This June we're launching a new post to donate service, making it even easier for the public to give their decluttered items and support us to help save lives.
Throughout June and July we will start to reopen our 750 nationwide shops and stores introducing new measures to keep staff, volunteers and customers safe. As part of these new measures we have launched a postal donation initiative where customers can donate smaller items via post and give to charity without hitting the shops.
From clothes and books to vintage toys and ornaments, we hope the public can donate good quality items that they have been clearing out while at home. These will be sold either online via our eBay store or at a BHF shop.
Allison Swaine-Hughes, Retail Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Our charity shops run purely on the support of the public, which is why we never take for granted a camera, record or video game that’s donated to us. Every item we sell helps fund our vital research.”
“Our new postal donation service is quick, easy and free. It’s the perfect solution if your local BHF shop is not yet open and you have items you want to give, or you’re simply not ready to head to the high street.
“Every pound raised in our shops helps us to support the 7.4 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory diseases, many of whom are at increased risk from Covid-19. Your donations can help us help them.”
Customers can simply head to the webpage, request a freepost label which will be emailed to them and then choose to either print the label off or bring the email in to one of 7,500 nationwide Collect+ drop off points to be printed off there. Packages can be up to 10kg.
In line with Government advice and to keep customers safe, all donations given to our shops will now be rested for 72 hours before being placed onto the shop floor. Customers will also be able to donate at new contact-free donation points which will be set up at every BHF shop entrance. For larger donations to home stores we will be restarting our free collection service once home stores reopen – ensuring all pick-ups are socially distanced.
Donating unwanted items not only helps fund vital heart research but will also reduce waste and save items from landfill. Last year alone, the BHF saved an incredible 71,000 tonnes of items from landfill and 135,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Just £16 worth of your donations can support an early career scientist in carrying out an hour’s research and £25 gives a researcher an hour’s access to equipment. If your donations raised £100, this would fund a DNA extraction kit to identify genes linked to heart and circulatory diseases.
What we would love you to donate:
- Electronics - iPhones, iPads and high-end electronics
- Clothing, dresses or designer brands if you can spare them
- Records - 7", 10" and 12" vinyl records
- Video games - vintage console games (1990s/early 2000s)
- Shoes - any kind, so long as they're in good condition!
- Collectable items such as coins and stamps
- Jewellery
- Ornaments
- Camera equipment - cameras, tripods, bags, filters, lens
- Toys – toy cars, vans, trucks, kid’s dolls and vintage teddy bears
HOW TO DONATE BY POST