small charity week 2017 cra news: special edition · small charity week (19th-24th june) is the...

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Small Charity Week 2017

CRA News: Special Edition

Charity Retail Association®

The voice of charity retail

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Robin Osterley Welcome ............................................................................ 5

Small Charity Future Meetings ................................................................... 5

Bobath Children’s Therapy Centre Wales .................................................... 6

Small Charity Week 2017 ............................................................................ 8

Royal Free Charity ...................................................................................... 9

Small Charity Shops: the things you should know ...................................... 11

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home ................................................................... 13

Foyle Hospice ............................................................................................ 14

Charity Retail Association: working for you ............................................... 15

Wandsworth Oasis ..................................................................................... 18

Animal Free Research UK ......................................................................... 20

Charity Retail Association4th FloorResource for London Building356 Holloway RoadLondon N7 6PA

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CONTENTS

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WELCOMEby Robin Osterley, CEO, Charity Retail Association

We are publishing this special edition of CRA News, our association’s newsletter, both in print and online, to celebrate the establishment of our Small Charities Group. The group was founded during Small Charity Week in June 2016 and it’s amazing that the year has come around so quickly! Our Member Services Officer and Small Charities Champion, Sarah Yardley, has done a great job in getting our group off the ground, and we have held numerous meetings, instituted some new services, and met many more of our smaller charity members as a result. It’s been a great initiative, and many congratulations to our Small Charities Group on their first anniversary!

Future Small Charities Group Meetings 2017

NORTH EAST

Thursday 28th September 2017

St Oswald’s Hospice, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1EE

LONDON

Wednesday 18th October 2017

RfL, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA

MIDLANDS

Thursday 9th November 2017

BVSC, 138 Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR



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BOBATH CHILDREN’S THERAPY CENTRE WALESBobath Children’s Therapy Centre Wales is a charity based in Cardiff which provides specialist therapy to children from all over Wales who have cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is the most common disability in children, caused by damage to a baby’s or young child’s brain and affecting an estimated 1,800 children in Wales.

Bobath therapists are state registered physiotherapists, occupational therapists or speech and language therapists, with specialist training and expertise in the treatment of cerebral palsy. Our mission statement is to ‘improve the quality of life of children in Wales who have cerebral palsy’.

This year, the charity celebrates its 25th anniversary but it was only in October 2010 that we opened our first charity shop. We now have four, one of which is a furniture shop, plus a warehouse and two vans collecting and delivering donations.

As Head of Fundraising the only previous retail experience I had was working for another charity which included overall responsibility for the management of the shop volunteers.

So being something of a novice I turned to the Charity Retail Association for help and advice and I am so pleased that I did. From the outset, their expertise was instrumental in making our first and subsequent shops a success.


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When I first made contact, I was informed about their annual conference which was just about to be held. I decided to book myself a place at the conference and learnt so much from the different workshops I attended as well as meeting delegates from charities small and large who were all so helpful.

The Charity Retail Association also recommended a book by John Tough ‘Setting Up and Running Charity Shops, An Essential Guide’ published by the association [now out of print]. This became my bible as I researched the viability of opening our first shop and the project management, from the initial planning to opening day. The website provided information on everything from site selection, stock generation, marketing, security, retail gift aid, volunteer management and health and safety.

Whether needing advice on suppliers, waste collection, shop fittings, rent, wages, repairs, bills, insurance, trading standards or just needing reassurance that you are on the right track it is marvellous to have an association dedicated to the sector.

The work undertaken by the association such as lobbying, public relations and market analysis is also vital to charities whether they have one shop or hundreds. They give credence to the sector when dealing with the government, local authorities or the general public, especially today when charities are under so much regulation.

Our shops have provided a much-needed income stream and have been profitable from the outset and I am grateful for the advice and support the Charity Retail Association has provided.

GAIL GRIFFITHSHead of Fundraising & Retail

Bobath Children’s Therapy Centre Wales



SMALL CHARITY WEEK 2017Small Charity Week (19th-24th June) is the biggest event in the small charity calendar providing free initiatives, competitions and support over six days for charities or local community organisations with an annual turnover under £1.5 million. Events include:

I Love Small Charities Day Three social media competitions to win funds for your charity.

Big Advice Day Free advice on any charity topic of your choosing from experts across the sector and business leaders.

Policy Day Local and national events to support engagement between small charities and policy makers and influencers.

Fundraising DayTake part in free competitions and initiatives to raise vital funds for your small charity and join events to improve your knowledge on fundraising topics.

Small Charity Big Impact Day Showcase your small charity and the fantastic impact it makes by applying for The Foundation for Social Improvement’s (FSI’s) Small Charity Big Impact Awards.

Celebration Day Get involved and run an event to help raise awareness of and celebrate your amazing work.

We are calling on all small charities to get involved and engage with the activities available.

See www.smallcharityweek.com for more information and follow @SCWeek2017 for breaking news.


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ROYAL FREE CHARITYWe joined the CRA a year ago in July 2016, shortly after our Board signed off our ambitious plans to establish a chain of retail shops in North London and the surrounding areas. I had researched the concept and produced the scoping paper for our Board, much of the content of which was drawn from the CRA Charity Shops Surveys 2014 & 2015. Other than researching for the paper, and a day spent with the retail team of a wonderful hospice charity based in Somerset, that was the sum total of my retail knowledge and experience. The Charity Shops Survey had become my ‘bible’ and a great resource to be able to benchmark everything against, from average shop size to weekly income averages, numbers of volunteers per shop, and profit margins.

Since then, the last 12 months have been full of learning, sharing and networking, in the most part through opportunities provided by the various CRA events. These have been invaluable opportunities to learn from others, ask questions and hear real experiences of what works, what hasn’t and the lessons learnt. I attended the AGM and also the first meeting of the Small Charities Group, and my colleague has attended two training courses. At all of these the networking opportunities have been just as beneficial as the events themselves.




At the Small Charities Group meeting the presentation from HMRC on Gift Aid helped us to decided which method to use, and during the networking I was able to ask about people’s experiences of EPoS providers as we were in the process of selecting ours. The information I was given enabled me to ask providers questions I wouldn’t have been aware I needed to be asking, like what support is included and what is included as basic and which functions have additional costs attached.

Another great source of information has been the CRA website including research papers (we have made use of the Salaries 2016 report, Average Selling Prices) and the Directory of services/providers. This year for the first time we will be attending the annual Conference.

One thing that has been reassuring has been answering the chicken and egg question that haunted me for the first year... When setting up a retail chain from scratch do you invest initially in employing expensive retail expertise or do you start small, gain the experience along the way and invest in expertise later as you grow and scale up? Through networking at events, I have met organisations who have employed a retail expert, but without charity sector knowledge (and in particular no experience of working with volunteers), and also those like me who have spent a career in the charity sector, but have no retail knowledge unless you count a Saturday job in Superdrug in my teens! I have discovered it doesn’t matter which way you do it. As long as you have access to the knowledge, resources, support and a great network of great likeminded people willing to share, you can be successful whichever way around you do it.

I’m pleased to say at the time of writing this our first shop lease has been signed and the fit-out process has begun, and the lease on our second shop is due to be signed next week. Now we’re on the lookout for our third shop. Watch this space!

ALISON KIRAHead of Project Development

Royal Free Charity



SMALL CHARITY SHOPS: THE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. Goods – your obligations. Consumers are entitled to expect that goods they buy are of satisfactory quality, fit

for their intended purpose and as described.

2. Are customers entitled to a refund, repair or replacement? Only if the goods are faulty are they allowed a full or part refund, a replacement

or repair, a price reduction or compensation for losses incurred. But this depends on their state when they were purchased.

3. Information you must give consumers. There is some very specific information you must give to consumers in a clear

and understandable way before you sell goods. This includes information on pricing, your trading address and complaint-handling policy.

4. Do I have to sell the goods to consumers? No. You have the right to accept a consumer’s offer or decline it. A consumer

cannot legally insist that you sell the goods if you choose not to (eg there may have been a mistake in the price).

5. Safety of consumer goods. Product safety in the UK is covered by national and European legislation. The

laws apply to any business involved in the supply of goods to consumers and businesses must ensure that goods are safe.

6. What products are covered by safety? Any product that is intended for consumers or likely to be used by them (eg heavy

duty tools for DIY), are required to be safe. This applies whether the goods are new, reconditioned or second-hand.



7. What is a safe product? You have to consider all characteristics of the product, how it is presented, the

effect that it might have on other products it is likely to be used with and the consumers at risk when using it (especially children and the elderly).

8. Second hand electrical goods Retailers must only sell appliances that are correctly fitted with an approved plug,

with sleeved neutral and live pins, and the correct fuse. Electric fires for use in the home must have a fireguard that meets British Standards, or the European equivalent.

9. Second-hand toys Second hand toys do not need to be labelled with the CE mark or the address of

the manufacturer/distributor, but they must still be safe. The special warnings and instructions are required.

10.Second hand upholstered furniture Used upholstered furniture is subject to stringent safety standards. Regulations

cover the flammability of upholstered furniture (including beds, sofa beds, cots, cushions and mattresses).

11.Underage sales You are responsible for ensure that you and your staff do not sell age-restricted

products to people under the minimum legal age. This includes DVDs, computer games and Christmas crackers.

SALFORD CITY COUNCILCRA’s Primary Authority


EDINBURGH DOG AND CAT HOMEEdinburgh Dog and Cat Home’s charity shops provide a vital funding stream for the care of hundreds of lost and abandoned dogs and cats who reach its door every year. In 2016, our Stockbridge shop opened its doors for the first time, which added to the Home’s existing shop in Morningside and the additional shop run by the Friends of Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home in Portobello.

It is very exciting to be at this point, as we have overcome numerous obstacles in scaling up these businesses over the last few years. Like many of our fellow CRA members, our dependency on volunteers to help run the shops continues to present challenges. We have invested a lot of time in finding suitable volunteers who will commit regular hours on an ongoing basis.

The services provided by Volunteer Edinburgh and Volunteer Scotland have certainly helped with this, and we feel particularly privileged to have so many dedicated supporters on both sides of the counter.

With increasing costs and the absence of any government or lottery funding, Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home is increasingly relying on the income from our shop sales, which in turn leads to financial pressures. We have had to look at new ways to boost our revenue, which this year will include the introduction of online selling and charity Gift Aid.

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home has seen many of the benefits of Charity Retail Association membership. In addition to networking opportunities, it offers us a wealth of information on many areas of retail – from pricing and benchmarking to waste recycling management.




For example, we recently used the guest blog ‘Spotting High Value Jewellery’ from Katie Jones in training our team. Here’s hoping we find that wee gem that could be worth thousands!

We are excited about what the future holds for Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home retail, as we continue to grow our shop portfolio, alongside our many other fundraising activities. We are motivated by our vision of every unwanted or mistreated dog and cat being given a second chance for a loving forever home.

SUSAN LOWERetail Manager

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home FOYLE HOSPICEFoyle Hospice provides specialist Palliative Care Services for patients with cancer and life limiting illnesses to families across the North West of Ireland. Costing in excess of £2.5M each year for service provision, the organisation has 5 charity shops spread across its catchment area. Each year profit from the shops contributes around 30% towards the fundraising target required to ensure ongoing care for patients, their families and loved ones.

The Hospice opened its first charity shop in 2005 in Castlederg, Co Tyrone and over the coming years opened further outlets in Strabane, Derry & Limavady. Each of the premises is unique e.g. one of the outlets in Derry/Londonderry focuses primarily on furniture. Following a recent retail review a business plan has been drawn up to enhance the shops further with a view to increasing revenue, rebranding and training and development for staff & volunteers, as well as looking at new ways of increasing the profile of the organisation.

Being a member of the Charity Retail Association has many advantages. It allows staff to liaise with representatives from other charities and discuss problems that they may also be experiencing, formulating ways of attacking these problems as well as picking up new and innovative ideas on ways of improving sales, merchandising, branding etc.

CIARAN MCGINLEYHead of Fundraising

Foyle Hospice



CHARITY RETAIL ASSOCIATION: WORKING FOR YOUThe Charity Retail Association exists to provide support and helpful services to charity retailers in the UK, whatever their size.

In my department, this primarily means three things.

Firstly, we ensure you have access to informative and up-to-date guidance about any policy changes that effect the way you trade. We know that small charities do not always have the resources to continually monitor changes in legislation which might impact on the sector. So, we regularly update our Policy Guidance webpage to cover new developments and changes to regulations. Of course, this is not exhaustive, so if you ever require an answer or an update on a specific point then please just get in touch.

Secondly, we lobby on your behalf for the best deal possible from the politicians and policy makers who make these changes.

Until recently, the vast majority of laws and regulations were written and directed centrally from Whitehall and Westminster. This made the job of the lobbyist fairly straightforward in that they knew which minister and civil servants to target, and if they could convince that person, then success would soon follow.

This model can still work well in certain cases. For example, when HMRC and the Treasury recently suggested reforms to the system of retail gift aid we were concerned that these changes could cost our small members significant sums. Therefore, we worked closely with the two Whitehall-based departments to improve the reform package and were able to win a couple of big concessions.


Specifically, these were: that charities are able to use email as the platform to contact donors about Gift Claims made, rather than by post (as HMRC urged) which would be particularly expensive for small charities, and, that the system continues to be “opt out” with the onus on donors to inform their chosen charity that they are no longer a tax payer rather than the charity chasing positive reconfirmation every year.

However, in many other areas the ultimate decision maker is not as apparent. This is a trend which has been hugely increased by the pace of devolution in recent years, with significant powers devolved to assemblies in London, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and down towards Councils across the country.

Effectively lobbying all of these inter-connected players is not straightforward for a single trade association and so, at the CRA we are working on ways to empower small members to be effective champions in their own areas of the country.

One example of this change was our production of a campaign pack – stuffed with helpful materials like model letters to local Councillors and newspapers and information on the relevant regulations – which small charities can use to efficiently and effectively campaign against increases to Council waste charges in any local area.

Thirdly, we work to promote a more positive image of the sector amongst influential audiences. A cornerstone of this strategy is the concept of social value – that charity shops contribute hugely to their local environment, economy and community, over and above their work to raise money for charity, through things like boosting recycling rates and training volunteers.

We have collected national statistics on these and vigorously promoted them in the media. To subtly get this message across to politicians we gave each MP in Westminster a CRA branded coaster quoting some of the key social value statistics we previously identified.

Cambridge . Chelmsford . Ipswich . Norwich www.birketts.co.uk/charities

Your cause is our cause.

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As a small charity, it is now also possible for you to measure your individual social value using our unique toolkit. Visit the website (www.charityretail.org.uk) and just put in some key information to find out what your positive footprint is and then use this information to promote your message locally.

Finally, remember at all times that the CRA is your voice, whatever the size of your organisation. So make sure to stay in touch.

MATT KELCHER Head of Public Affairs and Research

Charity Retail Association

Cambridge . Chelmsford . Ipswich . Norwich www.birketts.co.uk/charities

Your cause is our cause.

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PARTNERSHIP POWER…Wandsworth Oasis is a local community based charity that raises funds for HIV support and prevention projects in South London.

We do this mainly through our chain of charity shops and through events in our shops. We particularly like working in partnership with other local charities and businesses as this generates more footfall into our shops as they promote the events to their supporter base. Here’s some examples…

PLANT POWERLocal charity Share Community supports people with disabilities to get in to work through work experience in horticulture. They have a large local garden project and greenhouse but – other than their annual garden party – no outlet to showcase the work. Our shops put in orders for the Share clients to make up based on what their customers like to buy. Last year we sold more than £500 of plants on behalf of Share Community. Garden Manager, Sarah Bailie, said, “It’s great to give our students orders to fill to build up confidence around filling orders before dealing with the more face to face contacts.” From our perspective, plant displays bring a new demographic of customers, and subsequently donors, in through our doors.

PEDAL POWERThanks to an article in the most recent CRA news, we contacted Recycle Your Cycle.

This is an innovative charity that works with HM Prisons across the country to refurbish donated bikes that are then sold in charity shops.

They had originally focussed on the hospice movement, but were looking for new charity shop partners.



Our first delivery of bikes arrived in our shops this week from HMP Wandsworth. We are very excited about this initiative. Bikes sell well in our shops and as they come with a 6 months’ warranty they command a good price.

PICTURE POWERLast summer we hosted a private viewing of art in one of our larger shops. We invited clients from Generate, a local charity that supports people with learning disabilities, to display and sell their art in our shop and to talk to local people about their work. We also displayed prints (all local scenes) from local artist South London Dan, who hitherto had only been able to sell his work online. All the artists sold pieces of work that evening which was a real confidence boost. Supporters of Generate are all local and many did not know of our shops, but have now become regular donors. We continue to sell South London Dan’s art in our shops and get 25% of the price of every sale. PINOT POWER (OK, THAT’S NOT SO GOOD!!)We met local wine merchant Hannibal Brown at a local networking event and immediately saw the mutual benefit of a charity wine tasting hosted at one of our shops. Themed the Old Curiosity Wine Trail, we set up and dressed ‘stations’ around the shop focussed on a particular type of wine, such a Pretty in Pink, Bold & Beautiful. Each station had an expert from Hannibal Brown and attendees made their way around the shop. We had more than 90 people present at £25 a ticket.

We split the profit with Hannibal Brown and also made money on a raffle – a VERY large bottle of wine with a specially designed Wandsworth Oasis label.

Such a good evening, we are planning another one in October 2017.

GILL PERKINSCEO

Wandsworth Oasis



ANIMAL FREE RESEARCH UKAnimal Free Research UK (formerly the Dr Hadwen Trust) is the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity. We have been around since 1970 but we are not as well-known as we would like. We decided to do two things, therefore, to help raise our profile – and thus raise more funds. Firstly, we decided to open charity shops and, secondly, to change our name.

We opened our first charity shop in August 2015, in Hitchin where we are headquartered. In a first for a national charity it is a vegan charity shop. We are not a vegan organisation but we enjoy tremendous support from the vegan constituency who, naturally, very much approve of our work. We also thought that, in a crowded marketplace, opening a vegan shop would provide an interesting point of difference.

Our first shop proved to be a huge success, both in bringing in an additional income stream, and in helping to raise awareness about us and our work. The success of our first shop influenced our decision to open a second – and the vegan dimension influenced our decision to open in Hove. Our view was that Brighton & Hove is home to a high proportion of vegans, vegetarians and progressive thinkers, and we already enjoyed tremendous support from the area.

Our Hitchin shop is a 2-3 minute walk from our HQ in Hitchin. Hove is 105 miles away. The challenge of remotely acquiring and then managing a property should not be underestimated. Complicating the property acquisition was that we took on the reassignment of an existing lease so there were three sets of solicitors involved – enough said!



In Hitchin, we have been inundated with stock, pretty much from day 1, but of course we have been associated with the town for over forty years. Stock acquisition in Hove has been more challenging so we have got into a routine of transporting stock from Hitchin to Hove on a pretty regular basis. The vegan dimension helps us of course because vegan businesses are thrilled that we have opened vegan charity shops and they have been unbelievably generous in donating new vegan goods – which gives us a point of difference – and helps with stock acquisition.

The crucial thing in opening our second shop, given the distance from HQ, was finding a shop manager who could manage a remote location and who didn’t require constant supervision. We were very, very fortunate in finding an individual who fitted the bill and who has taken on the challenge with aplomb.



So, what did we learn and what advice would we offer to others thinking about opening more shops? Think very carefully about the location and the logistics of supplying and managing a remote unit. We had a compelling reason to open so far away from our base but closer to home is certainly more manageable. Nice, clean, straightforward leases are to be welcomed – and the fewer the solicitors the better! Finally, as if we didn’t know it already, the quality of shop manager is everything.

GERRY REILLYDevelopment and PR Manager

Animal Free Research UK


24 C H A R I T Y R E T A I L A S S O C I A T I O N N E W S

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