The complete guide to charity shops

Charity shops as we now know them have been around since the 1930s, and remain an important aspect of many charities’ operations, as well as contributing to wider social and environmental good.

 

We explore everything you need to know about charity shops in 2024, including who uses them, how to boost their success, and how to navigate the phenomenon of the online charity shop.

 

Skip to: What are charity shops?

Skip to: How to boost charity shop success

Skip to: The emergence of online charity shops

Skip to: Online versus in-person charity shops

Skip to: How could charity shopping change?

Skip to: Charity shop facts for 2024

Skip to: Guidance for UK charity shops

 

 

What are charity shops?

 

With more than 11,200 across the UK, charity shops are a popular method of fundraising using retail outlets. Donations are made in the form of items such as clothing, books, or furniture, and the shop sell the items to raise funds for its parent charity.

 

Beyond fundraising, charity shops have social and community roles, such as acting as a community centre for people to “drop in for a chat” and providing a place to deliver advice and support services. Through volunteering at charity shops, people can build confidence and develop employability skills, meet new people, and improve physical and mental health.

 

Charity shops also reduce harm to the environment by promoting re-use. By donating quality items to charity, people can reduce landfill, and by purchasing from a charity shop, people can reduce reliance on less sustainable methods of manufacture and use such as fast fashion.

 

 

Who uses charity shops?

 

There are four overlapping types of charity shopper, according to Robin Osterley, CEO of the Charity Retail Association. They are:

• Those who need to use charity shops for financial reasons
• Those looking for variety and finding unique items in charity shops
• The “craft shopper” looking for materials for craftwork or upcycling
• The “sustainability shopper” who want to make less impact on the environment through their purchasing choices and want their money to go towards good causes

In 2023, a YouGov opinion poll found that financial concerns were the primary factor for the rising popularity of charity shops, coinciding with the UK cost-of-living crisis.

 

The attitudes of Gen Z have also been a major driver of charity shop use in recent years, due to the younger generation’s increased environmental consciousness, love of unique finds, and use of online channels such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to connect over their thrifted treasures.

 

 

What are the benefits of charity shops for charities?

 

One of the biggest benefits of charity shops is that they give charities access to unrestricted income, which they can use for anything within their charitable objects.

 

While types of funding like grants can restrict how funds are spent, unrestricted charity shop income means that charities can have more of a strategic approach to their operations beyond individual services or projects.

 

Another benefit of charity shops is that they give charities a physical presence on the high street, reminding the public of the charity and its cause. This can build trust and familiarity with the charity when it comes to using its services or donating to the cause.

 

Some charities can also use their shops to deliver services. For example, service users can access donated items instore for free with gift cards from the charity, or the premises can be used to provide information, advice, or other types of support associated with the charity’s cause.

 

 

How to boost charity shop success

 

A successful charity shop is able to fulfil the range of purposes discussed above, from fundraising to fostering other types of social and environmental impact. Here, we explore some tips for charity shop success.

 

 

Engage with local communities

 

To make sure that visitors are get the most out of your charity shop, it’s a good idea to consider whether the stock is reflecting their wants and needs. Using stock management software can help you track sales details like what types of items are selling best in a particular store.

 

Engaging with local communities also means making sure the charity shop is known and understood by the local community. This could involve getting in touch with local community institutions, for example schools, care homes, hobby clubs, or businesses – as well as making the most of local networks online.

 

Charities can foster a welcoming and inclusive environment by ensuring accessibility and training staff to interact positively with visitors.

 

 

Use the power of branding

 

Physical charity shops are an opportunity to familiarise the public with a particular charity’s work. Branding is the key to keeping the charity itself in visitors’ minds.

 

Good branding involves consistent and prominent charity colours, logos, and imagery throughout the store. It can also mean having a signature layout and including branded elements on materials that will leave the shop floor, such as carrier bags and price labels.

 

 

Embrace digital marketing

 

Making your shop visually pleasing, or “Instagrammable”, is a great way to spread awareness and increase the number of people getting involved. Visitors are more likely to share images of the shop online, which can encourage others to come along to see what they can find.

 

To make your shop picture-perfect, use flattering lighting, consider colours and patterns, and get creative with how you present the stock. Libby Gordon, Chief Executive at FARA UK, recommends using the creativity of staff and volunteers to beautify the shop window and interior. This could involve combining unexpected items in displays, for example.

 

Working with influencers can also help you reach the enthusiastic Gen Z crowd and increase visitors to your shop. For example, TRAID, a charity that generates all its funds through the sale of second-hand clothing, involves influencers in a styling series on its Instagram account to explore the versatility of second-hand clothing.

 

 

The emergence of online charity shops

 

When, during the COVID-19 pandemic, high-street charity shops closed their doors, many moved to online platforms to raise funds, with the number of items sold online by charity shops rising 151% between February and July of 2021.

 

Online charity shopping continues today and could grow in popularity. SQLI Digital Experience found that almost two-thirds of adults (60%) would love to be able to buy more second-hand clothing and say they would purchase from a shop if it had an online website.

 

This coincides with a demand for speed by some consumers. According to SQLI Digital Experience research, Gen Z is driving the rise of ‘SLICK’ (Slow fashion quickly), through their demand for both pre-loved items and quick delivery times. More than a quarter (26%) of adults want to receive clothes the same day.

 

Charities can sell items through online marketplaces like eBay, Depop, ASOS Marketplace, and Vestiaire Collective, and many charities sell items . Below we explore the different options for online charity shop fundraising.

 

 

Charity websites

 

Many charities raise funds through their ecommerce websites. The method provides more control of the layout and content of the store, as well as the processes involved in sales.

 

For example, charities that sell through websites can sell new and specialist products. The British Heart Foundation uses its website to sell blood pressure monitors and defibrillators, supporting it to fund research into all heart and circulatory diseases and the things that cause them, as well as providing service users access to relevant medical equipment.

 

Some other popular examples of charity shop websites include Oxfam, Barnardo’s, and Shelter.

Wix can be used to build a mobile-friendly website with secure ecommerce functionality without any prior technical knowledge or experience. Through the Charity Digital Exchange, charities can access a two year subscription to Wix at a 70% discount.

 

 

eBay

 

A popular source of second-hand electronics, fashion, collectables, and more, eBay has over 138 million active buyers, who in 2023, raised nearly $162 million globally (approx. £128.9 million) for charities.

 

Charities can host their own eBay shop by becoming a charity seller on the platform. This means being able to list and sell items, with the platform enabling proceeds from the sales to be donated directly to the charity.

 

The platform also allows any seller to donate a percentage of the proceeds from their sales to charity through eBay for Charity. There are four steps for charities to allow sellers to donate funds in this way.

 

 

Depop

 

Depop is a community-powered circular fashion marketplace, which describes its users as “young, thrift loving,” and “sustainability conscious”. The platform was founded in 2011 with a mission to make fashion circular and extend the lives of clothes.

 

Existing Depop charity shops offer trend-led collections of vintage and second-hand fashion items, including retro sportswear, vintage wedding dresses, festival fashion, designer handbags, and streetwear.

 

Signing up as a charity gains users access to tips on trending categories and in-demand items, personalised support from Depop’s seller team, and the opportunity for promotion to Depop users within the app.

 

 

ASOS Marketplace

 

An extension of the popular fashion website ASOS, ASOS Marketplace represents over 900 independent boutiques from around the globe, priding itself on its unique vintage product range.

 

ASOS users are “fashion-loving 20-somethings around the world”, and its purpose is “to give its customers the confidence to be whoever they want to be”.

 

Its Shop From Charities page hosts all items listed by charities, and, like eBay and Depop, boutiques have a store front webpage with all of their items in one place. To set up a boutique, charities need to apply.

 

 

Vestiaire Collective

 

Vestiaire Collective’s mission is to transform the fashion industry for a more sustainable future, empowering its members to promote circular fashion. The platform focuses on luxury brand items at lower price points than they would otherwise be available.

 

To use the platform, sellers list items on the marketplace. They are then validated by the Vestiaire Collective curation team, before becoming available for sale.

 

The platform has 11 million members across 80 countries.

 

 

Online versus in-person charity shops

 

With all of this opportunity springing up online, what will become of the high street charity shop? Below, we weigh up the benefits of the charity shop types and explore how charities are navigating the changing charity shop world.

 

 

Advantages of online charity shops

 

It is advantageous for charities to open shops online for a few reasons. It can be a way to diversify the charity’s  income, making it more financially sustainable and resilient.

 

Using external sales platforms can also be a way to reach customers for different types of items where they are – for example, Depop gives sellers an audience of young, environmentally conscious clothes shoppers, while eBay puts sellers in front of those who are browsing its pages for collector’s items.

 

Using these platforms can help charities reach a much wider audience, and in doing so means they can offer a more extensive range of products than would be possible in brick-and-mortar shops, potentially leading to more funds raised for the cause.

 

Used effectively, online charity shops an also be a source of consistent income for charities, lending to stability.

 

 

Case studies of online and in-person charity shops

Charities have different approaches to fundraising as a whole, and charity shops are no exception.

 

Some charities combine multiple ecommerce platforms as well as having an in-person charity shop presence. For example, the British Heart Foundation sells a mixture of items on eBay, clothing and accessories on Depop, and uses an online shop hosted on its own website to sell new items related to its cause, as well as cards and gifts.

 

Similarly, the Red Cross sells preloved vintage, antiques and collectables through eBay, vintage clothes and accessories through ASOS Marketplace, and cards and gifts in their website’s online shop.

 

As well as having online shops, charities such as the Salvation Army and Cancer Research UK use their websites to direct visitors to their physical stores. Cancer Research UK includes a useful directory of their shops, while the Salvation Army has an interactive map to help visitors explore their services and shops by postcode.

 

 

Are online charity shops replacing in-person charity shops?

 

According to Osterley, while it has been important for charity shops to grow their online presence in recent years, the vast majority of sales in 2024 are still made through physical stores.

 

Some challenges of running an online charity shop include the fact that processing donated items online can be effortful, and charities’ existing infrastructure may not at first be well suited to the logistical requirements involved.

 

In addition, high-street charity shops are beneficial in ways that online shops may not be, such as building public trust and familiarity of the charity’s brand and cause, providing a physical space to deliver services, and offering social and community benefits to visitors and volunteers.

 

It’s yet to be seen whether online shopping will eventually replace the brick-and-mortar charity shops we know and love – but for now, many remain in person. A diverse range can be explored through the Charity Retail Association’s Charity Shop Finder.

 

 

How could charity shopping change?

 

In some ways the world of charity shops has not changed much since their modern-day inception in the 1930s, but in others, it is a time of fluctuation as charities have been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, and the progression of digital technologies. We explore how charity shopping could continue to change in the future.

 

 

Charity department stores and pop-ups

 

There could be an increase in charity department shops and pop-ups in the future.

 

Charity Super.Mkt started as a pop-up department store which facilitated a range of charities to “pop up” in unused retail space in shopping centres around the UK, usually for six to eight weeks – as well as larger scale events like the Classic Car Boot Sale.

 

The organisation now has a number of longer-term department stores across the UK and brings together national and local charity retailers like Midlands Air Ambulance, Havens Hospices, Avon Wildlife Trust, Crisis, Daisy’s Dream, Emmaus, Barnardo’s and more.

 

The project was launched by Wayne Hemingway, founder of the Red or Dead fashion brand, and Maria Chenoweth, the CEO of TRAID.  charity retailers weren’t getting the recognition they deserved and because second-hand fashion was being “hijacked” by bigger companies to appeal to socially conscious shoppers. It is also to combat the “old-fashioned attitude” that high street charity shops were a “sign of decline”.

 

By being involved in department store and pop-up projects such as this, charity shops could experience benefits such as exposure to new audiences and being cost-effective.

 

 

Charity shops working with fashion brands

 

According to SQLI Digital Experience research, three quarters (76%) of Brits want fashion brands to offer a mix of new and pre-loved items, and two in five (42%) think retailers should incorporate the ability to resell their products on their websites. 31% of adults want to go onto a website and be able to buy a mixture of new and pre-owned items.

 

For these potential resale sites, SQLI Digital Experience found that people would like to see multiple pictures (54%), more information on the product, such as materials used (48%), a size guide from the brand (47%) and reviews from the previous owner (34%).

 

This resale functionality on fashion brands’ websites could include charities. Already there have been a range of partnerships between fashion brands and charity shops to promote good causes and circular fashion:

• M&S allows customers to recycle unwanted clothing through its Shwopping partnership with Oxfam
• Primark donates all unsold products to Newlife
• Zara donates excess inventory to the British Red Cross and has collection points for customers to give their products to the charity in stores
•  AllSaints has had a partnership with Shelter, designing and creating an exclusive T-Shirt, with all profits donated to Shelter
•  Louis Vuitton and UNICEF’s #MAKEAPROMISECAMPAIGN uses the brand’s Silver Lockit collection to raise money for the charity
• Scamp & Dude has a range of collaborations with charities such as Future Dreams, Bristol Children’s Hospital, Black Women Rising, Diabetes UK, Beauty Banks, Parkinsons UK, and Refuge

 

 

Charity shop facts for 2024

 

To help people raising funds through charity shops, we have compiled some of the most important charity shop facts for you to know in 2024.

 

 

Facts about the value of charity shops

 

According to the Charity Retail Association, charity shops provide their parent charities with £363 million per year, and employ 26,000 people in full time positions, in addition to thousands of volunteers.

 

Social value is a way of measuring the value of a particular organisation and its activities by looking beyond profit and instead measuring its impact upon people.  

 

The Charity Retail Association found that in 2022, a total of £75.3 billion of social value was generated by UK charity shops. For every £1 invested in charity retail, £7.35 of social value was generated.

 

The top outcomes of this social value were people feeling that they are “giving back” to others and the planet, feeling that charity shop staff meet visitors with friendliness and compassion, excitement from the shopping experience, and feeling part of a community. Benefits were experienced by staff, volunteers, customers, and donors.

 

When it comes to the environmental value of charity shops, the Charity Retail Association has found that charity shops have kept 339,000 tonnes from being disposed of in landfill or incineration each year, based on 2018/2019 data.

 

The Charity Retail Association’s ‘More than a shop’ campaign celebrates and raises awareness of the diverse value of charity shops.

 

 

Facts about charity shoppers

 

According to 2023 research commissioned by mental health charity Mind, almost half (48%) of people in England and Wales are shopping more in charity shops, or considering doing so, because of the rising cost of living.

 

Over half (53%) of these respondents said that the reason for this is that items are cheaper second-hand, while over a third (37%) said they like supporting charity.

 

Research from SQLI Digital Experience shows that people are “no longer embarrassed” about being seen buying from charity shops, with nearly three-quarters (73%) of UK adults in 2022 comfortable being seen and heading into a shop or second-hand store due to the cost-of-living crisis.

 

The most comfortable with charity shopping, SQLI Digital Experience found, were 45-54 year olds (82%) and over-55-year-olds (91%).

 

Showing clear demand for second-hand clothing, 68% of adults have bought pre-owned clothing and a further 10% plan to do so in the future.

 

But Mind’s research states that only one in ten (13%) of charity shoppers would choose to gift items that have been purchased second hand.

 

 

Facts about charity shop donors

 

Some charities experienced a drop in donations in 2023, with people seeming to be holding onto their high-quality items for longer and reducing their spending on new items as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

 

Resale apps like Depop and Vinted have also created a profitable alternative to charity shops for individuals looking to part with unwanted items, some charities have observed.

 

But 2024 research by Scope has found that donations to its shops have increased in recent years, despite the rising popularity of apps where individuals can resell items.

 

They found that four in five (81%) of people believe their donation will fund something important and it’s as good as giving money to charity.

 

26% said they have been inspired to donate to charity shops by TV shows about decluttering, while 22% said social media influencers inspire them to donate to charity shops.

 

The research found that the largest demographic to sell online are 18-34 year olds.

 

In 2020, YouGov Profiles found that while 31% of those who donate to charity shops prefer to buy things second-hand, a fifth (21%) of those who donate to charity shops wouldn’t buy second-hand clothes or accessories at all.

 

 

Facts about charity shop volunteers

 

According to Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), young people are the most likely to have volunteered in a charity shop: 5% of 16–24-year-olds compared to 2% of those aged 65 and older.

 

In January 2024, 50% of people surveyed by The National Lottery Community Fund said that they intended to volunteer in the coming year. Nearly three in ten (29%) of these said they planned to volunteer in charity shops: a similar number to those planning to volunteer to support older people, protect the environment, and work in foodbanks.

 

 

Facts about challenges for charity shops

 

Due to the cost-of-living crisis, charity shops have also experienced rising costs and a decline in the quality of items donated, according to the Charity Finance magazine’s Charity Shops Survey 2023.

 

Another key challenge is a lack of volunteers: according to CAF’s UK Giving Report, around 1.6 million fewer people volunteered in any capacity in 2023 than five years before.

 

In terms of charity shoppers, SQLI Digital Experience’s 2022 research found that almost a quarter (24%) of people are not comfortable being seen in a charity shop. They gave reasons such as not liking buying pre-owned items (33%), thinking it’s too hard to find anything they like (20%), and people thinking they cannot afford to buy new clothes (19%).

 

 

Guidance for UK charity shops

 

Charity shops are a unique method of fundraising and can therefore require specialised knowledge. Here is some of the most important guidance for charity shops operating in the UK:

• The Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice is a good place to start, while its pages on Charity Shops and Volunteers give further detail
• The Charity Commission’s resource Trustees trading and tax: how charities may lawfully trade explains how charities can engage in trading to raise funds and how to apply income on trading profits
• The NCVO’s page Trading and charities gives an overview of what trading is, what trading charities can do, exemptions, and setting up a trading subsidiary 
• The Charity Retail Association’s guide to starting a charity shop explains how charities can successfully set up a charity shop, taking into account security, health and safety, trading law, stock, and volunteers. The association also has a guide to Gift Aid in charity shops
• The Health and Safety Executive provides guidance on protecting volunteers in charity shops and fundraising