| Q1. |
Why, when the goods are given to you by donor companies, does In Kind Direct make a charge to the charities for them? Shouldn't they be passing them on free? |
| A1. |
There are considerable costs involved in collecting the goods from the donors, transporting them to our warehouse, sorting and repacking them, describing them in the catalogue, producing the catalogue, processing requests from charities and dispatching the goods to them. Additional costs are incurred in approaching the donor companies in the first place to persuade them to take part. These costs have to be paid or we would very quickly cease to operate. Charities are only asked to make a contribution to costs. In Kind Direct fundraises like all other charities to cover the balance. |
| Q2. |
Are you aiming to make the service completely free to charities eventually? |
| A2. |
We have no plans to eliminate altogether the costs to charities. For donor companies to be willing to take part, they need to be assured that goods are going where they are most needed. In addition, if everything were free, it would be difficult to convince donors that stockpiling was not taking place by charities which currently had no need for the goods but thought they might need them at some time in the future. |
| Q3. |
Why aren't we allowed to sell the goods to raise funds for our charity? |
| A3. |
The companies which donate goods generally do not allow it. One of the things they most fear is that products they give to charity, intending them to be put to good use, will end up being sold to anyone at car boot sales and on market stalls. While there is nothing wrong with selling items in a charity shop or raffling them to raise funds, these 'good' forms of selling cannot be effectively separated from 'bad' forms of selling. We are therefore obliged to put a blanket ban on all selling of goods received through In Kind Direct. Everything must be used by the charities themselves to run their operations or given free of charge to the people they serve. Otherwise we risk companies refusing to donate. |
| Q4. |
Why is there no longer a standard registration fee for all charities? |
| A4. |
In Kind Direct is keen to ensure charities of all sizes are able to access the goods our donors give us. Due to an increase in scale which allows us much greater efficiency in our operations and an increase in the number of sponsors, we are now able to offer free registration for organisations using our online service. |
| Q5. |
Do we have to be a registered charity? |
| A5. |
No, If we accepted only registered charities it would cut out many of the small voluntary organisations which particularly need help.
We simply require you to be a bona fide organisation, properly constituted for charitable purposes and independently run. When you apply to join the network we require copies of various documents, such as your governing document, your latest set of approved accounts (or all your bank statements since you started, if you are a new organisation) and your annual report if you have one, so that we can verify this. |
| Q6. |
Why not get special funding from the many trusts in existence? After all, the service is a valuable one to the community. |
| A6. |
We do in fact receive funding from a variety of charitable trusts and other cash donors, but this only covers about 60% of our costs. The remaining 40% is funded by the handling charges paid by the charities. We are constantly seeking fresh sources of funding, because we want to keep the charges to charities as low as possible. |
