About Us

The success of the Charity Shop is the offering of desirable products, in a clean, customer friendly environment, with a high degree of professionalism. As members of the ICSA we benefit greatly from the sharing of information and the support we receive from each other. Members range from large national charities to smaller locally based ones and currently our members operate over 200 shops throughout Ireland. All our members have CHY registration with the Revenue Commissioners.

Our Association's vision is a thriving and diverse charity retail sector in Ireland, which supports both individual charities and the Association.

These charities are members of the Irish Charity Shops Association. Click on each logo to go to their website.

A steering group made up of the Chair, Public Relations Officer and other key members is responsible for the day to day running of the association.

Current members of the steering group:

• Trevor Anderson - Chair, Oxfam Ireland
• Paul Hughes - PRO and Vice Chair, Irish Cancer Society
• Michael Wall - ICSA President, Society of St Vincent De Paul
• Linda Ward - Secretary and Website Co-ordinator

Member events include:

• An Annual Conference
• Workshops (e.g. Antiques Training, Health and Safety, Security)
• Talking shop - Members meetings to learn and network

The association also produces an annual Benchmarking survey that is now in its' fourth year. This survey provides an industry norm against which individual charities can measure their own performance.
 

How the association was formed

Officially launched in 2000 in UCD, the Irish Charity Shops Association was formed following a seminar organised by Dr Tony Parker. Dr Parker, former Head of Retail Studies at UCD, kindly agreed to be Patron of the Association and he maintains a very keen interest in the development and growth of the Association.

We look forward to continued growth and to working together to enhance the profile of the Charity Shop Sector.