Donor Friday 2021

Every contribution counts

For this 2021 first #DonorFriday, we want to say a huge thank you to our corporate partners for their incredible support during a year the world will not soon forget. 2020 has been tough, challenging, unprecedented and sad. People overall have become more vulnerable and those who were struggling before have been - and still are - disproportionately affected. 

But we have also seen solidarity, kindness and new initiatives to help one another like never before. Thanks to the support of our corporate partners, In Kind Direct have been able to keep helping charitable organisations supporting communities across the country all year.   

We have all had to adapt and find new ways to work, to connect, to live. The In Kind Direct team has risen to the challenge and, together, we have grown and evolved. In response to a fourfold increase in demand for our service since the first UK lockdown, we worked closely with our corporate partners to best support charities and the people they care for. We launched Holiday at Home, Back to Basics and Christmas with Kindness, three new product campaigns, and delivered a number of bespoke brand campaigns, aligning brands’ purpose with communities’ needs, generating positive impact. We also partnered with Blue Light Card to deliver “pick me up pallets” containing personal care items and treats, to 65 NHS Trusts to thank and support frontline staff across the UK and RoI. 

2020 also saw logistics operations across the globe stretched more than they have ever been. In Kind Direct’s warehouse came under similar pressure and we are incredibly proud that we continued to distribute product to our charities throughout the year with no drops in our service. 

Our partners donated huge volumes of essential products throughout the year, over twice the volume received in 2019. The warehouse team doubled their 2019 picking and packing hours, to dispatch over 60% more orders in 2020. To meet the increased demand, we required over 10,000 hours of additional labour and instigated double shift patterns, for the first time in our history. Our team achieved this through the restrictions and lockdowns, while coping with the added complexities of a socially distanced working environment. A big thank you must also go to our logistics partner for their support and expertise. 

We feel very lucky we all stayed healthy in the team. We were delighted to have Linda, Jermaine, Eva, Katie and Marc join the team last year, and also welcomed two adorable babies, Maya and Alazne. Not to forget Hank, our new dog mascot! We also got to discover our colleagues’ homes and know their partners and kids better, thanks to our numerous video calls.  

As a result of all those efforts, our impact has never been greater! We have been able to support 30% more charities than in 2019, providing essentials to over 3,300 organisations across the UK, helping 174,000 people each week! We welcomed more than 1,500 new charities to our network, a 50% increase on the previous year. Staying clean and safe being the priority for many, we distributed over 580,000 bottles of hand wash and sanitiser, 800,000 face masks, 1.3 million toilet rolls and over 1.6 million household cleaning products. 

We couldn’t have achieved any of this without our fantastic corporate partners. Thank you for stepping up, despite your own operational challenges, offering to support our work and donating huge volumes of essential products!  

With the third national lockdown and the number of Covid-19 cases sadly increasing so rapidly, the need to stay safe, well and clean has never been more important. The coming months are set to remain very difficult for many and the need for support will keep growing. Knowing that we can - and will - work closely with our partners to help communities get through this crisis and the recovery period beyond is what inspires and motivates us every morning. Thank you for your ongoing support!