What we’ve learned

Thank you to everyone who completed our survey earlier this year. We learned a lot – here are a few of the highlights: 

1. The most commonly donated stocks are overstocks or end of lines, donated by 97% of our donors. 40% donate end of promo stock, 1/3 donate products with damaged packaging or faulty labelling and 27% donate slight seconds.
2. 20% of companies are donating stock to In Kind Direct that is allocated specifically for corporate responsibility or community activities
3. 23% say more opportunities for PR and publicity would encourage them to donate more stock. 17% would like more opportunities to meet with the charities that benefit. Others suggestions include more tools to share the impact of donations (13%) more requests/reminder to donate (13%) and more regular reporting (13%). Almost half of companies say there is nothing more In Kind Direct can do to encourage more donations.
4. “Avoiding waste and landfill” is the main benefit of donating that most companies see as important. This is closely followed by “an easy way to benefit lots of different UK charities” and “our employees like seeing products go to a good cause”. Also valued are the benefits giving provide for wider corporate reputation and security that goods will not re-enter the marketplace.
5. 93% of companies communicate information about their product donations to employees but only 57% communicate information about donations to external audiences.
6. Half of responders are using discounters and jobbers to clear stock, but 21% are using them less than last year. 52% responders say they send usable surplus to landfill or external recycling, but 32% are doing this less than last year
7. 35% say that brand protection considerations prevent them from donating stock. 21% say they have to dispose because they are unable to get approval from senior management to donate
8. 27% think they’ll have more stock to donate next year and 18% say they think they’ll have less. Half say they are becoming more efficient so have less surplus.

Finally… some comments: