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Other Ways To Give

There are many other ways you can support Retina UK, including raising donations as you shop and sell online, and donating your foreign currency, stamps or shares.

All of these donations add up to make a huge difference to the support we can give and the research we can fund - thank you!

Donating shares

If you have shares which are worth less than £500, you may wish to consider donating them to ShareGift, the share donation charity. ShareGift is an independent UK registered charity (No. 1052686) which specialises in releasing the money locked up in small shareholdings. They collect together small lots of shares until there are enough to sell, and then donate the resulting proceeds to a wide range of charities. To date ShareGift has donated almost £25million to nearly 2,500 charities.

ShareGift makes their grants based on suggestions from donors. You can support Retina UK by donating any small shareholdings you may have to ShareGift, and mentioning that you support our charity. We have already received grants totalling £8,000 from the scheme.

If your shares are worth more than £500, please call Retina UK on 01280 821334 or email [email protected] to arrange their transfer.

Stamp appeal

All you need to do is collect your stamps and if possible carefully cut your stamps out of their envelopes or packaging, leaving just 5 – 10 mm around them. You could even ask your neighbours, colleagues or classmates to add to your collection. Set up a collection point at your office or school with an old box and this Stamp Appeal poster (PDF file | 267 KB).

There are lots of ways that stamps can raise funds. Most are sold by weight (this is why we need to cut them out) – we receive £25 per kg which could fund an hour of a researcher’s time. Valuable or rare items will be sold to collectors separately. Sometimes, standard 1st and 2nd class red and blue stamps are even used by artists to make large mosaic art works!

As well as stamps from your mail, you can also donate unused or first edition stamps along with personal collections.

Send in your stamps

Post them to our office – simply write ‘FREEPOST Retina UK’ on the package. Please only post these to us using FREEPOST once you have collected approximately 200g of stamps. This helps to keep the costs of the stamp appeal as low as possible so that more money goes towards helping support people affected by inherited sight loss and funding medical research. If you have less stamps and would like to send them to us, we kindly ask that you post them using a stamped envelope to Retina UK, Whiteleaf Business Centre, 11 Little Balmer, Buckingham MK18 1TF.

Alternatively, you can give your stamps to any member of the Retina UK office team at our events, such as our annual conference or Information Days.

Foreign currency

Do you have any foreign currency lying around in a drawer or flight bag from your last holiday? Perhaps it’s too small an amount to be worth changing so you’ve just held on to it, or maybe you keep meaning to, but forget?

Older currencies no longer in use also have a value to collectors, so if you have any old Francs, Pesetas, Lira or anything else, please send those too! Please post them directly to Leftover Currency (the company we use to change and sort these donations). Please mark your donation clearly as being intended for Retina UK.

We want to thank the many people who have already sent in coins and notes; your support is much appreciated and together you’ve raised over £2,500 ! To find our more, please visit the Leftover Currency website.

Raise while you shop online!

These websites allow you to raise free donations when you shop online.

easyfundraising for Retina UK

Over £1,500 has been raised for Retina UK so far – thanks to our wonderful easyfundraising supporters! When you use easyfundraising, a percentage of what you spend online will be automatically donated to a cause of your choice, at no extra cost to you.

Register at easyfundraising.org.uk and select Retina UK as your cause, then install the donation reminder for your toolbar (which pops up every time you visit an eligible site). Different retailers donate different amounts, but it really does all add up!

Microsoft Rewards

Microsoft Rewards is the loyalty programme from Microsoft that lets you earn rewards and convert these points into donations to a charity of your choice.

Earn points as you search the web with Bing
Earn points when shopping at the Microsoft Store on Xbox and Windows
Simply join Microsoft Rewards and select Retina UK as your charity of choice. Join now at Bing.com/give.

Give as You Live Online

Want to help us raise even more for free? Well, now you can just by shopping via Give as you Live Online!

When you shop at over 6,000 top stores including John Lewis & Partners, Expedia and Marks & Spencer via Give as you Live Online, they’ll turn a percentage of your spend into free funds for us!

Simply sign up at GiveAsYouLive, search for the retailer and start shopping today.

eBay for Charity

Earn a bit. Give a bit. Everyone benefits

When you’re selling, the real beauty of eBay for Charity is that there’s something for everyone – yourself included. You decide exactly what percentage of your final selling price you’d like to give to charity (that’s good causes sorted), and what percentage you’d like for yourself (that’s you sorted).

eBay for Charity listings are the same as any other eBay listing, except for the blue and yellow eBay for Charity ribbon in search results, and your chosen charity’s mission statement and logo in your listing. This means your listing can be seen by everyone who searches through eBay.co.uk. It’ll also get extra visibility through the eBay for Charity pages.

It’s the perfect way to make a difference – while doing what you do every day on eBay, whether you’re a fishing enthusiast selling angling gear or a big business trading electronics.

Any questions?

If you have any queries regarding any of these 'ways to give', please call us on 01280 815900 or

Email us