Scrooge Awards Xmas 2007
from the Charities Advisory Trust
Which is the meanest retailer on the high street when it comes to charity Christmas cards? And which is the greediest?
The Charities Advisory Trust surveys all main high street shops which offer charity Christmas cards (the fieldwork is carried out in the last week of October and early November). The purpose of the awards is to alert the public to the sham of cards purporting to be charity cards where less than 10% of the purchase price actually goes to charity.
The Charities Advisory Trust proudly announces the winner of the 2007 Scrooge Award goes to Harrods. Of their range of 202 charity cards nearly 95% gave less than 10% to charity.
There have been notable changes for Christmas 2007 and not necessarily for the better. Retailers are more anxious than ever to use the charity cachet to help sell their goods. So John Lewis sells only charity Christmas cards. How caring and ethical; except when you realise how little goes to charity (38% of the designs (181 out of a range of 478) gave less than 10% to charity). So John Lewis gets our Georgy Porgy prize for greed. Their 25% to charity on their own range did not mitigate their overall policy.
Does it matter?
Yes. Card Aid, which gives at least 40% to charity, gives the following examples:
2 packs of cards pay for a month's schooling for a child in Africa.1
100 cards buy a fine goat for a widow in Rwanda.2
68 cards paid for a cataract operation, which restored the sight of Deborah, a retired head teacher in Africa.3
Who gets the money?
The whole issue of Charity Christmas cards and the amount going to charity is like Byzantine politics - very complicated.
One key issue is who gets the charity donation on the cards sold through retailers. Often the money goes to the charity's trading company, which is in effect licensed by the charity to do the deals. The amount going to charity depends on the effectiveness of the trading company and these licensing deals may be subsidising other, even less successful activities. Just a thought!
Why do charities agree to these poor deals? One surprising feature of the Scrooge Awards is that it is the large charities, with huge leverage like Cancer Research UK, NSPCC, BHF, Alzheimer's Society, MacMillan, Oxfam or British Red Cross which agree to deals that give them so little. Charities should agree to say no below 10%.
And the cards with the least going to charity were at Harrods. Caspari (25 designs) gave 4% to Alzheimer's Society and Macmillan Nurses.
1) Based on a pack of 10 cards at £4.99
2) Based on a pack of 10 cards at £6.99
3) Based on a pack of six cards for £5.99
For more information call Hilary Blume, Director
Card Aid is an initiative of the Charities Advisory Trust
The Charities Advisory Trust, Radius Works, Back Lane, London, NW3 1HL
Tel: 020 7794 9835 E-mail: people@charitiesadvisorytrust.org.uk
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