Beware the charity Christmas card rip off
Charity Christmas cards raise an incredible £50 million a year for good causes, but the experts warn that the amount you raise for charities this Christmas depends to a huge extent on where you buy your cards. In some cases they may be worth just a few pennies to the charity you want to support.
The problem lies in the fact that so many of the cards sold in high street shops hand over just a tiny fraction of the cost of the cards to the charity concerned. In some cases it may be up to 25%, but in others it's as little as 7%.
Which? looked into this issue last week, and assessed the donations made by cards sold at 13 retailers. It said the least generous ones in the study were a pack of FareShare cards sold by the Co-op, which gave just 10p of the £1.50 sale price to the charity (7%). This was followed by Lidl, which gave just 8% to CLIC Sargent, a children's cancer charity.
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At the more generous end of the spectrum were Aldi and John Lewis branded cards, which donate 25% to the charities. However, John Lewis also has ranges that donate just 10%.
Which? does this study each year, and every year the most generous range emerges as the Children In Need cards sold by WHSmith - of which all profits go to the charity.
What should you do?
Instead of buying charity cards from stationary shops or department stores, a better bet is to buy cards from a charity shop, where all the proceeds of the sale of the cards will go to the charity. This will usually work out at around 50p or 75p for every pound you spend (once the cost of making and distributing the cards is factored in).
Alternatively, a charity called Card Aid sells cards online and at a few seasonal sales around London - and passes between 50p and 75p of every pound you spend to a number of charities.
Meanwhile Cards For Good Causes operates around the country, where volunteers sell cards from a variety of venues, and pledge that 70p in every pound (excluding the VAT) goes to the charities concerned.
A number of larger charities will also offer an ecard that you can attach to emails. The idea is that you make a donation in return for the ecard - which could be everything you would otherwise have spent on cards and stamps - although they ask for a minimum donation.
For those who are still keen to send something through the post, you can persuade the children to make cards, and include a note that you are donating your card budget for the year to a charity. Alternatively, you can send a letter, which is just as nice a way to stay in touch, and leaves cash left over for donations.
If you are keen to raise money for charity through your Christmas generosity, it's also worth checking out the charity Christmas ranges. These include handicrafts and gifts - as well as more unusual philanthropic gifts, where you can donate to a cause in someone's name. Oxfam has one of the most well-known versions of this where you can provide causes with everything from a chicken or goat to fixing a well.
