Happy Volunteers’ Week everyone!

To mark the start of this special – and unusual – Volunteers’ Week, Vicki chatted with our good friend Dan O’Driscoll from Engagement Consultancy about what we think might be different this year, and why volunteering is so important. You can watch the video of our chat here.

At the start of the pandemic, we got together with our good friend Daniel O’Driscoll from Engagement Consultancy to give you ideas on how to keep your volunteers engaged whilst your shops are closed.   We loved all of your feedback and support of our first piece and have pulled together some further advice and guidance now that we are 6 weeks down the line – this time with input from charities across the sector. Thank you to everyone who’s been in touch with your ideas – we hope you find it both interesting and useful.

NCVO

A wealth of information and resources have been produced and made available by NCVO. These are normally reserved for members, but have been made public due to Covid-19. These will be available for a limited time as they have made clear on their website.
They have a dedicated Coronavirus page which you can find here and a dedicated volunteering page which you can access here

There are some great examples of how volunteers are able to get involved and support the local community during the pandemic, some of which may be suitable for your charity and worth highlighting to your volunteers.

The page also provides guidance on volunteering during the pandemic.

Virtual volunteering buddy

With isolation affecting so many people, being able to develop a befriending volunteer offer may be something that your charity is able to do.

Befriending Networks is an organisation that supports befriending services. They have produced some excellent guidance on befriending services during Covid-19.

Befriending Networks have also made “Being a befriender: The Good Practice Guide” free to all to support organisations with their befriending services. You can access the PDF document here

Sharing volunteer stories

We love this example of the Oxfam Bideford shop and their amazing volunteers who have created their own face masks from unsaleable t-shirts. This is a really great example of showcasing how the volunteers are still engaged and connected to the shop and the local community. It appeals to different audiences too – to Oxfam supporters to help them see how much volunteers love working with the charity, and to the volunteers themselves, showcasing them and making them feel valued.

What stories do you have about your volunteers that you could share with your supporters? Have your volunteers been helping out in their communities during the pandemic, sewing scrubs, shopping for vulnerable people or helping others? These stories show what great people work with you and could encourage others to join in.

Do any of your volunteers have great stories to tell about their involvement with your charity? Perhaps a funny story from working in your shops, did they meet their partner whilst volunteering, or were they instrumental in setting up the charity? Sharing these human interest stories make the volunteers feel engaged and valued and your supporters interested.

Share them via your social media platforms, website, newsletters or any other communication methods you use.

Email communication

The British Heart Foundation is producing weekly communications to their volunteers which include a lot of helpful information. Here is an example of one of their recent emails for you to have a look at. Thanks to the team at BHF for letting us share this.

When planning an email communication, think about the following:

Is email the right form of communication for your volunteers?
What information can you include?
What are your volunteers asking for and how are you able to provide effective communication to them?

Flexible communication

Save the Children settled into a rhythm of communicating with volunteers and their focus is making sure everyone continues to feel connected – through calls, emails and regular updates on their Volunteer Intranet (Go Assemble). This is a great example of how one approach might not suit every volunteer, so it’s important to flex to what people need.

They have also implemented quite a few of the engagement ideas we suggested in our recent guidance and we’re delighted it’s working well for them.

Video communication

Ross Henderson, Head of Retail for Severn Hospice has been producing short videos and sending them through WhatsApp to his team to keep them updated. Using video is a great way to connect and get your message across. It’s also really personal and it keeps that visible leadership front of mind, which is really important in the current situation.

The Chief Executive of one small charity which works with people with learning disabilities made a video for their volunteers – all of whom are supported by the charity in their volunteering. This means that they still feel connected and really valued, so important when their volunteering is an integral part of their support network.

If you work with a national charity, you could think about producing an area video which you can send to your volunteers so that you are still engaging and connecting locally to your volunteers. It’s also a nice idea to encourage your volunteers to send in videos and share what they have been doing or what they are looking forward to most when they are able to get back into the shop.

Volunteer surveys

Lots of charities we’ve spoken to have used the lockdown to send out “pulse” (or short) surveys to volunteers. This could be something as simple as a well-being survey making sure that the offer of support is available.

It can also be used as an opportunity to ask volunteers for feedback on how they have been communicated with. Are you missing anything that volunteers would really value? It can be a really effective way to get insight.

You can use free online tools such as Survey Monkey  – make sure you click “sign up free”. You also don’t have to send it out the traditional way through email, you can send it through WhatsApp which might be a better way to get more volunteers completing the survey.

Social Media

Whilst not all shops have their own social media accounts – and not all volunteers will be tuned into every platform, this is still a brilliant way to keep in touch and let people know what you’re up to.

Championing volunteers on social media, talking about the roles they undertake – perhaps with a “Spotlight on…” series of posts, looking at different people and how they help – can be really engaging and motivating for volunteers and supporters alike.

WhatsApp groups for shop teams are really popular too, helping everyone keep in touch, share their lockdown experiences and plan for reopening. One team we know of set up a “Grayson’s Gang” group on WhatsApp so they could watch the Grayson Perry Art Club on TV and share their work with each other as they do it. A great way to keep creative and active, as well as uncover new talents (and perhaps a new window dresser or two…?!)

It is if course important to note that furloughed staff are not permitted to run social media accounts for their shops – but we’ve seen lots of fabulous volunteer run ones on Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps one of your volunteers would be interested in doing the same? Why not put out an appeal and see who’s out there? Another new skill and another great way to delegate meaningful and interesting work to your volunteer team.

Training

Many charities have taken advantage of the time away from the shops to offer training to their teams. We all know how hard it can be to get sessions booked in with the daily pressures of running a shop, so this has been a great opportunity to do some learning.

Oxfam are running Zoom sessions for their volunteers and shop staff on topics from online selling to Oxfam’s work overseas and lots more besides. A great way to upskill and inform, meaning people are fired up, skilled up and motivated to return when the time comes.

The Charity Retail Consultancy produced a Lockdown Learning package of four x one hour video sessions, covering volunteer recruitment, stock acquisition, customer service and space management. Lots of charities have taken this up for their paid teams – and several shop managers have come back to us to tell us they will be sharing it with their volunteers too, which is great news. One manager from Primrose Hospice said she would be using what she has learned from the volunteering session to help recruit the new team members she will need when she reopens as, in line with many charity shops, she is certain that some of her existing volunteers will be reluctant or unable to return in the short term at least.

Support through coaching

This has been an unsettling time for staff and volunteers and knowing where to get the right support can be difficult. Engagement Consultancy have been working with charities to support their staff with coaching interventions during Covid-19. Focusing on supporting staff with well-being, self improvement and getting prepared for when shops reopen. Coaching can be a really effective way to make positive changes and have lasting impact.

Activities

We’ve seen some great examples of shop teams taking on different activities during lockdown to keep them engaged and have interesting and worthwhile things to do. One Martin House Hospice shop team started making crafted goods from their homes which will then be donated to the shop for selling when they reopen.

We’ve also seen teams doing quizzes, competitions and reading groups online. The CRA put together a great list of activities for volunteers during down time too.

Volunteers’ Week

The Charity Retail Association is producing a range of resources that will be available to their members to use during Volunteers’ Week. It’s a really important time to recognise the contribution that volunteers make so why not use it as an opportunity to say thank you.

Consider how you might celebrate volunteers’ week. One charity is having a “fizz on the lawn” – asking volunteers to come out into their gardens and join a video call to celebrate them and ‘virtually’ present them with their length of service awards.

Other charities are arranging webinars and video calls so that they are still able to say thank you to their volunteers face to face.

Lots of charities are sending out thank you cards and letters to their volunteers, so that the personal touch we’re all missing is still there.

You could have a landing page on your website with your volunteering stats highlighting the incredible contribution volunteers have made and are still making.

What can you arrange for your volunteers to mark the occasion?

Finally…..

Overall, our wonderful sector is still proving itself to be thoughtful, resourceful, creative and resilient when it comes to engaging with teams during lockdown. We’re grateful for everyone who has contributed to this blog and hope that you can all take some good ideas for keeping in touch over the coming weeks whilst we prepare to reopen.

We recommend that members of the Charity Retail Association continue to reference all of the resources and support available from them, as they have been busy compiling a huge of information to support charity retailers. And if you’re not already members, we recommend you join today!

We wish you good health and good engagement – and we hope to see your wonderful charity shops open and filled with life, love and laughter again very soon.

***UPDATE – 10.6.20***

We have added a brand new session to our Lockdown Learning package. For no extra cost, you will be able to access our pre-recorded webinar: “Well being leads to well doing – Exploring ways for a safe and healthy way out of Lockdown for your team” Devised and run for The Consultancy by Restorative Practice expert, Sarah Baggaley, this session introduces a whole new way to approach your relationships at work (and at home) to help ensure the best outcome for everyone. Charities who have already bought the Lockdown Learning package will automatically receive access to the session, along with useful links for planning this crucial element of reopening for business. Anyone purchasing the package from now on will receive all five sessions – and all at no extra cost.

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We were thrilled to have this wonderful feedback on our Lockdown Learning package:

“Congratulations on producing a wonderful resource which will help me train and update the retail staff and prepare them to return. It will also help me to maintain a connection – and I do believe it will positively impact their mental health and well being.”

David Burrell – CEO, Primrose Hospice

Designed with furloughed charity shop teams in mind, but suitable for all the retail team, these four online sessions provide practical ideas and guidance around some of the key drivers to ensuring you are making the very most from your charity shops.

Each session is approximately one hour and is delivered in the form of slides with an accompanying narration. There are exercises for participants to do throughout each session and a takeaway “Ideas and Action” plan, which encourages staff to think about what they will do to improve their shop when they return to work.

Each session reminds teams to check in with their line managers before they make any changes, and we offer email or ‘phone support to anyone taking part in the courses.

The course content is as follows:

Recruiting and retaining great volunteers
• An overview of current charity retail volunteering, including up to date statistics and trends
• Assessing your volunteer need by carrying out a volunteer audit
• How to attract volunteers using tried and tested methods as well as new and innovative ones
• The benefits of volunteering
• Planning volunteer roles
• Rewarding volunteers
• Why and how to attract young people as volunteers

Stock acquisition and management
• Knowing the challenges of donated stock acquisition
• Understanding your stock generation needs
• Identifying the levels and types of stock needed and how to achieve the right stock levels
• Planning how to improve your stock generation activities
• Planning how to retain your stock donors

Customer service
• What good and bad customer service means for you
• What excellent customer service looks like
• The benefits of good customer service
• Current challenges
• How to increase customer numbers
• Instore experience – how to delight your customers
• Online presence – selling and engagement
• Building a community
• Collecting and using market research
• Going the extra mile

Making the most of your space
• Understanding the basic principles of space management
• Calculating % sales and % space
• Sales vs space – how to allocate your space to each department
• Filling your space – areas to consider
• Types of shop and styles of merchandising
• Using your shop fittings effectively
• Calculating potential sales

Cost
Costs include unlimited access for your charity staff and volunteers to the sessions & supporting documentation, plus follow up support via email or phone as required.
Charities with 0-5 shops* – £250 + VAT
Charities with 6-20 shops – £50 + VAT per shop
Charities with 21 shops or more – please contact us to discuss a price

*We are aware of some funders who may be able to help with costs for smaller charities and are happy to discuss this with you

How to access the leaning
If you would like to go ahead, please contact us at hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
We will provide you with a link and password to access the sessions and supporting documentation. We ask that this is not shared beyond your organisation.

We look forward to hearing from you and continuing to support you and your teams through these uncertain times.

Introduction

This document has been prepared by Daniel O’Driscoll from Engagement Consultancy, and Vicki Burnett & Jayne Cartwright from the Charity Retail Consultancy with input from the Charity Retail Association Discussion Group on LinkedIn. We are also grateful for contributions from several charity retail leaders.

Together we have brought together ideas for you to help ensure your volunteer teams remain engaged through the shop closures – and what to think about when planning and implementing communication strategies.

If you are furloughing your staff, we recommend that you consult the Charity Retail Association (CRA) Coronavirus Guidance to ensure that anything you do complies with regulations surrounding this scheme before making any firm plans which involve your paid staff. If you are not already members of the CRA, you can join here.

Wellbeing & mental health

These are difficult times for everyone and it is highly likely some of your team will be worried, anxious or depressed. Some volunteers will already have their own mental health issues, and volunteering, with the structure and support it can bring, may have helped them to manage symptoms. With that opportunity no longer available, this can be a vulnerable time for people. It is important to take this into consideration when asking your staff to keep in touch with and support their volunteer teams. The points below provide suggestions as to what to consider and how to ensure your staff and volunteers are supported whilst the shops are closed.

Consider the impact for some of not being able to volunteer during this period. What can support for these people look like? More than ever, having provision for mental health and wellbeing to support shop teams will be at the forefront of helping volunteers and staff.

Think about how the team will manage the impact on vulnerable volunteers who might have poor mental health and/or dementia or who rely on the routine of coming to the shop regularly.

Where and how does your organisation draw the line to make sure staff are not feeling overly responsible for these volunteers – and how are they (the staff AND the volunteers) supported by the charity?

Having a clear and defined process for what to do if you are worried – either about yourself or someone else – will help staff and volunteers know where to turn. Ensure safeguarding is considered throughout this process.

If there are any vulnerable volunteers in your shops e.g. those who live alone or have health issues, your charity may be their only contact. If your staff are furloughed then it may be wise to ask them to share this information with you to ensure the volunteer doesn’t fall through the net. It is important, however, to be mindful of privacy and manage this within your organisation’s guidelines.

Be prepared for and open to information about volunteers and staff who may be struggling to come from different sources, e.g. from work friendship groups/peer groups.

Provide volunteers and those who are keeping in touch with them with a list of organisations who offer emotional and wellbeing support such as Mind or The Samaritans, so people have somewhere to turn or can signpost others (Links to some of these organisations are at the bottom of this document).

Investigate offering online Mental Health First Aid training to your teams who are supporting volunteers. (The Government have confirmed it is acceptable to offer training to furloughed staff).

Make wellbeing resources readily available to all volunteers via an easily and widely accessible intranet or your charity’s website.

Share ideas such as desk yoga, and mindful moments.

Take care of your own mental health and wellbeing – looking after yourself means you will be better equipped to look after your team.

Communication and engagement

The reason for keeping in touch with your volunteers is that you want to make sure that they are communicated to, that they can access support from your charity, but ultimately that you care for them and that you want to keep your volunteers engaged during this really uncertain period. When shops reopen, volunteers will be more important than ever so don’t take for granted that volunteers and supporters will just revert back to how it was before. Keeping them engaged will be key.

Having a communication plan

Are you able to coordinate and join up with internal teams on how you are communicating? Some of your shop volunteers will also be fundraisers in your charity, or campaigners or have other voluntary roles. If they are getting different comms from different departments, that isn’t joined up then that can have mixed messages. If one department is communicating well with their volunteers but shops aren’t getting the same level of support then how does that look?

Having a structured, joined up approach to communicating with volunteers and supporters will be essential. NCVO has a helpful resource which you can access
https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/campaigns/communications/communications-strategy

Visible leadership from senior staff

Your staff will be communicated to during this crisis, but there can be a disconnect with those messages getting through to your volunteers. Can your senior leaders, Heads of Retail, Trading Directors send out messages to your volunteers? One way this could happen is through video messages. Can your senior team send out a short video to volunteers telling them that they haven’t been forgotten, that you’re looking forward to seeing them again in person and if they want to get in contact sharing the ways in which they can do that.

How do volunteers want to be contacted during this period when shops are closed?

Can your Shop Managers make contact with your volunteers and ask how they would like to be contacted while shops are closed? If your Shop Managers are not able to make contact because they have been furloughed or are unwell, then what other resource internally do you have to make contact with volunteers?

Use your website

Using your website to create a dedicated page and a single source of information to communicate updates on COVID-19 in relation to your charity. Update that with what you are doing and what support you might need, how volunteers and supporters can keep in touch. You may decide to create a weekly / monthly email that volunteers and supporters can sign up to, so they can have information sent to them directly.

Phone contact

For on-going phone contact with volunteers, some charities have redeployed staff from other areas of the business e.g. street fundraisers, to contact volunteers directly to offer a friendly voice at the end of the phone. This could be especially important for any vulnerable volunteers or volunteers who are currently self-isolating.

Can you support your volunteers to start informal ring arounds between volunteers to offer support and a friendly voice at the end of the phone? Volunteers may already be in contact with each other, but having some coordination could help to make sure some volunteers don’t fall between the gaps.

Groups, forums and videos

Set up a volunteer email group to keep volunteers updated on what is happening in your charity. Direct your volunteers to the single source of information on your website.

Setting up an internal forum or extending an invitation for volunteers to join. You may already have an internal group on your intranet, or you might use Facebook workplace. But what existing groups do you have that volunteers could join and be part of? A local extension of this will be to have WhatsApp / Facebook groups that volunteers can join and connect with each other.

To keep that local connection and interaction with your volunteers, can your regional teams, Area Managers, Heads of Department record a short video message to send out to their volunteers? During shop closures, showing that you care and want to hear from volunteers will go a long way.

Have a regional, area conference / video call with your volunteers. Giving the option to dial into a weekly call where they can connect with staff, ask questions and get support. At the moment staff and teams will be having those calls with each other, so can this be extended to volunteers or create a specific call for them to join.

If you don’t have full contact details for all your volunteers, social media can be a big help – and reaching out to fellow shift members to ask those whose contact details aren’t available to get in touch. Using existing shop Facebook pages or setting up new ones can be a great way to keep in touch. Are you able to empower your teams to do this for themselves?

Online training

Refresher / online training for volunteers. With volunteers at home, this will be a good opportunity to do some refresher training with them or if you have the facility to send out some internal training to volunteers.

When shops re-open, if your volunteers have completed training or have upskilled in another section (books, high value items, online selling) then that will be a benefit for your shop. If individuals are eligible, Derby College runs free training courses for shop volunteers. Some of these have moved online now. You can get in touch with Lisa Ede who coordinates the courses. Lisa.Ede@derby-college.ac.uk

Keeping the team spirit alive

Can you arrange a virtual shop visit with your team or a shop meeting? Setting up a video call with your volunteers and Shop Manager to have a coffee and cake might be a really good way to keep connected and engaged. You also get to eat some cake!

Organise a team quiz or a coffee morning. Having that human connection during this will be vitally important and keeping that team spirit going will be essential. Volunteers can take the lead in organising this and setting up the meeting. Be mindful of volunteers who aren’t able to join virtually so consider other ways you can do this.

Are you able to celebrate any volunteer milestones (length of service) or your volunteer’s birthday? What would you do if the shop was open and how can you still celebrate and make that occasion virtual?

Don’t just focus on your favourite shops. It would be easy to call and get in touch with those shops that you have a close relationship with as it’s easy. Call and get in touch with those shops that you aren’t as close with and use it as an opportunity to get to know the team better.

Look at what other organisations are doing on their social media accounts. Use those good ideas for your charity. One such idea is showcasing your team or celebrating a birthday.

https://twitter.com/OxfamCastleSt/status/1243497698126372864 https://twitter.com/OxfamCastleSt/status/1243945728105426944

Encourage your shops to share their good news stories on their social accounts. Some of these might be older stories, or can you ask your volunteers to record themselves talking about their volunteering, why they joined and that they are looking forward to coming back.

You could do a short interview with your volunteers or a Q&A or get them to talk about what they did before volunteering in your shop. You can get really creative and put out some great content.

Teams could hold upcycling/crafting/poetry activities from home and encourage everyone to check in on each other’s progress (over the phone/via social networks etc). The physical crafting side will keep people busy and be a helpful distraction from current events – also it gives a positive topic to call about and ideas and patterns can be shared online. You could also use this as an opportunity for the team to create props for future window displays or items to sell in the shops when you reopen.

Links

Further advice, help and information can be found via these links:

Mental Health & Wellbeing

The Samaritans
Mind – The mental health charity
The Retail Trust – CRA members have free access to their services
UK Government Guidance

To connect with sector colleagues

Charity Retail Association Discussion Group – via LinkedIn, with live discussion every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 1pm and 2pm
Charity Shop Visual Merchandising & Display – Facebook Group showing examples of great visual merchandising and general charity shop chat

Fun stuff

The Charity Retail Association has set up a page full of ideas for volunteers and staff to do at home during lockdown

Volunteering advice & information

NCVO – National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Volunteering England
Volunteer Scotland
Volunteering Wales
Volunteer Ireland

Free Virtual Meeting Apps

Zoom – Video conferencing
Google Hangouts – Video Conferencing from Google
WhatsApp – Text, phone and video groups
WhyPay – Telephone conferencing

About us & contact details

The Charity Retail Consultancy

Voted Supplier of the Year 2019 in the Charity Retail Awards, we provide a range of services to support charities and other not-for-profits to make the very most from their retail and trading operations.

Vicki Burnett –        07985 574904        vicki@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

Jayne Cartwright – 07598 243210        jayne@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

Engagement Consultancy

We specialise in strategic planning, audience engagement, learning and development, and interim resourcing services. Focusing on volunteering, staff and supporters in the not for profit sector Dan works with all organisations of any size.

Daniel O’Driscoll – 07515 395683       dan@engagementconsultancy.co.uk

***UPDATE – 24th March 2020***

Given the ongoing and ever changing nature of the current situation, our offers may be subject to change. We remain happy to provide free telephone support so do call us if you need us and we will update you on how we can help.

The Charity Retail Association has set up a discussion group on LinkedIn and is hosting live discussions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 1pm and 2pm. We encourage you to join the group and the discussions.

Stay safe.

Vicki & Jayne

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At The Charity Retail Consultancy, we are devastated to see the impact of COVID-19 on society and specifically on our beloved charity retail sector. We have spent the last two days putting together a toolkit to support charity retailers and are happy to share it with you here.

We can offer up to 1 hour free telephone consultation with any charity who would like our input. We can’t promise to fix all your troubles but we are charity retail experts and willing to provide ideas and suggestions to help your particular situation.

We have also developed a number of paid for services. We understand the financial pressures that charities and individuals (including ourselves at The Consultancy) are all facing right now, so have endeavoured to keep costs as low as possible to make our services accessible to all.

We can offer:
1. Online training.
We have developed a range of half day courses for up to 6 people, covering a range of topics. The courses mean your teams can spend their time away from the shops constructively, growing their skills ready for reopening when things settle. Currently these are:
• Online sales
• Volunteer recruitment planning
• Making the most of your sales area and building a stock generation plan
• Backroom organisation: making your “engine room” as effective as possible
• Implementing and maximising Gift Aid on donated sales
• Customer service training

2. Help setting up an online selling platform
Whilst your shops are closed, selling online is the obvious way to turn. If you need support and assistance setting up an ebay shop, putting processes in place, understanding what drives sales and creating then recruiting to volunteer roles, we can help. We have a one day session and can provide a how-to guide and templates to get you up and running as quickly as possible.

3. Retail Mentoring
A bespoke 6 x 1 hour package of mentoring for your senior team to help guide them through these turbulent times and plan for the future. This provides expert input and frees up CEOs or Directors of Income to focus on other pressing issues, knowing their Head of Retail is on track and supported.

4. Volunteer and Customer engagement
Help and guidance on how to keep your supporters – be that volunteers, customers, donors or your local community – on board and informed whilst you are closed or have limited opening hours. Beginning with a 2 hour telephone session, we will help guide and support you through this vital piece of work to ensure you have everyone on board when business is back to normal.

5. Building your social media platforms and profile
Now more than ever, social media is vital to keep your profile high and your friends on board. We can provide advice and support in establishing a shop by shop or all-charity presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

6. Online interactive support
For a deeper dive into your shops, be that improving sales floor layouts or revising back room layouts and processes, we can offer video calls on site to talk you through what will help to make the most positive impact when your shops are back in full business.

7. Retail strategy development
In order to have the right direction of travel ready to go when the crisis is over, we can support and guide you through developing a new retail strategy. Working within the strategic objectives of your organisation we will help you ensure that your retail offer brings exactly what you need, when you need it.

8. Retail feasibility studies
If you don’t already have shops but need to consider a retail presence to shore up future income, we can help. We are experts at conducting feasibility studies, finding the right shop locations and offer for your charity.

There is no doubt that we all have some challenging times ahead. We are 100% committed to standing alongside and supporting the sector where we have spent our working lives however we can. If we can help or support you with any of the items we have listed above, or anything else you think you may need, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Follow us on social media as we will be keeping up to date with developments and changes as they happen, sharing best practice, good ideas and words of comfort.

Join the Charity Retail Association if you aren’t already members – now more than ever we need a strong sector body – and they need all of us to be able to carry on working on our behalf.

Stay safe, stay well – and remember we are #StrongerTogether

Get in touch:

Email: hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Phone: Jayne on 07598243210 or Vicki on 07985574904

We’re all becoming increasingly aware of the impact of fast fashion on the environment, and how reuse is becoming the ‘new normal’ – meaning charity shops are finally being seen as the high street heroes we’ve long known them to be.

For the last 80+ years, charity shops have been quiet eco warriors, encouraging reuse and recycling not just of textiles, but also homewares, toys, books, music, furniture and pretty much anything else you can think of. According to the Charity Retail Association, in 2018/19 alone, charity shops diverted 339,000 tonnes of waste from landfill – a remarkable achievement.

So, with the increased awareness and desire to behave in a kinder way to our planet, how are charities responding and readying themselves for this new wave of supporters? Upcycling and remodelling is becoming increasingly popular and charity shops are a great place to start.

Some charities have been thinking creatively for many years. Back in the early 1990s, Oxfam set up a sub brand called NoLoGo which remodelled clothing and fabrics, creating high end, unique pieces which were snapped up in London and Leeds where the branches were based. This article about the founder Janette Swift, published in The Independent in 1991 could have been written yesterday, it resonates so strongly with today’s zeitgeist.

Karen Dennis, a trained pattern cutter and early champion of upcycled clothing worked with Janette in London and then with our own Vicki Burnett to set up a workshop and specialist department in a Leeds city centre Oxfam store which ran successfully for several years. The pictures below – kindly supplied by Karen – show a range of the items produced by NoLoGo the time – including a copy of the famous Liz Hurley dress made at the request of the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Skip forward a decade or so and we see more of this kind of work. Once again, Karen and Vicki collaborated – this time on an upcycling project called Martin House Makers for Martin House Children’s Hospice, encouraging anyone with an interest in crafts and sewing to upcycle and remodel items for resale. The project produced a wide range of upcycled goods, including Christmas decorations made from donated buttons and beads, bags and bunting made from fabric scraps, knitted outfits for Barbie dolls – and upcycled high end fashion as shown in the picture below.

Pic: By Leanne Clarke – upcycled clothing made by Martin House Makers & modelled by volunteers

These days, we are seeing lots of this type of project running in charity shops and beyond. Sue Ryder, for example, has a ‘Remade’ section in some of its shops (Headingley shop pictured) and Charity Shop Chic is just one of many blogs showing how to upcycle pretty much any item of charity shop clothing.

There are lots of ways to tune into and benefit from this wave of interest. Running workshops in shops (in or out of hours), having resident volunteer fixers and sewers based in the shop or from home, running events, writing blogs or making “how to” videos on transforming your charity shop purchase into a unique item are just some of the ways to engage the modern eco-conscious customer.

With years of experience in this field, the Charity Retail Consultancy can help, advise and support you in developing an upcycling offer that suits your shops and your team. From defining the right offer for you, developing volunteer role profiles, building a business case to invest in staff and resources, setting up a workshop space, building marketing programmes and running training courses, we’ve got it covered.

For a small investment, we can provide you with all the guidance, materials and training you need to help establish a long term engagement and income generating project within your shops.

So – what are you waiting for? Get ready to ride the upcycling wave and see your profits and profile soar.

Get in touch:

Email us at: hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

Call Vicki on: 07985 574904

Featured pic at top of post by Leanne Clarke. Holly is wearing upcycled clothing from Martin House Makers

The Charity Consultancy recently ran an online poll to find out more about training, learning and development opportunities within charity shops.

We know from research carried out in 2019 by Charity Finance that 9% of charities (from their sample of 71) spend less than £20 per staff member per year on training. Although things are improving and spend increased by 10.7% in 2019, this is still a tiny amount of money and a sorry state of affairs.

Retail staff are such key members of any charity’s team. Often they will be the first point of contact for potential service users or supporters, so it’s vital that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to represent their charity, as well as being successful retail fundraisers. Our experience is that lots of shop staff learn on the job – they might bring skills from previous roles, often from commercial retail – but frequently they are ‘feeling their way’ through a complex and important role, which involves people and management skills, stock control, merchandising, finance, problem solving, conflict resolution and so much more.

Investing in these people is therefore vital.

We asked charities a short series of questions to find out more, and this is what you said:

Have you trained your retail team in any of these key areas in the last 2 years?
89% said they had trained staff in Gift Aid and in volunteer recruitment and retention.
65% had provided customer service and merchandising training
Only 40% had provided people management training and even fewer had worked with their teams on areas such as social media, stock acquisition and succession planning

What are your team’s top training needs for 2020?
Despite it being one of the most popular topics already covered, charities told us they still need to focus on volunteer recruitment and retention. This is no surprise as the Charity Shops Survey 2019 listed shortage of volunteers as one of the top areas of concern for charity leaders.
Managing people was also a big focus for this year – which ties in with making sure you look after the people you already have, as well as finding new ones.

How much did you spend last year training each of your staff team?
In line with what we had already seen, over 50% of the charities who responded spent less than £25 per head on training their team last year. The positive story though, is that 20% spent over £150 per head, showing that some charities really do understand the value of a well-trained team.

In the past how have you accessed training for your retail team?
Over 75% of respondents have provided in-house training in the past – we think this reflects the high amount of mandatory and health and safety training carried out by many hospices and other charities. It’s fantastic when you have people in your team who can share their skills and experiences with others, but sometimes it’s good to look outside too, to make sure you’re getting a fresh perspective and tapping into new developments and ideas.

When we asked how people would like to offer training in the future, there was a fairly even split between bespoke courses, attending external courses and 1-1 mentoring.

Who do you want to offer training to?
Over 50% were focussed on training for shop floor staff – managers and assistants, followed by 20% for Area Managers. This reiterates our point at the start of this blog – that those on the shop floor are often charities’ best asset, so it’s vital that to value and invest in them.

So….what next?
It’s been fascinating to get a better picture of what’s happening and what people want in terms of learning and development. At the Charity Retail Consultancy, we listen to our clients’ feedback and always have an eye out to see what the latest trends, developments and needs are across the sector. The information we’ve gathered has given us a great foundation and we will be offering training over the next 12 months in a number of ways.

We will be running a series of training courses across the country this year. These will include:

Volunteer Recruitment – how to properly identify the gaps in your team and know the best ways to fill them. We’ll be focussing on making the most of the rise of the environmental activist – and how your shops can be their place of choice to help save the planet. This course is a new twist on a long standing topic and not to be missed!

Space Management & Merchandising – a brilliant way to help shop teams understand how to make the best use of their available space and where to focus their attention to get the best possible return.

Stock acquisition – as securing good quality stock becomes even more of a challenge, this session helps everyone be responsible for attracting the right goods to sell.

Customer Service – a long standing topic but in these challenging times for the high street, giving your customers the best possible experience in your shops is vital. Learn how to make your shop experience one that your customers love – and keep them coming back time after time.

Places are £100 per delegate for a full day.

Contact vicki@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk for more information, and look out for our newsletters & social media for details.

We will also continue to develop and run bespoke training courses for whole teams, delivered at your choice of location and for up to 20 people at a time. Contact either Jayne or Vicki if you’re interested in a great value way to build your team’s skills.

We already offer mentoring and 1-1 coaching for senior staff and there are great deals to be had if you book several sessions in advance.

Training is always on our agenda and we are happy to discuss your requirements with you, so your team gets exactly what they need to be the very best they can be. Do get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more – and keep your eye out on our social media platforms and website for new sessions and information.

Twitter – @charityretailco
Facebook – @thecharityretailconsultancy
LinkedIn – @thecharityretailconsultancy
Web – www.thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
email – hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk
Tel – 07985 574904 / 07598 243210

Charity shops are a retailing force for good. They create new income for charities, they’re all about affordability and unique purchases, they create great volunteering opportunities, bring a buzz to the High Street and are great for the planet. Really great.
Without charity shops, so many clothes, furniture, bric a brac and books would end up in landfill. According to the Charity Retail Association, 339,000 tonnes of textiles were sent on for reuse and recycling by charity shops in 2018/2019. And according to a recent Government report, we buy more clothes per person in the UK than any other country in Europe. [1] Incredibly, we now buy five times what we bought in the 1980s, according to some estimates. It is shocking that UK citizens discard around a million tonnes of textiles per year. Our fast fashion habits need to change, and your charity shops have an important role in saving the planet.
So what can you do?
Act now! Fashion and supermarket retailers are successfully shouting their green messages, and we must do the same. Pre-loved purchases are a guilt-free and affordable choice. So here are three ways to share the green love:

1. Make some noise!
Plan some eye catching enviro windows, use your social media presence to engage with more customers, and print some posters that communicate facts like those above and these two:
– New clothes bought in the UK produce more carbon emissions per minute than driving a car around the circumference of the Earth six times. [2]
– Buying one new white 100 per cent cotton shirt weighing approximately 220g produces the same amount of carbon emissions as driving a car for 35 miles.  So conversely, buying one preloved white shirt is the equivalent to saving the carbon emissions from a 35 mile car journey

2. Refresh your objectives and strategy!
Take a look at your existing plans and find opportunities to incorporate sustainability concepts that complement your strategies. At the same time, ask yourselves if there are new environmental and social strategies you can create that will be unique to your charity and that will add value to your messaging and to your retail business.

3. Get involved with like-minded organisations!
Get involved with groups who can help share your messages with theirs to help build your presence in the wider community. You could contact Greenpeace, WRAP or Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit movement with teams in over 100 countries who campaign for a reform of the fashion industry, focusing on the need for greater transparency in the supply chain. They call themselves “pro-fashion protesters” because they love fashion and want to see it become a force for good. This Fashion Revolution Week, from the 20th to the 26th of April 2020, they’re joining forces with Global Fashion Exchange (GFX) to make the largest fashion swap in history.

[1] European Clothing Action Plan, Used Textile Collection in European Cities (March 2018)

[2] WRAP’s 2016 report “Valuing Our Clothes: The Cost of UK Fashion”

Christmas is a vital time of year for charities – it’s the time when many people are feeling generous and want to give, so having a variety of opportunities for your supporters is vital.

Christmas cards is one area where charities can really have an impact. The charity Christmas card market is huge – even in these digital times – and having a great selection of cards with a good profit margin is a brilliant way to raise money and get your name out to all your supporters’ friends and families.

In order to help charities make the very most of their Christmas card offer, we are delighted to be holding a free event providing advice and support on all aspects of Christmas trading.

Whether you have an already established Christmas card operation or have never tried them before, our event will have something for you. We will run a workshop on all elements of a successful Christmas card campaign – including choosing a range, setting prices, selling via shops, catalogues and online – and much more besides.

There will be a free lunch provided by an amazing local caterer, CatchaCarrot and in the afternoon you can browse the new card range from the main supplier to the charity sector, Elle Media and speak to their representative who will be attending the whole day. Elle are also kindly sponsoring the event, ensuring it is free to everyone who wishes to attend.

The Consultancy will also be offering free 1-1 sessions with Vicki to talk about any aspect of your retail or trading activities. There will also of course, be lots of opportunity to network with your fellow charity workers.

All in all, we think it’s going to be a great event and we’d love to see you there.

Date:               11^th February 2020

Time:               11am – 3pm

Location:         The Rockfield Centre, Oban

To register for free, email vicki@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

Once again, our open and collaborative sector has come together to help produce a really useful benchmarking tool. The 28^th Charity Shops Survey is a vital piece of kit for any charity retailer, mapping the highs and lows of the year just gone and gathering thoughts and concerns for the future. 71 charities representing almost 6,500 shops completed the 2019 survey, published by Charity Finance.

At the Charity Retail Consultancy we use the survey a great deal, so thought we’d share our thoughts on what the latest edition can teach us:

Profits are up

Firstly – good news! Once again our sector sees profits up on last year. With an increase of 5.9% on 2018, growth has accelerated and is certainly a huge turnaround from 2016 when we saw an almost 12% fall in profits. We think that those poor figures a few years ago really made people sit up and think – and make radical changes to turn things around. The move to specialist shops, larger stores, selling online, cutting costs and driving income generators such as Gift Aid have all helped, despite some of the ever present challenges around stock and volunteer numbers.

Where charities are taking a more innovative approach there have been some fantastic results. For example, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland have a Community Hub, Boutique & Clearance model making sure their shops really reflect the needs of their local communities. They are one of the few charities growing their chain, increasing by 5 stores last year and were rewarded by a 31.4% growth in profit.

Lots of the highest profit growth was seen in hospice chains. We work with many hospices and see how they can increase engagement and support by telling their powerful and moving local stories through their shops. Always popular with donors and customers, making that extra effort to really show how the hospice helps the local community can bring supporters even closer to the cause and generate extra income via increased donations and volunteer numbers.

Pic: Martin House Children’s Hospice shop, Yeadon – showing messages and images from the hospice to tell their story on the high street

Shop numbers are down

For the second year in a row, shop numbers have fallen. We don’t see this as a negative thing – more the sector getting its house in order, really looking at how much each store contributes and closing those which don’t cut the mustard. Have you got shops in your chain which don’t make a profit or are marginal in their contribution? Sometimes it can be hard to walk away, but it’s important to ensure the charity is investing its money wisely. Our retail reviews help to identify the true profitability of each shop in the chain and if there is potential to do better – sometimes repositioning a store’s offer, improving processes or upskilling the team can make all the difference. However, if you’ve tried all that and the shop still can’t turn a profit, it could be time to make some tough decisions and invest the money elsewhere.

The other influencing factors on shops numbers declining are the rise of the superstore – opening fewer, large format stores – and a cautious approach to expansion whilst charities ensure their base offer is working as well as it can be.

Despite the 2 year decline, however, retailers are still optimistic about the future and 87% of charities operating between 26 and 100 shops said they planned to open new shops next year.

Recruiting volunteers is still hard work

Volunteers are the backbone of our sector – their gift of time, skills, enthusiasm and hard work keeps the wheels of over 11,000 charity shops turning each year. However, the number of volunteer hours per shop per week has fallen again after a brief peak last year.

Almost everyone is in the same boat – everyone wants and needs more volunteers and many of you are effectively competing for the same people’s time. So what to do? The most successful charity retailers know that in order to attract volunteers the whole organisation must genuinely embrace and celebrate everything they bring. We’ve blogged about volunteers and how best to recruit and retain them – and as volunteers ourselves, we have first-hand knowledge of what a ‘good’ volunteering experience looks like. The Consultancy can help you with volunteer recruitment, training, retention and reward – get in touch if you want to find out more.

Superstores are really profitable

For the first time this year, the survey looked specifically at results from those charities running large format superstores. Sue Ryder is the biggest player in this field at the moment, with 50 of these stores, primarily based on retail parks and trading from warehouse style units. The survey showed that profits from this type of store are nearly three times more than a ‘traditional’ shop at £1,604 per shop per week, despite higher staffing and running costs.

We have been working with several charities recently who are all looking at developing an out of town or superstore offer – there are some great examples out there to learn from, not least the brand new Oxfam superstore which has attracted national media coverage and was listed as one of the best new retail concept stores in the world by Insider trends.

Pic: Oxfam Superstore, Oxford

If you are considering expanding into this new type of retail offer and want some help and support with the process, the Charity Retail Consultancy can help you.

And finally….

Overall, the sector is in good shape. We have once again bucked the mainstream retail trend of declining sales from bricks and mortar and continue to bring a vibrant, profitable, cause related offer to high streets all over the country. The survey results tell a great story and look forward with confidence to next year.

If your charity has contributed to the survey this year – thank you. And if not, make sure you do next year. Deadline for completion is usually around July so make sure you’re on the list to receive the form – every charity that takes part receives a free copy of the results and the more that take part, the more comprehensive and valuable the data becomes.

For reviews, staff & volunteer training, feasibility studies and much more, contact us to see how The Charity Retail Consultancy can help improve your retail operation:

Email:              hello@thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk

FB:                  The Charity Retail Consultancy

Twitter:            @charityretailco

Web:                www.thecharityretailconsultancy.co.uk