Irish Charity Shops Association

Bogus Charity Operations

The ICSA is aware that there is a growing number of bogus charity operators in Ireland.
 These can be:-

  • Bogus charity clothes collectors
  • Bogus charity shop operations where it is unclear who benefits from the money raised by the shop
  • Textile banks where it is unclear how much of the money raised is being donated to the charity involved

In order to build up a picture of the extent of these operations we have developed an on-line reporting tool. Any information you give will be handled in the strictest confidence and not divulged to any third party without your consent. If you have any queries please e-mail secretary@icsa.ie

Click here for the On-line reporting tool to report a bogus clothes collector or shop

Four ways to check if the collection bag or label is bogus

  1. Does the bag or leaflet have an address and landline (not mobile) number printed on it?
  2. Is the Irish Charity Shops Association logo on the bag/leaflet? See our coat hanger logo at the top of this page.
  3. Do you recognize the charity name? Sometimes leaflets are printed so that they appear to be connected to a well known charity.
  4. Is there a CHY number? Legitimate numbers issued by the Revenue Commissioners run up to about 20,200. The Revenue publish an up-to-date list on their website. Click here for the link to the list (you will find it at the bottom of the page under List of Bodies with Charitable Tax Exemption under the Tax Acts).

If you are still not sure if the bag/label is from a recognized charity you can either:

  • Bring your donation to an ICSA member charity shop near you. Click here for a list of shops
  • Wait until a charity that you recognize delivers a collection bag to your door (see list below of ICSA members)
  • Contact the charity you wish to support and ask them how you can make a donation

ICSA members - Door-to-Door Collections and Textile Banks

The ICSA member charities listed here collect donations from your home. Please note that these collections are organised by each charity to cover a particular area and most are not able to do individual house collections.
However Age Action offers a collection service in Dublin.
Please contact 01 4756989 for more information or click on their shop page for more details.

ICSA members who do Door-to-Door Collections
 Age Action, Barnardos, The Bubblegum Club, Debra Ireland, Enable Ireland, Irish Cancer Society, Liberties Recycling, NCBI, Oxfam Ireland, Society of St Vincent de Paul, The Simon Community

ICSA members who have Textile Banks
 Enable Ireland, Liberties Recycling, NCBI, Oxfam Ireland, Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Legitimate charities that operate charity shops in Ireland rely entirely on the public for donations of clothes, books, shoes, bric-a-brac, household linen and furniture. These goods are then converted into revenue and used to fund the much needed services provided by the charities.