News: April 2012
Charity Retail Conference 2012
"Making the difference"
Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 July, Keele Conference Park, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG
Download the Conference brochure and booking form
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BOOK NOW to guarantee your place at the 2012 Charity Retail Conference. This year’s theme is Making the Difference, designed to recognise the sector’s successes and to look at new and better ways of doing things. This Conference brings together those who work in charity retail for two days of networking and learning in an informal environment.
Mike Barry of Marks & Spencer will speak on how charity shops can benefit from partnerships. Other speakers include: Dr Avril Maddrell, University of the West of England; Jayne Cartwright, YMCA and Paul Farmer, Mind.
This year’s programme has a wide range of sessions to choose from, including:
Opportunities for success in a changing sector
Can you teach seasoned staff and volunteers new tricks?
Standing out on the High Street
The future of Charity Retail Today
Social Media and Charity Retail
Our Conference also allows delegates to meet potential commercial suppliers at our Exhibition, featuring 50 leading companies. In the evening, delegates can network in a relaxed setting at our drinks reception and Awards Dinner.
>> Click here for online booking
Or click here to download the brochure and booking form
For more information contact Paula at paula@charityretail.org.uk or call 020 7255 4470.
Patrick Monahan to present Charity Retail Awards!
This year’s after-dinner speaker will be comedian Patrick Monahan, who will also be presenting the Awards.
Charming, puppyish, and dazzlingly quick, Pat is extremely fond of crowdsurfing: we can but hope he does not try it over the cheeseboards.
Conference Bursary Places – 10 available
To help support smaller retailers, the Charity Retail Association and Choice Textile Ltd are offering 10 bursary places to those from charities or hospices with 5 shops or fewer. Each bursary will cover the following:
- Half the fees of a residential Charity Member. Winners are required to pay £162.50 towards their place*
- All meals and refreshments
- Attendance at the Drinks Reception and Awards Dinner
- Overnight Accommodation
* Full members’ rate is £325, full non-member rate is £495.
To ensure our Conference is relevant and valuable to all our charity delegates we offer a number of focus sessions aimed specifically at smaller charities and hospices.
Download the Conference Bursary application
Charity Retail Awards 2012 – deadline FRIDAY 18 MAY
Don’t miss your opportunity to enter the Charity Retail Awards.
Previous years’ winners said it was a great way of showing staff and volunteers how valuable their work is. This is what Dawn Charlesworth - Retail and Fundraising Manager at Barnsley Hospice - said about the charity winning 2011 Shop Team of the Year, for their Barnsley town centre store:
“We found winning the award really valuable. It helped to raise our profile in the local community and to reward the retail team. It was a great boost for everyone who had worked so hard.”
Download the Awards brochure and entry form
Entry Tips:
- Make specific reference to the criteria given in the Award leaflet.
- Spend some time writing your entry.
- Make sure your entry is within the word limit, otherwise the application won’t be considered
The awards are externally judged and all the entries are anonymised before they are sent to the judges. The awards are open to all charity retailers, whether or not they are members of the Association. For more information please contact Cristina cristina@charityretail.org.uk
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eBay eSurgery
If you have any questions about how to use eBay for Charity, trainers will be on hand during the conference to train you. There will be half-hour mini-workshops taking place at regular intervals on both Monday and Tuesday, during the breaks between focus sessions and plenaries.
If you cannot make any of the dedicated sessions, you can visit the eBay stand - number 42, in the Foyer – and talk to Nick, Ria, Lorin or Sarah to reserve a time.
If you wish to book a place on the eSurgery, please contact Amy at amy@charityretail.org.uk or call 020 7255 4470. The eSurgery booking form is being sent out along with your confirmation letter, once you have booked your place at the Conference.
Charity Membership Renewal: FINAL CALL
Fees held for fourth year!
Renewal is now overdue. Make sure you continue to have access to our vital services to the sector and your member benefits in 2012-2013, including discounted Conference fees. Thank you to the vast majority of members that have renewed so far.
RENEW NOW: Go to www.charityretail.org.uk/renew or contact Susan at susan@charityretail.org.uk
Or download the renewal form here
Choose Charity Shops
With LESS THAN ONE MONTH TO GO until the campaign launch week, over 5,000 charity shops in the UK are now taking part in Choose Charity Shops.
MPs and ministers have shown significant interest in the campaign. Eric Pickles, Chloe Smith, Theresa May, Maria Eagle, Jack Dromey, Caroline Lucas and Dan Jarvis are just some of the politicians that have already committed to donating in the launch week.
We have downloadable, customisable or generic poster artwork urging the public to Choose Charity Shops, and “donate direct”.
The Barnsley Hospice poster, pictured below right, shows how the artwork can be customised to suit your charity colours.
This campaign aims to increase over-the-counter donations of unwanted items to all charity shops in the UK, many of which are suffering from a shortage of stock to sell.
We also have ideas for participants about how to generate publicity, including our simple checklist which will help you make the most out of the campaign.
CRA members including British Heart Foundation, Tenovus and Marie Curie are organising events in the campaign week to help generate media and get more stock through the door. So are some of our corporate members, including Keenpac and Retrograde. Why not do the same? Get more ideas here.
We've already had journalists contact us to show interest in the campaign. Get some extra publicity - let us know if you have shop managers who are used to speaking to the media and would be available to do so in the launch week.
If you want to know more, to request some free donation sacks or to inform us of events you will be running, please get in touch with Isabelle on projects@charityretail.org.uk or 020 7255 4477.
Events
FREE NETWORKING EVENTS: May Members’ Meetings in London and Edinburgh
In order to make sure we meet the needs of all our members, wherever they may be located, we regularly hold Members’ Meetings throughout the UK and Northern Ireland. These meetings are an excellent way to learn more about current charity retail issues, to network and to get an update on Association activities. They are free to attend, and lunch is provided. Attendees from non-member charities are also welcome.
London, Thursday 10 May, download the agenda here
Edinburgh, Thursday 24 May, download the agenda here
Book your place now using the downloadable agendas above. Or contact Paula Melville at paula@charityretail.org.uk or call 020 7255 4470.
Property Interest Group, Wednesday 30 May, CRA Offices, London
Suggestions for topics to go on the agenda should go to Isabelle on projects@charityretail.org.uk or 020 7255 4477.
NEW DATE: H&S Interest Group, Friday 1 June, CRA Offices, London
This meeting has been moved from its previous Wednesday 16 May date, as that is in the middle of our Choose Charity Shops campaign week (14-19 May).
People Management Interest Group, held Tuesday 3 April, CRA Offices, London
Thank you to all those who came to the recent People Management Group Meeting, held in London on 3 April. The meeting began with a presentation from Michelle Lawlor, an employment lawyer from Blake Lapthorn. Michelle briefed members on the latest developments in employment law. Her presentation focused on three key areas: volunteers – and how to avoid creating potential employment claims; changes to unfair dismissal claims and the introduction of fees to Employment Tribunals; and redundancy – some practical tips based on case law updates.
Subjects discussed included Learning Needs Analysis, CCTV, the government’s Work Programme, and Gift Aid.
Charity shop apprentice scheme
We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on whether it might be useful for members to adopt a charity shop apprenticeship scheme.
We are in the early stages of discussing this, but if you have a particular interest in the area, please contact Wendy Mitchell, 020 7255 4483 or wendy@charityretail.org.uk
Directory 2012-2013
This handy tool contains details of companies that supply products and services to charity retailers. From EPoS tills, to Christmas cards, to property services: whatever the product, service or business you require, the Directory is the place to find it!
Many of the companies listed in the Directory are Corporate Members of the Charity Retail Association and support and understand the specialist needs of the sector. Furthermore, you can meet many of these potential suppliers at the Charity Retail Conference 2012 where 50 companies will be exhibiting.
The Charity Shops Survey 2012
Now in its 21st year, the Charity Finance Charity Shops Survey provides invaluable benchmarking information and analysis of key charity retail trends and performance figures.
The 21st Charity Shops Survey will be open for your responses from 24 May. More than 6,000 shops from 75 organisations took part last year, making this the most comprehensive study of the sector.
The questionnaire will soon be available online at www.civilsociety.co.uk, or to request a hard copy please email dominic.collard@civilsociety.co.uk.
This survey is published in October by Charity Finance and Fundraising magazines and provides charities, retailers, analysts and supporters with essential benchmarking information of key charity retail trends. It will be available for free to subscribers of the magazines, or separately for £75.
>> See the 2011 Charity Shops Survey
Handbook fact
You may sell cutlery without a licence, but not to an individual under the age of eighteen. No knives, blades or axes may be sold to this age group. Which means last year’s winner of the Most Unusual Item Award at our Annual Conference, a giant sword donated to St Barnabas And Chestnut Tree House Hospices, could not then have been purchased by anyone of school-age.
There is more information for Charity Members on selling weaponry in Handbook Chapter 8A on Selling Second-Hand Goods.
Recruitment advertisement
Associate Director - TradingSalary: c. £40K (37.5 hour week) Area: Shropshire and Mid-Wales, based Severn Hospice, Shrewsbury We are looking to recruit an experienced Retail leader who has a track record in delivering exceptional results. An inspirational role model is needed to drive our retail function forward with a passion for the retail, people and our charity ethos. Geographically we cover Shropshire and Mid Wales and you will be accountable for 20 outlets and a central warehouse. The ideal candidate will have transferable skills and experience in multi-site management, recruitment & selection, training and development of staff and ideally volunteers, control of budgets and administration, experience of EPOS, site acquisition and property management. Implementing policy and procedures and managing store operations across the area you will develop your team and initiate new projects to ensure recurring regular income and heighten awareness of Severn Hospice. For an application pack please visit our website on www.severnhospice.org.uk or call Gaynor Taylor on 01743 236565. Closing date for completed applications is Monday 14 May. Interviews will take place on 22 May. |
Place your property listing here!Listing a property for sale/rent in the Association’s Bulletin Newsletter is a quick, easy and cost-effective way to reach a highly relevant audience. Cost: £125 + VATIf interested, please call us on 020 7255 4470 or email amy@charityretail.org.uk. |
The Bulletin is mailed monthly to over 500 charity retail contacts. If you are interested in advertising any vacancies or properties in the Bulletin, please email Michelle or call 020 7255 4470.