Charity Christmas cards 'give 6%'

High street shops help raise millions for charity each Christmas

Several high street retailers are selling charity Christmas cards which donate as little as 6% to a good cause, a Which? survey has found.

Certain packs from Next and House of Fraser contributed the least (6%) while a set of WHSmith cards gave every penny to charity, the consumer magazine said.

It found on average 13% of the price of high street cards went to charity.

Next said its whole card range was made up of charity cards. House of Fraser said most packs donated at least 10%.

Charities make about £50m each year from card sales and more than half of the 1,052 adults polled for the survey said they bought charity cards last year.

CHARITY CARD DONATIONS WHSmith: 20% - 100% Asda: All at 50% Waterstones: 20% - 50% John Lewis: 10% - 25% Clintons: All at 21% Paperchase: 16% - 18% Debenhams: All at 17% Waitrose: All at 15% Morrisons: All at 13% Post Office: 10% - 13% House of Fraser and Next: 6% - 13% M&S, Tesco, Rymans, Sainsbury's, Selfridges: All at 10% Source: Which? magazine

Which? advised shoppers to check the back of the card to see how much would go to charity.

Editor Martyn Hocking said: "It's great that charities earn so much money from high street Christmas cards, but some donations are more generous than others."

In a statement, a Next spokeswoman said: "We pride ourselves on the fact that our entire card range is made up of charity cards... whichever of our Christmas card designs each customer prefers, a donation will be made to charity.

"Due to this we believe our charity contribution to be one of the highest on the high street."

Mark McArthur-Christie from Cards for Good Causes, which markets cards for a range of charities, said: "Because we sell cards produced by our charities, we are able to return a higher percentage to them, whilst retaining only a very small amount to cover our running costs.

"We give back at least 75p in the pound - and more than £20m in the last five years."

A spokeswoman for House of Fraser said the "majority" of charitable donations from the cards it stocked contributed "between 10 and 13%".

"The one which is 6% relates to a small independent company whose main focus is on everyday cards, rather than specialising in the Christmas sector," she said.

"The brand is stocked nationwide in the UK in other card retailers and department stores including John Lewis, Selfridges, Harrods, Cards Galore, as well as being sold independently from their own website."