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At Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC), we rely on the generosity of your second-hand goods to help raise vital funds for lifesaving missions.
But what happens to your donations once you’ve dropped them off at one of our shops?
From sorting and processing to pricing and selling, we’ll take you through the typical journey of a donation, share our top shop tips, and highlight when well-intentioned donations can sometimes become a cost to the charity.
Dropping your donations off
Before visiting one of our shops, we recommend giving us a quick call in advance to check whether we can accept your items, helping to avoid any disappointment or inconvenience for you. - Find a full breakdown of what we can accept here.
When your donation is handed over, our team carries out a quick check for any damaged or unsuitable items. While this may seem picky, it’s an important step, as anything we can’t sell costs the charity money to dispose of responsibly.
We’ll also ask If you are a UK taxpayer, as this would make you eligible to sign up to Gift Aid. This is a quick process allowing us to claim an extra 25% from the government when your items are sold, at no extra cost to you.
Behind the scenes: Sorting and processing
Your donations enter our stock processing system where our team of shop volunteers and staff carefully sort, separate and prioritise the item based on several factors. We give priority to Gift Aid donations, and any items that will help to replenish current shelf gaps or seasonal relevance.
Clothing is steamed to freshen it up and remove most odours, although we always recommend customers wash items after purchase. As for electrical items, these are portable appliance tested (PAT) to ensure they are safe and functional to sell.
From back room to shop floor
With sorting complete, our team research your items to determine a fair and reasonable price, balancing value for our customers with raising as much as possible for the charity.
Each item is tagged and dated, ready to make its way onto the shop floor and to find a new home. We display stock between 3-4 weeks in a shop before moving it to one of our other shop locations to keep stock moving and displays refreshed.
Items received from other shops are often fast-tracked straight onto the shop floor to keep stock moving and displays refreshed.
When donations can’t be sold
While we’re incredibly grateful for every donation, not everything we receive can be sold in our shops.
For non-clothing items, anything damaged or unsuitable for sale has to be disposed of. If you have clothing that shows heavy signs of wear, we recommend using one of our textile recycling banks instead.
As a registered business, we don’t receive free waste or recycling collections, so disposing of items comes at a direct cost to the charity and is often sent to landfill.
Well-intentioned donations can sometimes end up costing us money. By double-checking that your donated items are clean, good quality, and saleable, you can help us make the most of every contribution and keep as much funding as possible for our lifesaving missions.
Make the most of your donation
Every donation makes a difference, and with a few simple steps, you can help us raise as much as possible for our lifesaving work.
Top tips for donating to our shops:
- Ring your local GWAAC shop in advance to check whether they can accept your items
- Only donate items that are suitable for sale:
- Clean, good quality, and in working condition
- Damaged or dirty items, can cost us money to dispose of
- Sign-up to Gift Aid so we can claim an extra 25% at no extra cost to you
