Charity Christmas Cards NAS

Paull said:

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I find it borderline deceit that you go to buy charity christmas cards online and you cannot even find out anywhere on the page or entire site any details about how much percentage wise actually goes to the charity, even here in the NAS shop, come to think about it what percentage of any profit from any product sold by NAS goes to the charity?

We publish our accounts openly every year. We're obliged by law not to waste the charity's money on bad deals, and the accounts disclose how we've raised and spent our funds. Conversely, we're expected to raise money to continue pursuing our charitable aims, and selling things is an entirely legitimate and accepted way to do that.

I don't have an exact figure for the Christmas cards specifically. However, full-colour printing on card is not cheap. Our publications department tell me that our profits from the cards are quite slim, simply because of high production and distribution costs. However, we have an established market, where people actively look forward to buying our cards each year. This ensures that we can raise some funds through card sales each year, and the cards themselves also serve a small but valuable purpose in awareness-raising.

My logic is that not seeing the percentage means it is being hidden, which means it is being hidden for a reason, the only reason can be that they don't want you to see it, and the only reason they don't want you to see it is because it's so low that it will put you off buying and the only reason it is so low is because the majority of the money is being syphoned off elsewhere - such as into other companies - no doubt with shareholders who are also involved with those charities.

That's a completely unfounded accusation. We're required by law to get the best deal, and there is certainly no hidden personal profit here. All the profits from card sales are treated as charitable fundraising, and go directly to support the work of the organisation.

I hope this clarifies matters.

Regards,

Alex R - mod

Paull said:

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I find it borderline deceit that you go to buy charity christmas cards online and you cannot even find out anywhere on the page or entire site any details about how much percentage wise actually goes to the charity, even here in the NAS shop, come to think about it what percentage of any profit from any product sold by NAS goes to the charity?

We publish our accounts openly every year. We're obliged by law not to waste the charity's money on bad deals, and the accounts disclose how we've raised and spent our funds. Conversely, we're expected to raise money to continue pursuing our charitable aims, and selling things is an entirely legitimate and accepted way to do that.

I don't have an exact figure for the Christmas cards specifically. However, full-colour printing on card is not cheap. Our publications department tell me that our profits from the cards are quite slim, simply because of high production and distribution costs. However, we have an established market, where people actively look forward to buying our cards each year. This ensures that we can raise some funds through card sales each year, and the cards themselves also serve a small but valuable purpose in awareness-raising.

My logic is that not seeing the percentage means it is being hidden, which means it is being hidden for a reason, the only reason can be that they don't want you to see it, and the only reason they don't want you to see it is because it's so low that it will put you off buying and the only reason it is so low is because the majority of the money is being syphoned off elsewhere - such as into other companies - no doubt with shareholders who are also involved with those charities.

That's a completely unfounded accusation. We're required by law to get the best deal, and there is certainly no hidden personal profit here. All the profits from card sales are treated as charitable fundraising, and go directly to support the work of the organisation.

I hope this clarifies matters.

Regards,

Alex R - mod