• Have a cake sale at work or school.
• Donate your unwanted clothes, mobile phones, household items direct to a BHF shop.
• Organise a team meal out and charge £5 extra on the ticket price.
• Have a raffle.
• give time as a volunteer
  

The list is endless. The effort is also amply rewarding for not only have you helped many 1000s of people, including yourself possibly, but you have raised awareness, hopefully a few smiles, given time as a volunteer, and a few pennies (ok, pounds!).

I get a lot of satisfaction from organising fund raising events but especially for the raising awareness. I like to dig out little known facts to show where money goes to help people or the various treatments available, for example.

Did you know that the Commercial collectors charge for their service of collecting unwanted items from your doorstep?

All of the BHF doorstep collections are carried out by clearly identified vans and drivers, and 100% of the profits help fight against heart disease.

Some charities who don't have high street shops form relationships with commercial collectors for profit. The commercial company keeps all the donated items and sells these overseas. The charity involved, in some cases, gets as little as 5% of the profit. 

It is vital commercial companies act responsibly and be transparent on their charity bags – particularly around how much profit the named charity will actually make from a collection.

The BHF Advice is -

• Take your donations directly into the charity shop you wish to support.
• Check charity bags and leaflets for information about how much of the proceeds from your items go to the charity.
• BHF Shops carry out doorstep collections using clearly identified vans and drivers. Ask the collector for identification if you’re not sure.
• If you’ve got some larger, good quality items you’d like to donate such as sofas, wardrobes, tables and beds – your local furniture & electrical store can arrange a free collection. Call your local store or book a collection online

Find out more about how commercial collectors are impacting our shops here.

What do your donations mean to the BHF?

• One pair of good quality shoes helps to provide information and support from a cardiac nurse on their Heart Helpline
• Two sofas can fund a hand held ECG machine meaning a patient can monitor their own heart from home.
• 22 dresses fund a BHF heart nurse for the day

Find out what you can (and can’t) donate


Now there, that was easy! you have just cleared some space in your wardrobe for some new treats for yourself! Thank you!

(information from the BHF)