Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111

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In Kind Direct Charity Household Essentials Campaign - urgent stock appeal

Throughout June and July, In Kind Direct is running an urgent campaign for stock donations from the industry.

Due to a big increase in the number of charities seeking help, In Kind Direct, one of The Prince's Charities, is seeking donations of a wide range of essential cleaning items (listed below) to pass onto struggling UK charities operating both at home and overseas, to help them run their services and to provide essential services to improve the lives of the vulnerable people they support.

Research by the Charities Aid Foundation earlier this year warned that as many as one in six charities believe they may close because of financial pressures. Many of the 5,000 small charities that In Kind Direct supports - including domestic violence charities, youth groups, family welfare organisations, homeless shelters and community groups - are on the front line helping families and vulnerable people struggling to make ends meet. Tellingly, 520 additional charities have joined In Kind Direct's network seeking help in the last six months alone.

By donating essential items, companies can make a real difference to reducing charities' costs. This in turn helps them do more for the vulnerable people they support.

One charity to benefit from In Kind Direct's service is The Ley Community in Oxford who says:

"Receiving goods from In Kind Direct saves us between £2,000 to £3,000 per year on our budget for household goods and toiletries, which makes a big difference to the quality and care we can offer to those in residence. With funding tight and demands for our service increasing, In Kind Direct has been a lifesaver."

In Kind Direct is calling for large donations of the following stock to be donated:

* Toilet Rolls
* Tissues
* Washing-up Liquid
* Laundry Detergent
* Surface Cleaner
* Floor Cleaner
* Sponges & Brushes
* Polish
* Kitchen Roll
* Dishwasher Detergent
* Mops & Squeegees
* Cleaning Cloths
* Disposable Cleaning Wipes
* Bin Bags/Refuse Sacks
* Air Freshener

Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1996, In Kind Direct has to date distributed £130 million worth of goods from nearly 900 companies. Some 6,000 UK based community and voluntary organisations have received products, helping millions of people in need every year.

In Kind Direct provides a single contact point for companies with surplus goods to donate. The charity has a unique logistics infrastructure and the expertise to store and handle large and varied quantities of stock and to distribute it to charities where it is needed most. All charities in the In Kind Direct network are fully vetted and monitored to ensure products are used only for charitable purposes. The result is an efficient, practical solution, which unlocks huge additional resource into the voluntary sector.

In Kind Direct is the only charity which has taken on the administrative and logistical complexity of providing this service for consumer goods in the UK. Product donors include most of the UK's leading retailers and manufacturers including: Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, Asda, Amazon, Pentland, Home Retail Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Dexam International, GlaxoSmithKline, Colgate Palmolive, Black & Decker, Disney, Adidas and many more.

Could your company help In Kind Direct provide essential household products for UK charities? To donate stock to In Kind Direct:

T: 0207 398 5510
E: [email protected]
W: www.inkinddirect.org

Follow the campaign on Twitter hashtag #charityessentials

13th June 2013