Weldmar Hospicecare provides specialist care for adults in Dorset who have been diagnosed with a life limiting illness, and expected to be in their last year of life. We also support the families and loved ones of our patients. Whilst many people think of our hospice as the place where care takes place, in fact more than 80% of care is given in the comfort of patients’ own homes, through our Specialist Hospice at Home and other services. You can find out about our range of services here – we probably do more than you think!

All of our services are provided free to those who need them, but with less than 20% of our costs being funded by the NHS we need to raise more than £27,000 every day through the support of the local community.

The primary objective of our charity shops is to raise as much as possible to fund this care.

There are rising costs involved in running charity shops, including rent, utilities, vehicles and maintenance.  We employ staff at each shop, who are supported by brilliant volunteers whom we rely on heavily to keep our costs down and be as efficient as possible. Currently, every £1 we spend on running our charity shops raises £1.45 to pay for the specialist care we provide.

Weldmar has also invested in improvements of retail sites, to make them lighter, brighter, and a more welcoming spaces for shoppers. Each of the sites that have been improved have seen an increase in their ‘contribution’ to charity funds.

Whilst most of our stock is kindly donated by the local community, we do sell some new products such as greetings cards, which we source from reputable wholesalers.

Your donations

We are very grateful for all of your donations of clothing, bric-a-brac, books, furniture, and other items to our charity shops.

We ask you to remember:

• Sometimes our stock rooms can get full, so you might like to call ahead and check your local shop has capacity
• Please only donate clean, unbroken items
• Only bring in what you can comfortably carry
• We can arrange collection and delivery of furniture – please speak to your local superstore or outlet

It’s also very important that you don’t leave donations outside when the shop is closed. We cannot accept these, and it costs the charity time and money to have them disposed of.

How we price and sell items

All donated items are checked for suitability for sale. We will research items online in order to decide on a fair price that we think offers a good deal for customers but also raises as much as possible to allow our nurses and health professionals to provide specialist care for those experiencing a life limiting illness.

Sometimes, higher end or more unusual items will be sold on our eBay shop. If an item doesn’t sell in the shop it is donated to within a certain amount of time, we will move it to another shop to see if it will sell there instead. We have clearance outlets in Dorchester and Weymouth where items will sell for half their original price if we cannot find a buyer.

For items that are unsuitable for sale or do not sell, we must dispose of those which costs money. Ensuring that the items you donate are clean and in good order can reduce the costs involved.

The impact of your support

You can find out more about how shopping with us or donating items makes a difference by reading personal stories from patients and loved ones. You can also read our latest Impact Report, highlighting the care that we have been able to provide, and information and statistics around fundraising, our charity shops, and costs of running the charity.

You can also find out more about how the charity is run, our Values, and more on our About Weldmar Hospicecare page.

Thank you for your support.