How To Donate Used Stamps To Enhance Money For Charity

Don’t bin your earlier stamps. Instead, recycle them. Proper right here’s strategies to donate your used stamps to help elevate funds for the charity of your choice.

Few households have been spared the impacts of the persevering with value of dwelling catastrophe. We’ve all seen our vitality funds and meals funds go up. And as a knock-on affect of this, charities have been hit exhausting. A majority of charities say their earnings has been hit by the cost-of-living catastrophe,

For many who aren’t able to donate cash to the charities closest to your coronary coronary heart, then there are nonetheless strategies to help. Donating objects you don’t need – and making certain to Current Help your donations so that charities can declare an extra 25p for every £1 they elevate on the sale of your devices – is a technique. As is shopping for in charity retailers for the belongings you need.

Nevertheless there’s one different, sometimes forgotten methodology, to help out your favourite charities. That is donating your earlier stamps.

Many charities accept any used stamps. These stamps are then purchased by weight, and most charities earn spherical £20 per kilogramme of stamps. This makes it an easy methodology for charities to spice up money from one factor that will in another case go straight into the recycling bin.

The run-up to Christmas is the proper time to start out out amassing used stamps for charity. Many individuals will get hold of Christmas enjoying playing cards from household and pals, which normally are likely to have stamps on them, as compared with funds. Proper right here’s all you need to discover out about how biggest to keep away from losing your stamps, which charities accumulate them, and further.

Desk of Contents

What Stamps Do Charities Accept As Donations?

Charities that accumulate stamps want any kind of postage stamp. Whether or not or not they’re new or used, first or second class, or smaller denominations. Charities moreover want stamps from worldwide nations, commemorative stamps, first-day covers, presentation packs or albums. Primarily, any type of stamp is accepted.

In 2018, UK charities had been prompt by the Fundraising Regulator to stop amassing used stamps as donations. It’s as a result of issues had been raised throughout the fraudulent use of postage stamps. Nonetheless, it seems that evidently the present introduction of barcodes on stamps helps battle fraudulent stamp use. Charities now seem able to accumulate used stamps as donations in confidence.

How To Donate Used Stamps For Charity

Sooner than you start saving your stamps, there are a variety of key pointers to note:

• Pre-paid or pre-printed stamps aren’t accepted by charities. It is solely bodily stamps accepted, so there’s no need to keep away from losing every envelope that comes by way of your door.
• There’s no should take away the stamp from the envelope, as attempting to peel the stamp off could rip the stamp. Instead, it’s biggest to cut throughout the stamp, leaving roughly a centimetre of envelope or packaging spherical each stamp. The rest of the envelope can then be recycled.
• You shouldn’t ship the complete envelope to the charity – you merely need to chop throughout the stamp to keep away from losing on postage prices and the charity’s time.

Sending Your Stamps

When it comes to sending off your stamps, don’t concern, stamps don’t have to be completely sorted.

Some charities say that it helps within the occasion you may separate them into British and worldwide stamps (observe that stamps from every the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man rely as worldwide stamps). Others do not require you to type them sooner than sending them. Confirm with the charity you need to help sooner than posting them as to what their preferences are.

Lastly, everytime you ship your stamps to your charity, make sure you pay the fitting postage in your parcel. If postage is underpaid, the charity has to pay a surcharge, which can sometimes be better than the value of your stamps. This may increasingly negate your good work.

The Charities Gathering Stamps

For many who’ve started amassing, then listed below are merely a variety of the charities amassing stamps to spice up money to help their essential work:

1. RNIB

The Royal Nationwide Institute For The Blind collects used stamps to help its charity work. Proper right here’s how one can donate your stamps to help blind and partially sighted of us dwell the life they want.

The charity offers smart and emotional help to blind and partially sighted of us, their households and carers. It moreover raises consciousness of the experiences of blind and partially sighted of us and campaigns for change to make society further accessible for all. 

2. Canine Companions

Canine Companions is a UK charity transforming the lives of people dwelling with disabilities by teaching assist canines. It’s possible you’ll help its obligatory charity work by donating your used stamps. Listed below are the full particulars on the place to donate them.

3. Age UK

Age UK collects stamps to fund its work supporting older of us to information rich and full lives. Proper right here is all the information on donating your stamps to Age UK .

4. In direction of Breast Most cancers

In direction of Breast Most cancers flip your earlier postage stamps into funds to help breast most cancers evaluation. Proper right here’s the place to ship your stamps to In direction of Breast Most cancers to help its charity work.

5. The Greyhound Perception

The Greyhound Perception was based mostly in 1975, and since then have found over 100,000 loving properties for retired racing greyhounds. Yearly, the charity rehomes roughly 3,500 retired racing greyhounds and helps an entire bunch further. Proper right here is the place to ship your stamps to help this work.

6. Ehlers-Danlos Help UK

Ehlers-Danlos Help UK is the one UK charity to help anybody touched by the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes –  group of 13 specific individual genetic circumstances, all of which impact the physique’s connective tissue. The charity collects stamps to help its work – proper right here’s the place to donate them.

7. Kidney Care UK

Kidney Care UK is the primary kidney affected individual help charity providing advice, help and financial assist to lots of yearly. Proper right here’s strategies to donate your stamps to Kidney Care UK.

8. The Lullaby Perception

The Lullaby Perception has thus far raised lots of of kilos from its supporters amassing used stamps to help its work in decreasing the number of Sudden Toddler Dying Syndrome (SIDS) deaths and supporting bereaved households affected by SIDS. Proper right here’s the place to ship your stamps.

9. Amnesty Worldwide UK

Amnesty Worldwide UK collects used stamps to help its charity work supporting human rights world vast. Listed below are the full particulars on the place to ship your stamps.

10. Reaching The Unreached

Reaching The Unreached (RTU) is a UK-based charity that works to empower in all probability essentially the most marginalised and disadvantaged of us, notably youngsters and their households, in rural South India. Proper right here’s the place to ship your stamps to RTU.

11. Omega

Omega is a registered UK charity dedicated to decreasing social isolation and loneliness, by offering telephone and pen pal befriending schemes. Proper right here’s the place to ship your stamps to Omega.

12. Macmillan Most cancers Help

Macmillan Most cancers Help accepts donations of stamps to help help its work in supporting of us dwelling with most cancers. Proper right here’s how one can donate your stamps to Macmillan.

13. The Bone Most cancers Evaluation Perception

The Bone Most cancers Evaluation Perception is a charity that offers hope to of us affected by essential bone most cancers. It may probably ship you a free pre-envelope to you could ship them your stamps, and all proceeds go in course of its work doing evaluation and offering data, consciousness and help to those affected by this sort of most cancers.

14. The Alzheimer’s Society

Lastly, the Alzheimer’s Society accumulate used stamps to help elevate essential funds to help all people dwelling with dementia. Listed below are all the donation particulars.

What Happens To Donated Stamps?

I’ve had a variety of questions throughout the suggestions about what happens to the stamps as quickly as they’re despatched to a charity, so I believed I’d exchange this publish with an notion into what happens subsequent.

When charities get hold of your earlier stamps, they then wait until they’ve a sufficiently huge batch, sooner than selling the large batches of used postage stamps to stamp sellers. Stamp sellers then divide these into smaller parts to advertise stamp collectors – normally packaging them into 1kg unsorted tons, akin to at SD Collectables.

These unsorted bundles are engaging to stamp collectors because of each bundle could embody collectable commemorative stamps, worldwide stamps, and former stamps from of us cleaning out cupboards or drawers.

Even frequent stamps with imperfections – along with 1st and 2nd class stamps – are thrilling to stamp collectors. It’s as a result of any fault on even a regular stamp akin to a 1st class or 2nd class stamp akin to too many or too few perforations, or printing errors may make that stamp unusual, and value further.

The stamp collectors then get the enjoyment of sorting by way of the bundle (similar to how metal detectorists spend hours looking by way of a space!), with the enjoyable of in all probability discovering unusual stamps for his or her assortment.

Completely different sellers type and grade the stamps they buy from charities, selling any unusual or useful ones in excellent scenario to collectors – each individually or in tons based mostly totally on a theme. These could very effectively be worldwide stamps or commemorative stamps. They sometimes promote the rest of the used stamps notably for crafting capabilities.

The Bottom Line

Donating your earlier stamps is a simple approach to help your favourite charities. Each charity can elevate spherical £20 per kilogramme of stamps they get hold of, so it actually is money for almost nothing.

So let’s start amassing, and help your favourite charity. Philately will get you everywhere, in any case! Sorry, couldn’t help myself there!

And trying to find further strategies to help your favourite charities? Are you aware you could recycle printer cartridges for charity? Check out the hyperlink for all you need to know.