FatFace shoppers raise £348 for Thames21 via Thanks for Giving campaign

Shoppers at FatFace raised £348 for Thames21 during their Thanks for Giving campaign last November, which was the company’s answer to the Black Friday discount shopping phenomenon.

With the money counted, Thames21 received a cheque today – appropriately on World Water Day – from Harry Humphries, manager of the King’s Road, Chelsea, branch which nominated us as its charity.

Shoppers had the choice to donate a portion of their spend to either the local cause as chosen by one of more than 200 branch managers, or to the FatFace Foundation which supported people in the company’s supply chain.

Vincent Mok, Thames21’s fundraising officer, left, receives the cheque from harry Humphries, store manager of the King’s Road, Chelsea, branch of FatFace, and assistant store manager Elenora Di-Massimo

“For shoppers, it came down to a choice between people or the environment,” said Harry, who added that there was a fairly even split between tokens being nominated to the two causes. “There were lots of other discount promotions on the High Street that week and some people were still expecting a discount, but they understood this was our way of supporting good causes.

“There were quite a few people who knew about Thames21 already.”

Harry chose Thames21 because the branch has a kayak tied to the ceiling and because of the shop’s proximity to the River Thames. Among its work, Thames21 carries out foreshore clean ups at nearby Hammersmith, which is also the site of one of the Thames River Watch hubs, where the Big Count will take place on April 1.

The store had banners and posters outlining Thames21’s cause and Harry and his team told customers about our work and handed out information at the point of sale.

He said customers’ choices between the FatFace Foundation and Thames21 was evenly split during the week of fundraising, which ran from November 21-28, 2016.

Overall, the Thanks for Giving campaign raised £163,739 nationally for charities.

Receiving the cheque on behalf of Thames21, Fundraising Officer Vincent Mok said: “We’re really grateful to FatFace and in particular Harry for choosing us as the nominated charity of the King’s Road branch. We’re delighted that customers showed their support for our work.”

FatFace devised the “donating rather than discounting” campaign as an alternative to the Black Friday discounting phenomenon.