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Charity Membership 2010 - 2011

Our members range from the largest national charities to locally based hospices, running nearly 7000 shops between them.Prices held from 2009


Membership criteria

Membership is open to ...

  • Registered charities in England, Scotland and Wales
  • Exempt charities
  • Charities registered or recognised in Northern Ireland
  • Charity subsidiary trading companies
... that run or are interested in running shops.

Charities outside the UK may apply to be Overseas Members (this also applies to the Channel Islands and Isle of Man).

Charity Membership applications are subject to approval by the Board of Directors.

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How the Association works to support its members

Our Board of Directors are elected to represent the range of size and type of charity retailer, with members from large, medium and small operations, including hospices. This broad and balanced representation allows the Association to take forward issues important to the sector as a whole and to understand and respond to the differing needs of members.

By pooling expertise and joining forces to promote common interests, we help members to operate their shops as effectively as possible.

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Charity membership benefits

  • Effective lobbying and public relations on behalf of our members on key issues for the sector, such as Gift Aid improvements, correct waste charging and donated stock
  • Promotion of best practice and increased public support through the Code of Charity Retailing, the self regulatory scheme for the sector
  • Research and market analysis - reports of charity retail performance not available anywhere else
  • Guidance and information about charity retailing and key legislation, supporting your shops' activities
  • Annual Conference, Exhibition and Awards
  • Access to free e-learning courses on Health & Safety and Security
  • Interest groups and networking opportunities
  • Online discussion forum - a virtual meeting space
  • Free, 24 hour legal advice and charity tax advice
  • Marketing materials
  • Comprehensive website - www.charityshops.org.uk
  • Support, from those who understand the sector

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Larger charity members
Our largest members look to the Association as the 'voice of the sector' best placed to lobby on key issues. We bring the sector's concerns to the attention of policy makers, the media and the public and achieve real change. Our ongoing waste campaign illustrates this approach and has already saved the sector many hundreds of thousands of pounds. We provide for our larger members:

  • Monthly market analysis reports of charity retail performance
  • Well-attended national charity networking opportunities
"Oxfam proudly supports the Association, which plays a central role in the development of the sector and is a key source of information and support for charity retailing."
Barney Tallack, Deputy Trading Director, Oxfam GB

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Smaller charity members
The Association provides information and services centrally that smaller charity retail operations may not have the resources to provide for themselves.

  • Comprehensive guidance on key legislation in the Members' Handbook
  • Training opportunities
  • Consumer research
  • Access to legal advice
  • Bursary scheme for first time Annual Conference attendees
"As a small organisation we feel supported by the Association and have access to information ... that we would not have the capacity to access ourselves."
Isobel Stefaniuk, Scheme Manager, Home-Start Teesside

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Hospice members
We have 127 hospice members and we recognise the differing profile and needs of this part of the charity retail sector.

  • We provide hospice-specific benchmarking data in our market analysis reports.
  • Hospice members play an active part in our interest groups.
  • There are 4 hospice representatives currently on our Board of Directors.
"As part of the hospice movement we are proud to be members of the Association as the help, support and advice given is invaluable to smaller organisations."
Dawn Charlesworth, Area Retail Manager, Barnsley Hospice

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Fees - PRICES HELD FROM 2009!

Please read carefully as invoices will be based on the following information. The appropriate fee band will be calculated based on the number of permanent shops.

Permanent shops
• Minimum fee: £200 plus VAT per annum
• Charities with 0-4 shops: £200 plus VAT per annum (ie. the minimum fee)
• Charities with 5-20 shops: £47.50 plus VAT per shop per annum
• Charities with 21-100 shops: £40 plus VAT per shop per annum
• Charities with 101+ shops: £36 plus VAT per shop per annum, up to max 500 shops
• Applications received after 1 September 2010 will be charged at half price, for charities with UK permanent shops only

Temporary and overseas shops
• Temporary shops are in, or expected to be in operation for less than 6 months at 1 January 2010
• Overseas membership is for charities running shops outside the UK
• Temporary and overseas shops are charged at half the rate for permanent shops plus VAT, subject to minimum fee of £200 plus VAT per annum.

Membership year: 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011

Please do not send payment with your application as you will be invoiced for your membership fees. You can then pay by either cheque or BACS. The Association does not accept credit card payments.

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New Membership and Membership Renewal
Application 2010-11

Purchase order number
Organisation
Registered charity no. or equivalent for N. Ireland
Main contact person
Job title
Address
Address2
City
County
Postcode
Country
Tel
Fax
Email
We will communicate by email unless you indicate otherwise         Post
Website
Invoice address (if different from above)
No. of permanent charity shops (in operation for over 6 months at 1/1/2010)
No. of temporary charity shops (in operation for less than 6 months at 1/1/2010)
We carry out house-to-house collections for goods Yes      No
We operate collection banks Yes     No
Communications: To save on postage costs and to disseminate our information more efficiently, we will normally communicate with you by email. We need your permission in order to do this for official documents, such as notice of AGMs etc, and would be grateful if you could complete the following:

I give consent for formal documents to be sent to me by email.
 Yes      No, please send formal communications by post

If yes, and this is to a different email address than that stated above, please give required email address here:
Membership categories and Code of Charity Retailing 2010-2011
  • The Code is the self-regulatory, best practice scheme for charity retailing in the UK. Please read the Code of Charity Retailing carefully.
  • It is mandatory for full members, running shops in the UK, to abide by the Code (box 1, below).
  • The Code does not apply to Overseas Members, Provisional Members or members with no shops (box 2, 3 or 4)
  • To be awarded status as a member of the Association of Charity Shops you must tick one of the boxes below.

1. Full Membership: We undertake to abide by the Code of Charity Retailing, as may be amended by the Board of Directors from time to time, and we apply for full membership of the Association of Charity Shops.

2. Provisional Membership (new members only): We will abide by the Code of Charity Retailing within 12 months of joining the Association of Charity Shops. (Provisional Membership is for one year only, when Full Membership should then be applied for).

3. No shops yet: We do not currently run shops, but are interested in doing so and will develop our retail activity in line with the Code of Charity Retailing.

4. Overseas Membership: For charities that run shops outside the UK, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Charity Membership applications are subject to approval by the Board of Directors.

Member Consent: This information is a requirement under company law, and under our constitution, that member organisations give their formal consent to be a member of the Association and nominate an individual as their representative.

We hereby consent to become a member of the Association of Charity Shops and we nominate  (name) as our representative until further notice. For an on behalf of (charity).
Declaration: I apply for membership of the Association of Charity Shops on behalf of the above named charity and consent to pay the relevant fees. I declare that I have read and understood the Code of Charity Retailing 2010-2011, I am responsible for the charity's retail operations and / or I am authorised to apply for membership on behalf of the above named charity.
Click in this box to state your declaration:
Code of Charity Retailing marketing materials: Full charity members receive free window stickers, 1 per shop. If you would like more window stickers please contact Susan on 020 7255 4470.
FREE Code of Charity Retailing logo artwork available on the Learning Zone home page. Once you have joined you will receive a user name and password for the Learning Zone where you can then download the Code of Charity Retailing 2010 logo artwork.
Find a Charity Shop: As part of our role to promote charity shops our website boasts a search engine, called Find a Charity Shop. This facility is increasingly being used by the public to locate and contact specific shops. If you would like your shops to be included download a form here or send a spreadsheet with details of your shops to Isabelle.
Print formPlease save or print a copy of this form for your records.
           

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