Leeds-based start-up, Vintage Cash Cow, has partnered with charity Age UK as part of their new charity service, Vintage Cash Cow for Charities. Following a successful trial across 40 Age UK shops, the free service is now being used by all 382 of Age UK’s nationwide charity shops.
What does VCCfC actually do?
Charity shops often receive donations they ultimately can’t sell. It might be that the donation is a restricted item, like a cutlery set. It might be that the item is broken. It might also simply be a bad fit for the people that frequent that particular charity shop. In most of these eventualities, the items end up either being thrown away or sent for recycling.
VCCfC’s service buys these unsold and unsellable donations direct from charities through a completely free to use service. The unique service means that thousands of pounds of extra funds can be raised from items that were previously considered ‘unsellable’.
But how do they do it?
VCCfC and their parent company, Vintage Cash Cow, have developed a widespread network of buyers, refurbishers, and recycling wizards that see value in the items many consumers do not. For example, broken watches head off to a burgeoning spares and repairs market to help other broken watches find new life.
VCCfC also offers incredibly competitive prices for scrap metal as part of their Metal Price Promise. This initiative means they’ll pay out a minimum of £1 per kilo for pewter, brass, copper and silver plate – a significant bonus considering some shops get at most just 5p per kilo, with some reporting to get nothing at all.
This extra fundraising stream has great potential for charities of any size. The average value of boxes VCCfC receive is £60. If all 382 of Age UK’s charity shops sent a box like that just once a month, they’d be collectively raising an extra £23,000 a month for the charity.
What does Age UK think?
Nick Smith, Head of Retail Operations at Age UK, said “VCCfC are a great partner for Age UK. They have over 30 years’ experience and already work with over 90 local and national charities. Their free service helps each shop raise even more from items they can’t or don’t sell.”
The 40-shop trial took place in 2018 with very positive results, “Over 75% of our shops got involved with the trial, with nearly half becoming repeat users of the service. We generated extra income with little effort – one shop raised over £350 from one box, so it was an easy decision to roll this out nationally.”
Co-founder David Weaver said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Age UK nationally and providing their shops with another revenue stream. We have the knowledge, service and network of worldwide traders and collectors to give charities an outlet for donations which may otherwise end up in recycling or the bin.”
He continued, “We work with many charities regardless of their size or whether they have charity shops, but we know there’s more charities out there who could benefit from our free service, so we’d love to hear from them and help generate money for their causes.
“Our company’s motto is “Don’t bin it, box it” to encourage charity shop staff and volunteers to think about whether an unsold or non-saleable item can be sold to us, rather than recycling, or worse, ending up in the bin (where it may end up in landfill). We’re helping to encourage charities to operate more sustainably through using our service and drive the reduce, reuse, recycle agenda, which can only be a good thing for everyone.”
