Charity shops and clothes recycling raises record £10.1 million for The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) is delighted to announce that through its strong retail, reuse and recycling profits, it has donated over £10.1 million to The Salvation Army this year. Thanks to the British public, who have been supporting SATCoL’s charity shops and donating their unwanted clothes to its reuse and recycling schemes, this Gift Aid donation represents an increase of five per cent year on year*, as well as yet another record sum for the charity.

The money will help The Salvation Army fund its valuable work throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland – including homelessness and addiction services, care for older people, help at emergency incidents, support for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales and a Family Tracing Service.

The cheque was presented on 21 July by Trevor Caffull, Managing Director for SATCoL, which is the trading arm of The Salvation Army. Mrs Brenda Dickens, Director, was there to receive the donation on behalf of The Salvation Army Trustee Company. The handover took place at SATCoL’s head office in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Brenda Dickens, commented: “It is a pleasure to accept a cheque knowing that it will make a huge and positive difference in areas of work that we may not otherwise be able to continue with. Thanks to our friends at SATCoL, their staff, volunteers and customers, we can carry on supporting those who need us, just as our founder, William Booth, did almost 150 years ago.”

Trevor Caffull is delighted with the unprecedented figure raised this year, he said: “I’m incredibly proud that we have yet again set a fundraising record. It might seem like a small action to some, but just by donating clothes to our shops and recycling schemes, or buying from our retail outlets, our customers have helped to raise millions of pounds for The Salvation Army. That’s no small feat at all.”

SATCoL has experienced a strong trading year through its clothing collection operations and its charity shops, resulting in significant expansion between 2013 and 2014. The business has increased its clothing banks to over 6,500 (from 5,200 this time last year) and delivers over 400,000 clothing collection bags to homes across the UK each week. SATCoL also added a further 15 shops to its retail network taking the number of outlets to more than 190.

Trevor Caffull added: “The focus of SATCoL’s activity is to operate a profitable business to support the work of The Salvation Army. It’s very encouraging to see that our businesses are thriving as a result of consumers embracing charity shops and clothing reuse and recycling. SATCoL will continue to expand in the UK so it’s a very exciting time for us; we hope to be able to set another fundraising record next year.”

SATCoL, which includes subsidiary divisions in the form of SP&S, British Bandsman, R. Smith & Company and World of Sound, saw overall sales income and profits grow year on year.

* Based on financial years running April through to March