The amount of money reclaimed in gift aid by Sue Ryder from goods donated to its charity shops has now topped £10m, the charity has announced.

Sue Ryder was the first charity to reclaim gift aid on goods donated to its 356 shops, a scheme which began in 2006. The amount reclaimed has grown steadily year on year, from £1,061,737 in the first year, collected on 19 per cent of all goods donated, to just over £2.5m in 2009/10, by which time the tax relief was being collected on 41 per cent of all items donated.

Sue Ryder has also acquired the names and addresses of over 500,000 gift aid donors through the scheme, and now plans to use this information to engage with them more closely.

Julie Beames, the charity’s business development manager, said: “The retail gift aid scheme is not only helping Sue Ryder to increase the value of its donated goods, but it is also providing a valuable source of information about our retail supporters.

"This audience may know Sue Ryder mainly for our charity shops, but they don't necessarily have an in-depth knowledge of our work within their local communities.

"Moving forward, we want to engage more with our retail donors and involve them in other aspects of our work through volunteering, taking part in fundraising activities or becoming regular donors."

Sue Ryder is in the midst of a five-year strategy to grow its number of shops to 500. According to the latest Charity Shops Survey, its 356 shops generated income of £34.5m, making it the sixth-biggest charity shop chain by both size of network and income.  The business delivered a profit margin of 20.2 per cent.