Charis maximises hardship retail vouchers for non-profits
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As part of its ongoing commitment to helping charities, housing associations and local government organisations maximise support to customers, Charis has removed the admin fee from all its retail vouchers distributed through its Charis Shop ecommerce platform.
This enables Charis’s partners to direct more funding direct to families and individuals struggling with the cost of living.
Charis’s broad range of vouchers - from the major supermarkets to clothing brands such as Primark, from e-tailers including Amazon to big-box outlets like Carpetright, means the move is a significant one.
Lincolnshire Community Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the lives and wellbeing of ordinary people throughout Greater Lincolnshire, is already feeling the benefits.
Grants manager at Lincolnshire Community Foundation, Katie Littlewood, commented: “We were delighted to learn Charis had removed the admin fees attached to the supermarket vouchers. As a charity, we have issued hundreds of vouchers via the Charis shop, and we will now be able to support more individuals with the funding available to us, as we will no longer need to deduct the admin fee from our funds. Charis has been fantastic in providing the resources we need to help our communities; the process has been so easy, and the Charis team is always there to assist.”
Charis director of client services, Jonathan Hunt, continued: “Admin fees were a legacy charge that reflected an older operating model. Our recent investment in platforms and consequent streamlining of processes has enabled some cost reductions, the benefit of which we wanted to pass onto our partners.”
Historically, energy vouchers have been the mainstay of Charis’s prepaid product offering but over the last couple of years, retail brands have become just as prominent as a consequence of partner organisations providing their customers with increasingly holistic support.
Charis also manages tailored, year round support programmes for energy suppliers such as E.ON Next and EDF, as well cohort specific initiatives such as the Park Homes Warm Home Discount scheme.