Card scheme and introduce more consumers to the charity shopping community, offering a way for customers to shop sustainably and support charity too.”
The Charity Shop Gift Card is a not-for-profit initiative that has been developed and launched in association with the Charity Retail Association to help people gift more sustainably, buy more consciously and support good causes like those in Yorkshire.
It’s also being accepted in the national network of shops run by Marie Curie, Shelter, Crisis, YMCA and The Children’s Society as well as other regional charities in most areas of the UK.
Find out where The Charity Shop Gift Card is being accepted across the UK: www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.uk/stores
For charities like those in Yorkshire, collectively tapping into the £7billion-a-year gift card market for the first time with The Charity Shop Gift Card is helping them to continue to drive up their own income and drive down the amount of waste sent to landfill.
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.
Lee Fellows, Co-founder of The Charity Shop Gift Card: “We’re delighted to now be working with St Gemma’s, adding to the shops available to spend cards in West Yorkshire. With Prince of Wales Hospice and Yorkshire Cat Rescue already in the scheme and both Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice and Kirkwood Hospice joining the scheme soon, there is an amazing choice of charity shops across the region.”
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.
Photograph: Dee Ranson, shop manager, and Janice Whitaker, deputy shop manager, at St Gemma’s Hospice which is now accepting the first-of-its-kind Charity Shop Gift Card at its 24 shops.
For more information: www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.ukwww.st-gemma.co.uk
