Households "duped" by door-to-door charity collections
31 August 2011 09:09
Millions of householders are being duped when making donations to door-to-door charity bag collectors, it was claimed today.
Just around a third, 30%, of items donated to charity via letterbox charity bags actually stand a chance of ending up in high street charity shops - with most of it sold abroad for private profit, according to new research by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Many charities, often those without shops, do deals with commercial firms who collect door-to-door for them with bags emblazoned with the charity logo.
But the company keeps all the donated goods and then re-sells them for profit, mostly to overseas markets.
They then make a royalty payment to the charity, but as little as 5% of the cash made goes back to good causes, according to the BHF.
In some cases charities are getting £50 to £100 per tonne of goods collected when, in fact, the goods can sell abroad for anything up to £1,800.
This is now a lucrative industry, with householders inundated with charity bags as firms chase millions of
pounds of profits from the trade.
The poll by the BHF showed 70% of charity bags an average householder receives are from such commercial companies, working with charities, by selling the donated items overseas.
The BHF survey also found 65% of those polled were not aware these commercial companies exist and people mistakenly think all of the money raised goes to good causes.
The survey said when householders are told of the arrangement it leaves 85% of them "shocked, cheated and disheartened".
The increase in charity bag collections has led to an estimated loss of donations direct to BHF shops worth £4.6 million in the last two years, the charity said.
Mike Lucas, retail director for the BHF, said: "It is vital commercial companies act responsibly and be transparent on their charity bags - particularly around how much profit the named charity will actually make from a collection.
"Householders have the right to know what happens to their donations and currently this information is not clear.
"Although this is a legal way to raise money, companies working for commercial gain are a huge problem for charities with high street shops.
"BHF shops do not work with these companies and because of this 100% of the profits made from charity bag donations stay with the charity - helping us continue our lifesaving work."
The BHF released the findings in support of their Big Donation campaign for September, appealing for good-quality clothing, shoes, accessories, CDs, DVDs, books, toys and bric-a-brac to stock their 670 shops nationwide.
The BHF advises people to take donations directly into local BHF shops and say householders should check charity bags and leaflets for information about how much of the proceeds from items go to the charity.
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