We are a charity
We are proud to be a not-for-profit retailer dedicated to supporting charities and good causes across the UK.
Our website operates year round offering a huge range of cards, gifts, homeware, gift wrap and more. During the Christmas season we open a network of pop up shops across the country selling our popular Christmas range.
Our history
Our story began back in 1959 when James “Jim” Jackson, Secretary of the British Diabetic Association, gathered a group of medical charities together to discuss the coordination of publicity for selling Christmas cards to help promote the charities. This group was known as ‘The 1959 Group of Charities’.
In 1964 the group began selling Christmas cards from empty shops in town centres to raise funds for charity. The name “Cards for Good Causes” was first suggested in 1971, but it was not until 1988 that it was officially established as the trading arm of ‘The 1959 Group of Charities’. It is common for charitable organisations to set up a subsidiary “business” or “trading arm” to generate income on a more permanent basis.
Our work today
We have grown significantly over the years. We continue to sell our popular charity Christmas cards, now with more than 200 different designs and supporting more than 40 charities. We have also expanded our Christmas range and we have introduced an everyday range which includes a large selection of cards and gifts for all occasions.
By doing this we have been able to increase the number of charities and good causes that we can support.
During the Christmas season we open over 100 pop up shops in communities across the country where customers can shop our full Christmas range! We are working hard to expand our year round presence so that shoppers can support charities while buying their everyday cards and gifts.
We are always on the lookout for new locations whether for the Christmas season or on a year round basis so please do get in touch if you know of somewhere suitable. You can find out more about our shops here.
With just 9 permanent staff, our team here is small but mighty! Throughout the year we work hard to promote our everyday range as well as plan for our busy Christmas season.
From September our team grows significantly as we welcome on board our Regional Shop Managers, Shop Managers and our wonderful volunteers to help us run our network of pop-up Christmas shops.
Find out more about our team, current vacancies and volunteering.