Give With Care

New campaign to tackle bogus clothing collections

During the recent Scamnesty campaign we received a significant number of complaints about leaflets distributed in the county asking for donations of clothes, shoes and other household items.

Often the leaflets are worded in a way that encourages people to assume that the items are collected for charity.

 
Now a new campaign aims to stamp out bogus charity collections.

 
The Association of Charity Shops estimates that between £2.5 and £3 million is lost to charities through theft and people mistakenly giving unwanted clothing to commercial companies in the belief that they are giving to charity.

 
While clothing companies may be acting legally, their leaflets may be largely indistinguishable from charities, unless people know what to look for.

The new 'Give with Care' campaign aims to help the generous people who want to give to a genuine charity to understand what to look for on leaflets and bags that come through their letter box. The campaign includes top tips for spotting a genuine charity collection:

1. Does the sack or leaflet say the collection is for a registered charity? If so, what's the registered charity number - call 0845 3000 218 or visit the Charities Commission website to check that it's genuine.

2. Does it only give a registered company number? Check that a registered charity is also involved with the collection.

3. Is the charity actually named? Be wary of wording that just says 'families in need' or 'sick kids' as this is an indication that it is not a genuine charity.

4. Does the leaflet or bag give a phone number? If not, it may mean the collectors don't want to answer questions.

The ‘Give with Care’ campaign includes thousands of leaflets being distributed to householders across the country with the top tips to help check clothing collection leaflets. Posters will be also displayed in charity shop windows to raise awareness amongst shoppers.

Eddie Coventry, Head of Gloucestershire Trading Standards, said: "From the number of complaints we receive it is clear that this is something people are very concerned about. We look at all the information sent to us about these complaints but the best way of tackling this problem is to ensure that the public are informed about how to spot the real charity requests so they can make their own choices about donating their unwanted items."
 

 
Copyright © Gloucestershire 2010 - This page was last edited on 07/04/10