When someone donates a car with enough life left in it to auction, it can raise hundreds, sometimes even thousands of pounds, and obviously that kind of sum is going to be a big help to your chosen cause, but we tell you every car donation is generous, and we mean it.
You may be surprised to read what smaller donation amounts can achieve…
£12 is less than any car donation that we’ve ever passed on to a good cause (even at the bottom of the scrap metal slump!), but even that amount can have a big impact. It costs just £12 to get one recycled prosthetic over to Africa – so Legs4Africa can help an amputee live a more independent, fulfilled life.
Or, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which tackles food insecurity, can use £12 to feed a child a healthy school meal for an entire year! Giving people access to healthy and nutritious food alleviates financial pressure and enables individuals to focus and invest in their future, which in turn allows them to exit the poverty cycle. That is undeniably a lot of good from just £12!
£20 still seems like a low sum, but the wonderful Marie Curie can use £20 to pay for an hour of vital nursing care for someone living with a terminal illness in the comfort of their own home. The Charity Car team has had the pleasure of collecting for Marie Curie and we know from speaking to their supporters that this nursing care is invaluable. Alternatively, The Air Ambulance Service could use £20 to help pay for essential pads to be used with a defibrillator when a patient suffers cardiac arrest. So your £20 could literally help save a life!
£25 in the hands of Butterfly Conservation could help supply volunteers with the tools needed to clear vegetation and create the perfect habitat for a threatened butterfly species. The UK wouldn’t be the same without these delicate creatures and even this small donation could help.
£35 is a significant figure for two of our charity partners. Go Beyond (formally Chicks) is a fantastic organisation that provides free respite breaks to disadvantaged children from all over the UK. £35 could provide the food for all the delicious home-cooked meals a child will enjoy during their stay – an important part of their experience. Then there’s Acorns Children’s Hospice, which provides care, support, fun and laughter for children with life limiting or life threatening conditions and their families. £35 could pay for one hour of vital care for a child in one of the charity’s special hospices.
£50 can be another potentially life-saving sum in the hands of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). Every week in the UK at least 12 young people die of undiagnosed heart conditions. CRY works to reduce the frequency of young sudden cardiac death and £50 enables the charity to provide free cardiac screening for a young person (between the ages of 14-35) at one of its clinics.
£60 could fund the support for a child with special needs through the Shakespeare Schools Foundation annual Festival – giving that child the chance to perform alongside their peers from mainstream schools. This charity is a cultural education organisation that gives young people the confidence to succeed in life.
£80 can help Royal Trinity Hospice to deliver support to those who have been bereaved. This vital part of the charity’s work is ongoing and provides specialised services for children.
£100 – So, all the amazing work you’ve read about so far and we’ve only just reached the average scrap car donation we pass on to our charity partners! That ‘average’ £100 can pay for all the tests and drugs a donkey needs before and after surgery in The Donkey Sanctuary’s hospital, which means a swifter and more successful recovery for one of these gentle creatures.
Charity Car also works with a fantastic young charity called The Lunar Project – working hard to eradicate period poverty in the UK. £100 can pay for an entire ‘Pink Box’ – a huge box filled to the brim with sanitary products delivered to community centres, walk-in and drug and alcohol centres, libraries and food banks, so any women that need them can access these essential items.
While we all hope there’s plenty of value left in your old car for your donation, as you can clearly see, a huge amount of good work can be done with even the smallest sum. We’ve given you just a few examples from our charity partners and there are so many more ways your old car can help. From protecting rainforests, to helping research into cures for diseases, your old wheels can have a big impact whichever cause you want to support.
See all our Charity Partners who you can donate your car to >
Whenever your car has reached the end of its life with you, let us know – we can’t wait to help it change another life for the better.