Helen Daniel of Papworth Hospital sheds some light on the relationship between charities and third-party clothing collectors, and explains why having a specialist on board has worked for them

Papworth Hospital is the UK’s largest specialist heart and lung hospital and Papworth Hospital Charity supports its work by raising funds for patient welfare, purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and funding research.

To be honest, clothing collections had not been on our radar until we were approached by Clothes Aid in 2007. At the time we fundraised through legacies, sponsored events, our shop and our annual Grand Summer Draw.

What appealed about it was that we could raise funds with no financial outlay from us, apart from the cost of internal staff working on the contract. We knew we would receive a minimum guaranteed amount per year, which would help with our annual fundraising targets, and have the additional benefit of raising our profile via the collection bags.

How it works

The process for donating clothes is relatively simple. Clothes Aid pays for all the bags and distribution and then at least 84 per cent of the profit, after the sale of the clothes and costs, comes back to the charity. There is also an environmental benefit. To put it simply, recycling keeps clothes out of landfill and clothes are given a second life with new owners in Eastern Europe. There is very little wastage as only approximately two per cent of the clothes collected are too old to resell. We love the environmental aspect because, not only are there funds at the end of the process, it is putting some of the one million tonnes of clothes that end up in landfill every year back into circulation.[1][1]

From the initial approach, it took around eight months to work out the contract. As well as a couple of face-to-face meetings with representatives of Clothes Aid, the contract also had to go through our internal process including being signed off by both our charitable funds committee and our board of trustees. Our main concern was going through due diligence but we followed the process and worked it all through.

We agreed to work with Clothes Aid for three years with a minimum payment of £25,000 per annum. The artwork for the bags was agreed collaboratively with us supplying the images and distribution started in earnest in summer 2008. Of course, it is important that the bags carry our registered charity number and the correct logo and fit with the rest of the Papworth branding. We did receive a number of calls from people wondering if the bags were legitimate but people are now used to Papworth collecting through this route and the number of calls has tailed off almost entirely. One of the major pluses of working with a third party like Clothes Aid is that they have the resources to be able to deal with queries via a customer helpline. It has been really helpful for a small team like ours to be able to direct queries to the helpline knowing that it will be dealt with in a professional manner.

While we were deliberating about the contract, we wanted to be assured that the commercial collection company was legitimate and that they would approach the local authority licensing to make sure that collection licences were in place. It was important that Clothes Aid was a member of the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), as it has a regulatory role to make sure the collection company is accountable, and a member of the Institute of Fundraising (IoF). We also took account of the NALEO guidance that advises that charities need to go through due diligence with any third party before signing contracts.[2][2]

It seems like a fairly simple way to fundraise but the logistical side of it is more complicated than you would think. Once negotiations about how much can be expected to be raised through doorstep collections has been deliberated, licences have to be applied for from the local authority. We don’t get involved in how often the bags are put out as this is between the clothing collection company and the local authority but there is a fine balance between brand awareness and over-saturation. Clothes Aid fills in an application form to licensing officers with all our charity details and they include the particulars about where the money will be spent. Licences can take up to four months to come through so planning is key to running effective collections. For us, licences are either on an annual basis or granted for one week’s worth of collecting every six weeks. Clothes Aid has licences for Papworth with 56 local authorities. Once the bags are collected, they are sent to a central depot and the collection company organises the sale into Eastern Europe. Its accounts department then works out the percentage that comes back to Papworth, according to the contract.

Brand building

Aside from local press and ongoing awareness that we fundraise through house-to-house clothing collections, we will be doing more in terms of direct clothing collections going into 2012. Clothes Aid has recently started a new scheme, Charity Champions, which is great for people who want to get more involved in fundraising for Papworth but don’t want to handle cash donations. As a Charity Champion, they collect clothes on behalf of friends, neighbours, relatives or colleagues two or three times a year and Clothes Aid then arranges the pick-up and sale of clothing direct from one address. One of the benefits of this scheme is that we will gain a higher percentage from the sale because Clothes Aid doesn’t need to distribute the bags and therefore there is less fuel cost and manpower needed. We will be promoting this through our newsletter, our website and local press. Unlike the standard door-to door-collections, there is data capture for the new Charity Champions’ scheme, so we can monitor its return.

Anyone setting up a contract with a commercial clothing collector should be aware that it is vital to get the initial contract in place with reasonable parameters on both sides. You should have all the information to hand about why the company you are working with is legitimate and be able to answer any questions that members of the public or media may have. You need to carefully read the House-to-House Collections Code of Fundraising Practice document from the Fundraising Standards Board and the Institute of Fundraising, as well as the NALEO Guidance. [3] [3]

The sector has suffered from some criticism but, like many other charities, we don’t have a presence on the high street and it is both a very valuable source of income that we would otherwise not have and it’s also a way of creating brand awareness with the public. For us, it has been a wholly successful collaboration.

[1] Defra statistic, Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/documents/clothing-action-plan-feb10.pdf).

[2] For more information visit: http://cms.naleo.org.uk/uploads/documents/Draft_Door_to_Door_Guidance.pdf

[3] (http://www.frsb.org.uk/uploads/Advice_Regulation/House_to_House_Collections.pdf)

Helen Daniel is legacies, lottery and retail manager for Papworth Hospital Charity

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 13, January 2012