We are the primary membership association for charity shops in the UK.

Our sector generates more than £387m surplus funds per year from more than a billion pounds of turnover, and harnesses the skills of more than 187,200 volunteers nationwide. Charity retail promotes charitable causes and an environmentally sustainable retail experience.

Our UK members run around 9000 shops between them.


Our vision

A successful, sustainable, trusted and valued charity retail sector.


Six strategic objectives

These objectives form the basis of our activities. Every activity that we undertake will fall into one of these objectives:

  1. Champion charity retail
  2. Strengthen charity retail
  3. Build a strong community of charity retailers
  4. Be the accessible knowledge hub of charity retail
  5. Promote environmental sustainability within the CRA and the sector
  6. Strengthen the CRA’s capacity to support the sector and our members

Strategic plan 2021-2023

You can read about the context and how we will achieve our six strategic objectives in our strategic plan 2021-2023.


What we do

  • Lobby on key issues including Gift Aid, waste charging and donated stock supply
  • Provide a sense of community and collaboration both online and through a comprehensive schedule of events
  • Promote best practice through policy guidance, mentoring and other practical resources
  • Increase public support for charity retail through campaigns
  • Carry out and commission research, such as market analysis and specialist reports for bench-marking and informing decision-makers, our members and the public
  • Provide training and learning opportunities

Annual report


Our board of directors

Category A: 1-19 shops
Category B: 20-99 shops
Category C: 100-549 shops
Category D: 550+ shops

  • Ruth Blazye – Director for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Scope
  • Sarah Coles – The Hospice of St Francis (Cat A)
  • Susan Cooper – Highland Hospice (Cat A)
  • Steve Derrick – RNLI (Cat C)
  • Lorna Fallon – Oxfam GB (Cat D)
  • Jane Flannery – British Heart Foundation (Cat D)
  • Sophie Lea – St John’s Hospice Shops (Cat A)
  • David Longmore (Vice Chair) – Barnardo’s (Cat D)
  • James Martin – Director for Public Affairs
  • Rita Matanda – Director for Finance and Chair, CRA Finance Committee
  • Dermot McGilloway – Society of St Vincent de Paul (Cat C)
  • Karen McKenzie – Douglas Macmillan Hospice (Cat B)
  • Jo Mewett – Cancer Research UK (Cat D)
  • Robin Osterley – Charity Retail Association (ex officio)
  • Emma Peake (Chair) – RSPCA Leicestershire, Peterborough and Rutland (Cat A)
  • Alex Sutton – Director for Sustainability

Our staff

Robin Osterley, Chief Executive
Robin joined us as Chief Executive in November 2015. After an early career in IT, he moved into the third sector and has more than 20 years experience of running membership organisations with a charitable purpose, including sports campaigning organisation Supporters’ Direct and the largest arts umbrella group in the country, Making Music. He has sat on numerous Government committees and forums, and does a great deal of local volunteering in his “spare” time.
robin@charityretail.org.uk


Alex Angelakis

Alex Angelakis, Member Services Manager
Alex joined us in February 2018 as Events Officer to provide maternity cover for Julia Cloke and is now a permanent member of the team. He holds a BA (Hons) Degree from the University of Winchester. He has previously worked in events management, overseeing the delivery of training courses across the United Kingdom for more than four years.
alex@charityretail.org.uk


Olaia Alamos Castresana

Olaia Alamos Castresana, Head of Research
Olaia joined us in November 2015 to lead our research programme, which keeps members informed and helps them benchmark performance, whilst also supporting our public affairs and policy work. She has experience working with not-for-profit organisations and commercial retailers. She holds a BA(Hons) Business Administration from the University of the Basque Country and an MSc in International Fashion Marketing from Heriot-Watt University.
mail@charityretail.org.uk


Jade Barber, Communications Officer

Jade Fitzgerald, Communications Officer
Jade joined us in August 2022 to lead our external communications work. She has a background in providing media liaison and communications support to various public sector organisations, most recently focusing on city centre regeneration and the changing landscape of the high street. Jade is looking forward to working with our members to promote the work being done by the charity retail sector and supporting them to share their stories.
jade@charityretail.org.uk


Julia Cloke

Julia Edwards, Head of Outreach
Julia joined us in May 2015 to organise and develop the training and events programme. Previously she worked at Diabetes UK organising residential events for children with Type 1 diabetes. She also worked as part of the wider team to deliver their annual professional conference. Prior to this, she was responsible for events at a small educational charity where she organised training days, awards ceremonies and their flagship conference.
julia@charityretail.org.uk


Dorothy Ferguson

Dorothy Ferguson, Head of Finance
Dorothy joined us in August 2016 to manage and report on the Association’s finances. She has an extensive background in finance and has previously held positions in management accounting, project finance, fixed asset accounting as well as treasury in various industries including the not-for-profit sector.
dorothy@charityretail.org.uk


Jonathan Mail

Jonathan Mail, Head of Public Affairs
Jonathan joined us in August 2019 to lead our policy and public affairs work. He was previously the Chief Campaigns Officer at the Campaign for Real Ale where he worked on successful campaigns to reduce taxation on beer and pubs, improve planning protection for pubs and securing new legal rights for publicans. He also worked as a MP’s researcher in Parliament and studied British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull.
jonathan@charityretail.org.uk


Kelly-Marie Marshall

Kelly-Marie Marshall, Administrator
Kelly joined us in March 2023 to support with administration duties and organising our events. She joins us with 18 years’ experience in the charity retail sector, during which time she held roles in shop management, purchasing and payments and e-commerce. With a wide range of experience in customer service, volunteering, charity finance, fundraising, online sales and event management, Kelly not only brings knowledge to the team, but a deep understanding of what support charity retailers need.
kelly@charityretail.org.uk


Susan Meredith

Susan Meredith, Head of Charity Membership and Deputy Chief Executive
Susan joined us in 2005, specialising in membership operations such as CRM, communications, website, and member services. She creates themes and assets for the CRA’s social media campaigns and has created the Directory of Charity Shop Influencers, among other resources to help members shout about the amazing work that they do. Susan also looks after the CRA’s sustainability work and is a charity shop volunteer.
susan@charityretail.org.uk


Anna Pashley, Corporate Partnerships Manager
Anna joined us in January 2022 to lead our corporate member services. Anna was previously Head of Membership at NAVCA, the national membership body specifically for local sector support and development organisations, where she led on developing commercial and corporate relationships across the sector. Passionate about collaboration, Anna looks forward to working with corporate partners and finding new opportunities to showcase the many values of working with the charity retail sector.
anna@charityretail.org.uk