About SOFA

We are a Registered Charity set up in 1981 to provide affordable re-used furniture, electrical appliances and household goods. We stock a wide range of items over three floors of our Loughborough showroom, including re-used furniture for home. We also have previously owned office furniture for business use.

Our mission is to:

· maximise the donation of furniture and electrical goods from the people of Leicestershire

· ensure a high level of re-use to reduce the environmental impact and to help those in greatest need

· provide a real work environment for volunteers seeking to improve their life opportunities

Our furniture and electrical goods are donated by people or organisations who no longer have immediate need of them, but who prefer them to be re-used rather than be neglected or sent to landfill. In 2019/20 we collected unwanted items from 1,945 households which included 7,845 items for reuse, and stopped almost 135 tonnes of furniture and electrical items from ending up in landfill sites!

We are a charity so there are no shareholders and no profits, all the money goes back into the organisation to fund current and future operations. Our work, however, could not continue without donations of goods from the community and the commitment and involvement of our wonderful volunteers, who work in the office, on the vans, in the shop and in the warehouse. In return for their time, volunteers receive training, support and work experience. 36 volunteers worked with us in 2019/20.

We are members of the Furniture Re-use Network, a national organisation which supports, assists and develops charitable re-use organisations across the UK. For more information on their activities and furniture reuse in general please visit their website www.reuse-network.org.uk.