The Charity Retail Association (CRA) is an industry network organisation for the charity retail sector. This year the organisation celebrates its 25th birthday, and what a way to do it!
The CRA has been one of the strongest supporters of charity retail throughout the years having 6 key objectives at the forefront of everything they do:
- Championing charity retail.
- Strengthening charity retail.
- Building a strong community of charity retailers.
- Being the accessible knowledge hub of charity retail.
- Promoting environmental sustainability within the CRA and the sector.
- Strengthening the CRA’s ability to support the sector and our members.
To help its members, they organise a spectacular event to highlight the most important features in the industry. This year’s event was all about “Retail Voices for a Changing World”, and the importance of understanding the impact of charity retail.
The Harrogate Convention Centre hosted the Charity Retail Conference for the third year this year. With just under 400 delegates arriving on Wednesday morning, the two-day programme was packed full of content, speakers, and exhibitors to provide charities with everything they need to develop their retail opportunities.
Wil-U met so many hopeful charity experts alongside our treasured Wil-U Family members, all of whom were prepared with questions and looking for answers that could change how they enhance their charity retail.
The event was full of competitions and prizes to keep everyone's spirits high, delegates from St Giles Hospice (a Wil-U Family member) won an impressive 3-minute mannequin challenge hosted by Charity Retail Learning
Wednesday evening was the highlight of the event as charities, volunteers, and suppliers were awarded for their spectacular hard work in the industry. Delegates and exhibitors were in awe of every winner.
Myrna Philpott who is 89 years of age, won Volunteer of the Year 2024. Myrna has done incredible things for Tenovus Cancer Care in the 20 years she has been volunteering. Amazingly, they include gaining a pilot license and recently taking part in a Zipwire fundraising event. Well done, Myrna!
Young Volunteer of the Year 2024 went to Lottie O’Connor from Cancer Research UK she is an incredible young woman who no matter what continues to dedicate herself to working in the charity shop. Congratulations Lottie!
We at Wil-U want to say a massive congratulations to all winners for doing amazing things for the charity retail sector. Also, a big thank you to the charity retail association for hosting such a wonderful event, allowing us to meet amazing people within the industry and continue to learn alongside them.
If you didn’t get a chance to come over to our stand this week, don’t hesitate to get in touch to see how our solutions could help you.
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