In Kind Direct is a UK charity founded by HRH Prince of Wales in 1996, who believe everyone deserves access to life’s essentials and that no usable product should go to waste. Since 2001, In Kind Direct has worked in partnership with Procter & Gamble – one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies who are home to iconic, trusted brands such as Fairy, Pampers and Gillette, that make life a little bit easier in small but meaningful ways. In Kind Direct distributes these much-needed products to charitable organisations across the UK, helping to run their services or to distribute to the people they support.
Working together over the 20 years has enabled In Kind Direct to provide over 7,500 charitable organisations with P&G products. Some of their major brand donations have included:
- Almost 12 million tampons and towels from Always and Tampax
- Almost 15 million baby items from Pampers
- 1.4 million cleaning products from Fairy
- 4.1 million grooming products from Gillette
This 20 year partnership has generated incredible impact in communities across the UK, where extra support has been needed even more in recent months. 1 in 5 people in the UK were living in poverty before the pandemic hit* – which roughly equates to 14.5 million people – with many relying heavily on support from local charitable organisations and foodbanks within their area to get by. Support from companies such as P&G has meant that In Kind Direct can help almost 250,000 people each week with life’s essentials through these charitable services.
Jim Deans, founder of Sussex Homeless Support, regularly uses products from In Kind Direct such as Gillette to keep their service running. He comments: “Having access to quality products makes all the difference to us and the homeless men we support – we are working daily with vulnerable people in society, trying to keep them alive and in good physical and mental condition. Just having a shower, shave and putting on clean clothes could be considered therapy, as it really does have an amazing effect on them. Without access to products such as Gillette shaving products from In Kind Direct we really would not be able to provide the service we do – we would highly recommend other organisations registering with In Kind Direct so they can achieve more impact”
Rosanne Gray, In Kind Direct CEO, comments: “Working with P&G has allowed us as a charity to support a wide range of people, including distributing razors to the homeless, providing Fem Care products to those in need who would otherwise not be able to leave the house, and parents who would be reliant on baby banks for supplies. Over 70% of our charity network said that having access to these products have helped improve the mental health and wellbeing of the people they support**. We urge more businesses to come forward to donate products or services, and more charitable organisations such as charities, community centres, schools and foodbanks to sign up to access essential products. We will continue working with P&G over the next 20 years to provide essential items to where they are needed.”
Aimee Goldsmith, Senior Director, P&G Company Communications, comments: “In Kind Direct provides an essential lifeline to charities and grassroots organisations across the UK; P&G supports their work through the donation of our products – brands like Fairy, Always, Pampers and Tampax. Knowing that our products are able to help in small but meaningful ways to help restore self-esteem, dignity and confidence is the reason we’ve been involved for 20 years and we’re looking forward to many more years of partnership. A massive thank you to the outstanding In Kind Direct team who work tirelessly to help others in need.”
If you are a manufacturer, retailer or supplier and want to donate products, contact: donations@inkinddirect.org
Charitable organisations such as charities, community centres, foodbanks and schools seeking products can register for free via: inkinddirect.org/charities
If you would like to find out more about In Kind Direct visit inkinddirect.org.
