Which is the most deserving [and reliable] charity shop for donations...?

[Jacqui5254]

Over the last financial year I think I made at least a dozen visits to the St Christopher's Hospice charity shop in Lordship Lane to take in donations.

I make a point of taking decent items, often things that I might otherwise sell, and certainly feel I am making a reasonable contribution to their stock. I have given pictures, mirrors, small furniture, new books, decorative pieces, vintage items, decent clothes, jewellry, new bedlinen, kitchenalia, etc. Items that I know have a value.

So, I was shocked to receive my 'annual statement', thanking me for my contribution which, over the last year had raised ....drum roll....?13.81 [net of commission and VAT]. ?13.81!!!

I emailed the Head of Retail who had sent my statement, pointing out that I was concerned at this small amount and also highlighting that I was rarely asked for my Gift Aid details [which adds an extra 25% to the donation]. His reply addressed the need for training on the Gift Aid issue but ignored my concern about the amount raised.

I know I am not alone questioning where 'all the best stuff goes' from this shop.

So, moving on...where is the best place to take charitable donations?

thanks.

[Elphinstone's Army]

which shop? either way, this cannot be correct : we (as a large family) stopped donating/buying/entering either shop after donating to the smaller more select shop, good quality books of particular interest, to find that they were part of a buy 17 get 14 free offer, and wished we had walked up to the wondrous Oxfam bookshop at Herne Hill.

We bought a small table for my MIL which had china ornaments on when we examined it and assured it was 'fine' then at home discovered that it was unsteady, unsound, unuseable, (and sent it to Brixton BHF)

We now donate to Cancr Research, as without a doubt, this evil affects everyone, if not directly then indirectly, and the shop seem to be quite fussy in accepting donations and keeping the shops neat and tidy.

[Jacqui5254]

The larger St Christopher's Hospice shop with the double fronted windows.

[uncleglen]

Some charity shops- I know one for definite, give their volunteer staff a discount and first pick of stuff. Also there are people who get stuff from the charity shop and auction it off on sites. Nobody has a conscience these days since we all found out about the fat cats that run charities. You can find out what proportion of the charity money actually goes to the 'front line' -on the internet

[Rosetta]

What a shame. Hospices do such good work.

[Lynne]

The amount these shops just throw away is astonishing (and upsetting).

I've got a bag of stuff and books to give to the Give and Take recycling do at Darrell Road. I'd rather someone got something for nothing than think of things going straight into the bin.

[nxjen]

I'm wondering how accurate that figure of ?13.81 is. There must be a lot of scope for errors in record keeping.

[Penguin68]

[net of commission and VAT]

Charities do not pay VAT on the sale of donated second hand goods:- http://www.afvs.org.uk/publications/blogs/charity-shops-and-vat

'So, what are the VAT implications?

The good news is that the sale of donated goods is zero rated for VAT. This means that the shop-operating company can register for VAT, and can recover VAT on its overheads, such as utility costs, etc. Some shops also sell new items, which will generally be standard rated for VAT. It is recommended that there is a simple way of identifying such sales, e.g: different button on the till.

(There is a specific anti-avoidance rule which prevents items donated to the charity for use by the charity from subsequently being zero rated when sold.)

Some shops sell goods which are ?owned? by a private donor, who then donates the income to the charity, so that Gift Aid can be claimed. In this situation, the zero rating rules do not apply, as the income is a donation. VAT registration would not be appropriate if this arrangement applies to the whole shop income.

A different arrangement applies to goods sold at a fund-raising event. Such sales are VAT-exempt, subject to specific conditions being met. In this case, VAT cannot be recovered in relation to the event. '

What 'commission' are they paying?

As a disclaimer this is very confusing and quite concerning.

[Sue]

nxjen Wrote:

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> I'm wondering how accurate that figure of ?13.81

> is. There must be a lot of scope for errors in

> record keeping.

I had exactly the same experience.

I gave enormous amounts of stuff to the larger hospice shop, all of which I was assured would be Gift Aided, and the letter I got also gave a ridiculously small amount.

I don't think it's errors in record keeping.

I don't think a lot of donated items are put into the Gift Aid scheme, even when the donors have handed over their card to staff.

I have seen items of mine for sale with no indication that Gift Aid was involved.

To be fair, I understand that the shop is short of volunteers.

[Penguin68]

I am assuming that the low value shown for sales (outwith issues of strange deductions) is being provided for use in tax returns for Charitable Donations. Which suggests that St Christopher's may not be being punctilious in recording sales made for donations linked to Gift Aid. Which suggests that they are not claiming the 20% government bung which would accompany such donations. Which does suggest some levels of inefficiency. [Alternatively they may be recording such sales (for Gift Aid) but allocating them to the wrong accounts].

If they were being allocated in error e.g. to the account of a Higher Rate tax payer (who can claim additional tax relief on the back of it) that would be unfortunate.

[Bumpkin]

My view is that the volunteers probably don't have the time or systems in place to properly track exactly what you've donated and then tell you how much that was. Personally I'd rather they didn't waste money investing in IT systems that could better track this. If some of your stuff was sold and benefits the charity but you are not told about it, does it really matter?

The Mind shop are getting more diligent about asking for names / postcodes etc. when I donate stuff there, but I'm not sure how well they match the names to the bags, probably as they are trying to serve customers at the same time.

[goldilocks]

We've had a v similar letter from St Christopher's with a v low amount of sale proceeds. Compared to what the Mind shop in Crystal palace used to sell stuff for its weirdly low. I suspect as noted its just that they don't have the ability to track the stuff correctly.

[ianr]

Jacqui254> So, I was shocked to receive my 'annual statement', thanking me

Jacqui254>for my contribution which, over the last year had raised ....drum

Jacqui254> roll....?13.81 [net of commission and VAT]. ?13.81!!!

No mention from you or Sue of individual items, so I assume they don't appear on the statement.

If there's any serious concern or interest I'd suggest that one person could apply for an itemised statement. Better still, for one showing all information about all the items which they had donated under the Gift Aid scheme. If the acounting system is up to scratch it should entail very little extra work for them.

As well as being personal information, which one has a right to see, it can also be a very reasonable request. If your gift aid contributions in any tax year exceed your taxable income, you're going to be liable to pay the corresponding gift aid refunds yourself. Donors who've taken their gift aid contributions close to that limit might well want to be aware of their current potential liabilities for this, and maybe future, tax years.

Ideally the information provided would show the current status (eg sold - gift aid claimed, in stock, no record, ...) of each gift aid item donated.

Other web information-seeking possibilities: (1) Has this information already been sought from any charity? (2) What does the HMRC guidance for charities require of their bookkeeping?

[Growlybear]

I'm often amazed by the attitude of some of the staff in charity shops when I take in donations. Last week, I struggled into the Sue Ryder shop in Forest Hill with a box and two bags, which I took to the desk. The young woman behind the desk stared at me and said nothing. I told her that I had some items to donate, and she continued to stare at me, and didn't say so much as thank you or acknowledge that I had brought a number of items for the shop to sell. I've often encountered indifference when I take things to charity shops, but I've never had anyone who was quite as rude as this woman. I told her it would have been nice to have had my donations acknowledged, but she was still staring at me in complete silence when I walked out of the shop. If I hadn't found it so difficult to carry the stuff that I was donating, I would have taken it away, and taken it to the charity shop opposite the station. I have donated substantial amounts to this branch of Sue Ryder over the last couple of years, but will never set foot in there again. When I can, I also take things to the AldLife charity shop in Dartmouth Road, who are always charming and appreciative, but usually find it impossible to park close enough to carry my items.

[siousxiesue]

Lynne Wrote:

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> The amount these shops just throw away is

> astonishing (and upsetting).

> I've got a bag of stuff and books to give to the

> Give and Take recycling do at Darrell Road. I'd

> rather someone got something for nothing than

> think of things going straight into the bin.

When things are not up to scratch for selling, or simply to surplus, they are 'ragged' so money is still raised!

[cactus]

This morning I saw a member of staff at the Mind shop throwing bags of items straight into the back of the bin lorry.

Now I'm aware that people leave stuff on the doorstep, which then gets ruined by the rain and can't be sold, so I'm not jumping to just the one conclusion. But I suspect some less desirable donations do end up in landfill and aren't recycled. Now I don't know if this is because the shops can't manage the volume, are inefficient/wasteful, or is it because too many folks donate any old rubbish, which has to end up somewhere.

[johnie]

Growlybear Wrote:

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> When I can, I also take things to the AldLife

> charity shop in Dartmouth Road, who are always

> charming and appreciative, but usually find it

> impossible to park close enough to carry my items.

Call them up, in the past AldLife have come round in their van and collected stuff from us.

[Rosetta]

Where to recycle textiles?

[shelly2106]

We used to be able to recycle textiles at the mobile recycling van every month at Sainsbury's but sadly the council has recently stopped this service

[doolallysally]

To answer the original question...I believe ALD LIFE to be a very deserving and trustworthy charity shop. To give some background information about them, they are a growing charity, set up in 2004 by an east dulwich mum after her 8 year old son was diagnosed with the most devastating disease that is Adrenoleukodystrophy, otherwise known as ALD. The charity gives emotional, financial and practical support to families all over the world affected by ALD and funds research projects in the hope of finding a cure. They now have charity shops in Peckham, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Penge and Greenwich and will come and collect larger items.

[hammerman]

Jacqui5254, it's good you've flagged this up!

I've donated to many charity shops (including St Christopher's) over the years and just hope for the best that they can make some money.

Going back to other posters and donating to charity shops is sometimes very personal and you have to try to detach yourself from the person receiving your precious goods!

I've also found a lot of charity shops are selling lots of new goods for sale. Personally I don't go into a charity shop looking for new goods but maybe it's something for the future.

I took a pair of ladies good clean wellington boots into a charity shop a while ago (think it was when we had snow around) and they said they couldn't accept them as had their own range on sale. So I had to take them home but later they were made use of!

Tuesday morning I walked into the Mind shop on the roundabout with a bag of donations with a lady who just held out her arms as if to say thank you. I then proceeded to look around and was there for around 10 minutes. In that time my bag of donated clothes was thrown out all over the shop with a lot of other stuff in full view of customers.

[singalto]

I take lots of stuff to local charity shops and find these posts disheartening..

[Jacqui5254]

I totally get the.. 'any amount raised is a good thing', 'charities are short staffed and admin might be lax'.

However, if you regularly take many bags full of very sellable items and over a year the amount raised is just over ?13 there has to be something going wrong somewhere.

I'm not the only one who raises questions about where some of their donations end up, and if they have a 'help yourself' policy for staff, or take my good things to dealers who don't then use the money for the hospice, then I want to know.

Inefficiency or not, St Christophers Hospice Shop is a huge place that is always full of customers and it's not good business to tell your donors that the huge effort they have made accounts for very little. There are 17 shops associated with St Christopher's Hospice which is great. They are big business and they ask for quality goods. I can't believe that they aren't able to have an accurate recording system when the hospice relies on these funds to help run their excellent service.

http://www.stchristophers.org.uk/shops/our-shops-in-numbers/

I genuinely expected my contributions to have brought in at least 10 times the ?13.81 they claimed. That's quite a discrepancy so either their accounting system is way wrong or decent goods are finding their way elsewhere.

I hear lots of tales about the latter so maybe now it's time to take things elsewhere. And maybe I won't be so passive and grateful, because I genuinely made a big effort, thinking my contributions would make a small difference. Not a microscopic one.

Thanks for all the good suggestions everybody.

[giggirl]

Sadly I had exactly the same experience. My annual statement came to something like 86p. I was alarmed/upset. Especially factoring in the cost of the stamp. I am mindful, as others have said, that maybe they don't have the systems to acurately tot up the totals, in which case they should stop doing it.

I wanted to clear my wardrobes of a lot of work clothes - which are all very high end - as I don't work any more. My first choice was to give to my local charity shops but, TBH that hasn't worked out for me. At St Christophers I found that they price as a dress as, well just a dress; regardless of whether it is McQueen or Primark. I tried Mary's place down the road but they didn't raise much either and the last time I donated (just last week) the woman gave me a blank stare. I don't care if they are volunteers - good manners cost nothing.

Anyway, I reluctantly turned to ebay. I have sold around 15 pieces and made over ?3k.

I don't want to turn my back on charity shop giving. I support the important work of St Christophers and now give a monthly donation instead.

Also, I was alarmed by what someone said on this thread about some shops giving staff first dibs to cream off the good stuff. Bloody hell - I don't want someone picking up my stuff for a song and then selling on ebay for a profit - I could do that myself.

Woould be grateful if anyone has any real insight into where to donate high-end labels. Thank you.

[siousxiesue]

At St Christophers I found that they price as a dress as, well just a dress; regardless of whether it is McQueen or Primark.

This is untrue. I personally heard a customer ask for a price for a lovely dress, and the reason given for a rather high number was that it was a 'designer' brand.