News Blog January 22, 2026

CRA membership is for the entire retail team

As the Charity Retail Association enters its annual membership renewal period, we want to highlight the scope and value of the support available to charities that run, or are thinking about running shops.

Three members of a charity retail team gathered around a laptop.

CRA membership is charity-wide

Charities that join the CRA can have as many employees with access to resources, events and support as they wish.

Our services cover all aspects of charity retailing. For smaller retail operations we know the retail head is an incredible multi-tasker. However, where you do have people to cover the plethora of retail operation components, we have resources, events and support for them.

Our offer, which is developing all the time, breaks down into the following broad categories. If you happen to have a member of staff, trustee or key volunteer with an interest in these areas, get them a log in, send them along or take part online:

  • Ecommerce

  • Health and safety

  • Marketing

  • People

  • Property

  • Retail Gift Aid

  • Stock

  • Sustainability

And to disseminate the information contained in each of these categories we have:

  • An interest group

  • An online forum

  • Policy guidance

  • Resources

  • A dedicated CRA team who will help you with your query

Further assistance

As well as the broad subject areas mentioned above, you and your colleagues also have access to:

  • the CRA Research Programme, which includes our valued benchmarking reports

  • your shops and e-shops being included in the ‘Find a charity shop’ public online search

  • incredible value recruitment advertising

  • and whether you are a member or not - we are always advocating for charity retail through lobbying and public affairs.

The activity pipeline for 2026 is full of exciting developments - so make sure you and your colleagues are receiving our newsletter so you know what’s happening and when!

Expand your charity's access to CRA services

How do I give access to CRA services to my colleagues?

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1. You need one of your CRA primary contacts to log in to our website

When a 'primary contact' is logged in, click on your avatar (your photo, if you uploaded one, or your initial in the top right corner of the screen. This will take you to your dashboard.

Don't know your Primary? Email kelly@charityretail.org.uk

2. Access your Organisation profile

On your charity's CRA website account page, under 'Your Organisation', click the 'Edit Profile' button located to the right of your organisation’s name.

3. View your colleagues with access to CRA member content

On the left-hand side of the screen, click ‘Members’ to view the list of current users linked to your organisation. In the following instances ‘member’ means the individual and not the charity as a whole.

4. Click ‘Add a member’ and complete the form to invite a colleague. They will receive an email with instructions to create their log in details and profile and become a Member User.

3 dot button
The 3-dot button to the right of the member user's details

Make an existing user a Primary, or vice versa, or delete a user

Using the 3-dot button to the right of the member user's details you can 1. Give 'primary contact' permissions to other colleagues 2. Delete a member user 3. Change a primary contact back to a member user

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