How you can help

Donate to FFA

What to donate:

Fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals, pasta and rice, pasta sauces, beverages, long life milk incl plant based milks, tinned food incl fish, vegetables and pulses, cooking oil, and treats, like biscuits and cereal bars. Many recipients are vegetarian so we welcome meat-free food donations.

We also welcome donations of toiletries such as nappies, sanitary towels, soap, shampoo and baby toiletries and household cleaning products

Donations can be taken to the Ardagh sorting hub on any Tuesday between 10.30 and midday, or given to a FFA Street Collector

We cannot accept donations of:

  • Chilled / refrigerated products
  • baby formula: in line with UNICEF policy; partner organisations direct families in need of help to appropriate agencies read FFA formula policy here.
  • alcohol or of items which contain alcohol.
  • Food donations which are not wrapped/ sealed,
  • where packaging is damaged,
  • which are out-of-date or
  • which do not have a list of contents/ingredients.
    • Unfortunately this means we cannot accept eg home-made jam or bakery items or loose goods (other than fresh fruit or vegetables) from scoop/self serve shops

Start or donate to a street collection

FFA has a number of street collection points. Street collectors bring up the donations they have received on Tuesday mornings to the sorting hub.

See the map for existing street collection locations and get in touch to find out details if you want to donate locally.

If you wish to start a new collection point, please contact us to discuss your idea. We may need to take into consideration the partners’ requirements, the size of the sorting room and the volume of donations and ensure that we can adapt our operation to deal with a larger collection.

For guidance on setting up a new collection hub see here

Make a financial donation

Financial donations are used to purchase fruit and vegetables in bulk at best value prices. Refrigerated goods eg dairy products which require specific handling are also purchased in bulk using financial donations.

Donors are also asked whether they can sign the gift aid form to allow us to reclaim tax, increasing the value of the donation by 25%.

Donations can be one-off bank transfers or as a regular standing order.

find out more about how to make a financial donation: go to Financial donations page

Run a fundraising event

Hold a coffee morning, sponsored activity or make a collection for FFA at a concert / streetparty/ cake sale etc

Get in touch with our press and publicity lead to get leaflets and collecting boxes, or arrange for someone from FFA to come and speak at your event

Volunteer to help with sorting or driving duties

Each Tuesday, sorting volunteers divide up the donations for onward delivery by volunteer drivers to our partners. Volunteers also help by collecting the dairy order from Tesco Golden Hill and the donations from Sainsbury’s Clifton Down and Sainsbury’s Dingles (Triangle) on Tuesday mornings, and taking them to the Ardagh.

see our Volunteer Page for more details

Join the team to help manage FFA

FFA is managed by a team of volunteers who take on specific tasks through a process of distributed leadership. If you would like to help with tasks which are less physical than sorting or driving, like communications, eg newsletter, social media, website, or administration, including liaison with our partners, food orders and campaigning, please contact us.