Many of us like to buy charity Christmas cards as a way to give something back during the festive season, but how much of the money you spend on cards really benefits your favourite causes?
Different retailers donate different amounts of money from the sale of their charity cards, and in some cases, as little as 10% (or less) of the money you spend could be going to the charity, so you might want to consider this when choosing which cards to buy.
Here’s what some of the major retailers plan to donate from the proceeds of their charity card sales this year.
A note on charity Christmas cards
The way that retailers donate to their chosen charities varies. Some retailers commit to donating a fixed sum, for example, £200,000, while others donate a certain amount from the sale of each pack of cards. This can mean it’s tricky to know which is more beneficial to the charity.
One thing to note is that It’s a legal requirement for charity Christmas cards to state exactly which charities the money will be going to and the amount they will receive, so always check the back of the packet if you want to know the breakdown.
If you want to make sure that the charity keeps as much of the money you’re spending on cards as possible, then it’s often best to buy them directly from the charity. Most charities have online shops for their Christmas cards, so you should be able to find them through a quick internet search.
You might also want to have a look at Cards for Good Causes, which has a huge number of cards from different charities. The amount that will be donated to the charity will vary, but if you have a specific charity you’d like to support, you can search for it easily. They also have the option to buy an e-card and make a donation that will be split between several charities. You can donate as little as £1 per e-card, which when you consider how much it costs for paper cards once postage is factored in, can work out a considerably cheaper option.
Another option is simply to donate to your chosen charity rather than buying cards to make sure they get to keep as much of your donation as possible, and you know exactly how much you’re giving.
Where can I buy charity Christmas cards?
Here’s our rundown of some of the biggest providers of charity Christmas cards, and how much charities are likely to get from the sale of these cards.
John Lewis
John Lewis has one of the widest selections of charity Christmas cards that we found online, with both John Lewis branded cards, and cards from several charities.
The John Lewis branded cards cost £4 for boxes of between eight and 30 cards, and the money raised from these goes towards a £200,000 donation which will be split equally between the John Lewis Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Trussell Trust.
Other charity Christmas cards you can buy from John Lewis vary in price and the amount they donate. They include:
- Woodmansterne cards– various donations to different charities, including the RSPB, Age UK, British Heart Foundation, Marie Curie, Mind and more
- Museums and Galleries cards – different cards donating 10% to various charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support, British Heart Foundation, NSPCC, Marie Curie, Shelter, Minds Matter and more
- Caroline Gardner cards – 25p (2.5% of the cost) of each pack of these cards will go towards Meningitis Now.
You can see the full John Lewis range of charity Christmas cards here.
M&S
M&S has a selection of charity Christmas cards ranging between £5 and £9 for one to 20 cards.
Purchasing these M&S charity Christmas cards will contribute towards a £200,000 donation split between three charity partners. This year, these partners are:
Charity | Share of £200,000 |
Shelter | 48% (£96,000) |
Breast Cancer Now | 48% (£96,000) |
Marie Keating Foundation | 4% (£8,000) |
You can see the M&S charity Christmas card range here.
WHSmith
WHSmith has a few options for charity Christmas cards online ranging in price from £4.99 to £9.99 and 10% of the sales of these cards (excluding VAT) will be split equally between Cancer Research UK, the National Literacy Trust and mental health charity Mind.
You can see the WHSmith charity Christmas cards here.
Cardfactory
Cardfactory can be a great option for people with a smaller budget, with lots of low cost charity Christmas card selections, ranging in price from 99p to £4.69 for a one to 18 cards.
When you buy one of their charity Christmas cards, some of the proceeds will go towards an overall donation of £125,000 which will be split equally between the Teenage Cancer Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Alzheimer’s Society and Mind. Mind will then donate 8% of their share to the Scottish Association for Mental Health. For Cardfactory stores in the Republic of Ireland will donate €0.10 per sale of their charity Christmas cards to Make-A-Wish Ireland.
You can see Cardfactory’s charity Christmas card selection here.
The Works
Another good value option is The Works, which has plenty of charity card options starting from £2 up to £4 for up to 25 cards.
If you buy The Works’ own brand charity Christmas cards, 10% of the retail price of each pack of cards will be donated to their corporate charity partners which are National Literacy Trust, Mind, SAMH and Inspire.
The Works also has a selection of Christmas cards available from Cancer Research UK, where again a donation of 10% of the retail price of each pack of cards will be donated to the charity.
You can see The Works’ charity Christmas cards here.
Next
Next has a selection of charity Christmas card selections from Hallmark which has pledged to donate £50,000 to Barnardos UK and Ireland.
The cards cost between £4.99 and £9.99 for a box of five up to 30 cards.
You can see these cards here.
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