9 Feb 2023 • 2 minute read
Reduce, reuse, recycle and reconnect
Charity shops are an ever-powerful presence on our high streets. They’re beneficial to our communities and the environment. Google searches for ‘Charity shops near me’ have doubled since February 2020, helped not just by the cost of living worries but by increasing awareness amongst consumers about fast fashion.
However, it can take a lot of work to bring Charity shops into the 21st century and give customers the experience they expect when shopping. In recent months we (Green Gift Cards) have been fortunate enough to have worked with two forward-thinking local charities: St Peter’s Hospice and The Kirkwood Support Life. Both of whom are entering the gift card and membership world.
The retail world has benefitted from gift and membership cards since 2004. In recent years there has been an increase in national charities taking up gift cards and membership cards. However, today it is now the turn of the local charities. These local charities make an enormous difference to their communities and rely on every penny generously gifted to them. Read how the charities below are stepping into the gift card and membership world.
St Peter’s is a local charity that provides care and support to adults living with a progressive life-limiting illness. They support people in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset areas. Amazingly they can provide the vast majority of care in their patient's homes.
St Peter’s Hospice is the proud owner of 6 boutique/vintage stores, two furniture stores and 48 charity stores.
They chose a digitally printed 660-mic stand-alone, coated Invercotegift card for their Green Gift Card. The stand-alone card will be displayed on their gift card stands within their stores.
A stand-alone, short-run, digitally printed gift card is an excellent way to enter the gift card world when you are a small/er business with constrained budgets. Whether the order is for 100 or 1 million gift cards, digitally printed Green Gift Cards provide a cost-effective yet environmentally friendly solution.
The St Peter’s Hospice team was clear about their passion for sustainability across all their stores. They are vocal about environmental issues and breaking the cycle of fast fashion within the Southwest of England.
According to a 2020 study, fast fashion creates 92 million tonnes of waste annually. St Peter’s Hospice is keen for their customers to benefit not only from sustainable fashion but from their gift cards as well. As part of future-proofing St Peter’s Hospice, they have created a “Green Working Group”. A group set up to identify practices that can reduce the organisation's carbon footprint.
When searching for a gift card producer, it was important to them that the gift card they chose was sustainably made and did not contribute to the landfill.
All our cards are produced from FSC-registered forests at Green Gift Cards and in partnership with our carbon-negative paperboard mill in Sweden. All cards and embellishments are sustainably made and recyclable or biodegradable.
Interested in your own gift cards, Let chat
The Kirkwood Support Life is a local charity working tirelessly to help improve the quality of life of local people in the Huddersfield area with life-limiting illnesses. They support their patients through their condition and help their loved ones to live on after.
Their mantra is “..face tomorrow by forever facing today”.
The Kirkwood Support Life is the proud owner of 16 stores, a community café and a gift shop. They chose the 790-mic uncoated Invercote membership (loyalty) card in portrait. The portrait design is unique amongst our Green Gift Card customer base, so it stands out from the crowd.
The Kirkwood also chose the digital printing route to start their loyalty card programme without investing in a large batch of cards. However, there is no difference in eco-friendliness, versatility or robust strength of the Invercote, whether coated or uncoated.
When we were talking to The Kirkwood, it was clear they were focused on offering their hard earnt loyal customers the best experience. As part of their customer retention plan, The Kirkwood loyalty card provides exclusive access to special offers to their Gift Aider patrons. Gift Aiding is a UK government Gift Aid Donor Scheme (available to all adults who pay income or capital tax in the UK).
From offering quality care to quality loyalty cards, this is another way for The Kirkwood Support Life to connect with its customers. Finding quality material to use in their loyalty cards was a top priority. Aside from the eco benefits of Green Gift Cards, the quality and durability of uncoated paperboard cards offer a great alternative card material. Uncoated cards have proven to be popular amongst charity sector audiences. The uncoated card provides an earthy, raw feeling which has been dubbed as feeling more ‘eco’.
Do you have a loyalty card program? Let chat.
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Since 2006 we have been innovating and disrupting in the card market to develop what is a leading range of environmentally-friendly card solutions. So what sets us apart?
Well that’s the thing, there’s a number of reasons why Green Gift Cards are renowned in the world of card production. It is the material we use for our cards and the certification that the cards come with. It is also the compelling environmental story (we urge you to watch the video) that is behind all of our cards and the fact that, once finished with, our cards are compostable and can be recycled in normal household waste streams. Oh and we’ll say it again – being environmentally-friendly doesn’t mean they are more expensive. In fact they offer great value compared to plastic cards.
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