Luton's Keech Hospice launches first multi charity gift card

Staff at Keech Hospice Care shop celebrate the launch of the first nationally accepted multi retailer gift card to be spent exclusively in charity shops

Keech Hospice Care – which provides free specialist care for children and adults with life-limiting illnesses – is now selling and accepting the card in its 33 outlets in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes.

The Charity Shop Gift Card is a social enterprise that has been developed in association with the Charity Retail Association. It will enable regional and national charities to boost their incomes by tapping into the £7 billion-a-year gift card market.

A minimum of 65 percent of the scheme’s surplus will go towards funding good causes in the communities they support.

It will also assist the growing second-hand revolution which is helping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

The gift cards themselves are recyclable and compostable. They’re available from participating charities, supermarkets and other retailers.

They can be bought as e-vouchers from www.thecharityshopgiftcard.co.uk