MP Visits to Charity Shops

A great way to win politicians over to supporting charity retail is to invite them to visit charity shops in their constituency so that they can see first-hand the contribution being made to the local economy, community and to the environment.

An MP’s visit to one of their local charity shops can be beneficial to both the individual store and also the wider sector. An MP visit provides an opportunity to:

  • secure positive local press and social media coverage for the store
  • raise any local issues impacting on the store which  the MP can help with
  • discuss the work of your charity
  • demonstrate to the local MP why charity retail is so important
  • encourage MPs to support the charity retail sector in Parliament

With the General Election now well behind us, both me and our Chief Executive are regularly meeting MPs in Parliament to discuss the importance of charity retail and what MPs can do support the sector. We are finding a lot of support for charity retail. Major issues that we need the Government to act on include support for high streets; tackling retail crime; putting charity retail at the heart of the circular economy and ensuring that the taxation system remains supportive of charity retail. In the first few months of 2020, we are aiming to meet with more than 30 MPs.

Several MPs have expressed an interest in organising a visit to one of their local charity shops which we are in the process of helping arrange. If you would like one of your local MPs to visit one of your stores please do get in touch with me and let me know (jonathan@charityretail.org.uk) and I can help with this.

Depending on what works for both the MP and for the shop, a visit could typically last from around 30 minutes to half a day with the MP volunteering in store.

Jonathan Mail, Head of Public Affairs, Charity Retail Association