Our News

Viva la revolution

25 November 2007

We are celebrating after scooping a top award for a high-impact innovation - which could yield millions in extra revenue for the charity sector and change the way it operates.

Representatives from our Retail team were presented with a prestigious Third Sector Excellence Award for Enterprise, for their ground-breaking scheme to make items donated to its 370 shops tax efficient. They collected the award at a special ceremony at London’s Hurlingham Club, yesterday (Thursday 20 September), from comedian Hugh Dennis.

Sue Ryder Care was the first charity in the UK to pioneer a way of making donations to its shops tax efficient by applying the principles of Gift Aid to items such as clothes, bric-a-brac and books. Working in partnership with software company Eproductive, the charity helped develop a system which satisfied Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC) that an audit trail could be created - a feat which had previously eluded the sector.

We already added £700,000 to its bottom line, since it launched the ground-breaking scheme last November, smashing all predictions. It estimates that the charity sector as a whole could benefit to the tune of an additional, annual £20m.

The judging panel for the award 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, which was charged with deciding upon the organisation which had made the best use of its brand, knowledge or assets to increase income.

Jeremy Swain, said: “This project is really working to make change for the whole sector.”

Alan Hodges, Director of Retail at the charity, said: “We are delighted to have received this award, particularly in light of all the hard work put in by our team and E-productive. 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.”

Sue Ryder Care recently launched our Sign On The Line campaign urging people to help it reach £1m EXTRA on Gift Aided items. So far, around 60,000 people have signed up as Gift Aid donors.

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