 |  |
| |
BBC Radio 4’s well renowned Money Box programme broadcast a feature on Gift Aid on donated goods sales on Saturday 22nd March. Recorded at Sue Ryder Care’s Muswell Hill shop, Director of Retail Alan Hodges spoke about how much of a difference the innovative scheme had already made to the charity.
“It means for us at the end of this financial year an extra £1m that we wouldn’t have had”, he said.
Sue Ryder Care Business Manager Sam Leahy pointed out that the initiative has enabled the shop teams to cement their relationships with their donors and is convinced that it has also helped to increase both the quantity and quality of goods received.
“I would say I’m at least 10% up in terms of the number of bags I get through the door now”, she stated on the show.
British Heart Foundation launched the scheme in September 2007 and told the programme that they have already raised an extra £700,000.
Chris Cowls, Chief Executive of Eproductive said, “It’s great to see that our EpR Gift Aid clients are getting the recognition that they deserve for maximising their fundraising efforts by claiming gift aid on the sales of donated goods.”
You can listen to the full programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/moneybox and the segment starts at 19 minutes.
You can also read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/7307703.stm
Eproductive was proud to part-sponsor the Help the Hospices retail conference on 5th March.
The conference, held at St Mary’s Hospice, Birmingham was fully booked, with staff from approximately 60 hospices attending.
Staff from Eproductive also supported a workshop on EpR Gift Aid, run by representatives from St Giles Hospice and St David’s Foundation who have been using the system since September 2007.
Chris Cowls, Chief Executive of Eproductive said, “The Help the Hospices retail conference was an upbeat, informative and enjoyable day with some really positive messages. It was also a great opportunity for clients who are already benefiting from the EpR Gift Aid system to inform their fellow hospice representatives as to the rewards it could bring them."
Lynwen Truesdale of St Giles Hospice has said "After only a few months claims total over £28,000 which will pay for a nurse in our Hospice this year. It’s an extremely easy and effective way to raise additional funds"
Help the Hospices are the hospice movements’ national charity in the UK and give a voice to the interests, views and concerns of over 200 local charities that provide the majority of hospice care across the UK.
£1million EXTRA is now reclaimable from the 'tax man' by Sue Ryder Care, through its groundbreaking scheme to link Gift Aid to donations of goods brought into its shops.
By offering its donors the opportunity to Gift Aid the 20,000,000 items handed over to its shops each year, the charity has helped develop an innovative way to add 28% to the value of every donation, be it a dress, ornament or book.
Now, the charity has secured its first £1million from the scheme, two years earlier than predicted.
Sue Ryder Care has pioneered tax efficient giving on donated items, becoming the first charity in the UK to develop a system that could satisfy Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs that an audit trail could be established, alongside internet-based systems company Eproductive. The scheme picked up a Third Sector Award for Enterprise, in September.
Several other charities have now also followed suit and adopted the EpR Gift Aid system, which could mean an additional £30million for the charity sector as a whole.
Alan Hodges, Director of Retail at the charity said: "We are obviously delighted. To secure an additional £1million from the scheme two years earlier than predicted demonstrates how powerful an income generator this could be, not just for us but the sector as a whole. It is not an exaggeration to say it could revolutionise the way charity shops operate.
"One of the additional benefits is more contact with our donors. Staff are meeting with them face to face in store, we then write to donors to tell them how much their donation has raised and, crucially, we can engage them in finding out more about what Sue Ryder Care does. We want to give people a clear and simple message, through our 'Sign On The Line': awareness campaign, that with a simple signature, their donation can generate 28% more funds to be converted into care."
Chris Cowls, Chief Executive of Eproductive, said: "Having worked successfully with Sue Ryder Care for a number of years, the charity was the natural partner to pioneer EpR Gift Aid. We are delighted by the success that Sue Ryder Care has experienced using the system and would like to give our heartfelt congratulations to the charity on achieving their first £1million in Gift Aid claims using the system."
Cowls added, "Sue Ryder Care is really leading the way claiming Gift Aid on donated goods, and if the whole sector were using the EpR Gift Aid system, the possible annual additional income to charities could be between £20-£30million."
Sue Ryder Care's Retail team were presented with the prestigious Third Sector Excellence Award for Enterprise in a special ceremony at London's Hurlingham Club last week. The team were chosen to receive this award as they were the first charity in the UK to pioneer a way of making donations of goods to its 379 shops tax efficient by applying the principles of Gift Aid.
Eproductive worked in partnership with Sue Ryder Care to develop the EpR software system which satisfies Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs (HMRC) that an audit trail can be created - a feat which had previously eluded the sector.
The judging panel, charged with deciding upon the organisation which had made the best use of its brand, knowledge or assets to increase income, was made up of David Emerson, Chief Executive of Association of Charitable Foundations, Sabina Khan, Director of Policy and Research, Social Enterprise London and Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive, Thames Reach.
The EpR system has helped the charity add £700,000 to its bottom line since the ground-breaking scheme launched last November, with a predicted income of over £1million by the end of the first year - this has smashed all previous expectations.
It is estimated that using this process, the charity sector as a whole could enjoy an additional annual income of £20m. Judge Jeremy Swain, said: "This project is really working to make change for the whole sector."
Alan Hodges, Director of Retail at Sue Ryder Care, said: "We are delighted to have received this award, particularly in light of all the hard work put in by our team and Eproductive. We are looking forward to reaping the benefits of the continuing success of Gift Aid and to helping others share in that success. It is no exaggeration to say that charity retailing has been revolutionised."
Eproductive's Chief Executive Chris Cowls said, "We are extremely pleased that this innovative idea has been recognised, achieving such a prestigious award. This has been a very exciting time for us, and our work with Sue Ryder Care has really helped pave the way for other charities to maximise their income potential through Retail. Sue Ryder Care is a worthy winner of this award and we are proud to have played a part in this achievement".
A ground-breaking scheme to claim 28% Gift Aid on goods donated and sold in its 400 shops is being pioneered by healthcare charity Sue Ryder Care.
The tax efficient EpR Gift Aid system could secure an additional £1m annually for the charity within five years from the sales of clothes and other items donated to Sue Ryder Care.
Alan Hodges, Director of Retail at Sue Ryder Care said: “Gift Aid is a tax efficient form of giving which adds 28% to the value of ‘gifts’ to charities and has traditionally been restricted to cash donations. Sue Ryder Care is the first charity to trial a revolutionary way of applying the same principles to donated items, which account for 80% of our sales. All that is required is permission from the person donating the goods for us to claim the Gift Aid. For example a dress donated to Sue Ryder Care is sold for £5 and then we claim back a further £1.40 making the total donation to the charity £6.40. I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that this could revolutionise the way that charity shops operate.”
The scheme will be introduced in a rolling programme nationwide by Sue Ryder Care, which provides palliative and neurological care as well as community-based services, after a successful eight-week pilot scheme in 19 shops in Kent and East Sussex revealed some very encouraging results:
Charity supporters are asked to fill in a Gift Aid form when making a donation to state they are a UK taxpayer. The form has a unique number which allows the full audit trail required when claiming Gift Aid on donated goods to commence. The EpR Gift Aid system automatically prompts the charity to write to the donor when their items are sold, detailing the amount raised and requesting that the money be given to Sue Ryder Care and for permission to Gift Aid it. Donor ID cards will allow people to make subsequent donations using the same unique number.
The scheme has been devised in partnership with Eproductive, which offers creative technological solutions to the charity retail sector. The company spotted an opportunity to introduce an easily traceable audit trail and created the EpR Gift Aid system, trialed through Sue Ryder Care shops.
Chris Cowls, Chief Executive of Eproductive, said: “Having identified the opportunity for charity retailers to claim Gift Aid on donated goods sales, we developed the system. It manages the entire process. Having worked successfully with Sue Ryder Care for a number of years the charity was the natural partner to trial EpR Gift Aid.”
