Give as you Live is an online fundraising platform allowing users to shop at over 4,200 top stores and raise free funds for charity.   Supporters have been raising funds for us through the platform for years. One of the great ways they’ve been doing this is through the Cards for Causes scheme. This lets you buy gift cards for Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Asda which you can use for your weekly shop. Topping up your card through Give as you Live means that every time you pop out for milk, you’ll be raising money for charity.

We spoke to Nicola Turing who’s a big fan of the scheme. Over the years she’s raised £242.57 for us.

Do you use the gift cards for your weekly shop?
I have been using cards for causes for a few years now. I originally started with Raise With Sainsbury’s, but that scheme was discontinued and replaced with Cards for Causes. I have had an M&S gift card for over 2 years now and use it for my weekly food shop, and also if I do any clothes shopping. There is a definite feel-good factor to knowing that for every £100 I spend in M&S using the card, The Turing Trust gets £3 which adds up to fairly significant amounts over the year. On average £100 per week will raise £100 for the Turing Trust in a year.

Have you found the scheme easy to use/ have you had any problems?
The scheme is very easy to use – all it needs is a bit of organisation to remember to top up the card online using a debit card when it is getting low as it does take a few days for the card to load. There is small charge initially for card delivery – but it is also possible to use e-vouchers which you download. Now that I take my mother shopping fairly often, I have just got a Waitrose card as well. There is a good selection of retailers who participate in the scheme – so well worth checking if you use any retailer regularly – it isn’t just food shopping, there are a wide range of retailers from clothes to DIY, electricals, Argos, coffeeshops and even pizza!

What do you like the most about it?
I like the feeling that I am raising money for charity on a regular basis and Give as You Live are great in giving you encouraging feedback. It would be amazing if we could increase the number of our supporters who use Cards for Causes it is such an easy way to raise money, whilst doing something that you would be doing anyway.

For more information on how you can get signed up to support the Turing Trust, visit: http://www.giveasyoulive.com/join/turingtrust.