Goodwill, etc. It’s a good time of year to donate goods to your favorite charity.

I donate most of my good books to Goodwill. That's also where I usually get my new reading material -- there's usually one or two good books in the whole bunch!

Also, if you itemize you’re taxes, you get a tax deduction for the donation. Do well while doing good.

It’s also an opportunity to clean out your closets. I’m going through everything this year. I have a lot of stuff I never wear. Some with the tags still on them. Particularly if they were gifts.

I do regret giving away my first leather jacket. It was in great condition but seemed to have shrunk as it no longer fit me (haha). I would have given it to my nephew. He’s now my age, when I bought it..

R1, my Mom impressed upon me that you never throw books away. This is because she witnessed, from Brooklyn, the NAZI book-burning in the 1930s. She was also very encouraging that we all get as much education as we wanted. Maybe because she did not graduate high school, something I didn’t learn until I was at least 40. She didn’t want to set a bad example. Plus there was some shame there, I think. Anyway, all our books were donated to the library, or to charity. I still can’t throw books away, and that’s okay with me.

I would feel guilty throwing a whole book away too -- even the awful ones.

Speaking of books in Goodwills, I found an old cookbook with two old $100 bills inside of them once (after purchasing). Best $1.99 purchase I'd made in my life!

[quote]I used to throw a lot of stuff away, thinking it to be junk. ... Then I actually went into the Goodwill store, and was surprised at the “junk” they sell. So now, I donate the stuff I used to throw away.

I had a similar experience while downsizing for retirement. I had set aside some things for charitable donation and others for the dump. The organizers I hired to coordinate all that stuff moved quite a lot from my dump group to the charity group. "It doesn't have to perfectly shiny and brand new," they said. "This city has more people than you'd imagine who have NOTHING. They'd be delighted to have these things."

It really changed my outlook on that issue.

Goodwill isn't as evil as, say, the Salvation Army. But they are a for profit store, and while they do reinvest some money in helping job training, etc. more goes into the company's pockets.

When possible, see if you can find a local shop that benefits a cause or group that you support.

And if it's clothing, particularly shoes/boots/coats et al, this is the time of year where many places are doing drives for those items.

Lastly, if you're going to donate money, look for two local places to donate - to any food or soup kitchen that serves the community, and to a diaper bank.

The food kitchens will give some people the only hot meals they'll get. And while food banks cover many needs, diapers are seldom part of that.

We have a place nearby called Boomerangs. It helps people with HIV, though I forget exactly how they are involved. I gave them my old couch last year. Cost me $150 to get it there, but, it’s a good cause, so, I offered it up.

Out of the Closet is a good thrift store to donate to in the LA area.

Is Salvation Army still homophobic?

[quote]Also, if you itemize you’re taxes, you get a tax deduction for the donation.

Not anymore (for most people.) They raised the standard deduction so much and capped the deductions for state/local taxes that many people no longer itemize.

R10 Yes. They may help some homeless folks but if they are LGBTQ, they've turned them away or not allowed families to stay together in a shelter.

R9 I know there are some Out of the Closet locations elsewhere. They just opened one in Chicago, which already had Brown Elephant, and those stores fund medical care for LGBTQ and/or HIV patients.

Ahem!

Did you all forget about me?

Books (generally) get donated to the library for their sales.

Our versions of Goodwill won't take clothes anymore because there are too many donations and not enough people who buy them. I have a pile of donatible clothes here that will just have to go in the bin. Then my bin will be too full for all my other rubbish.

Goodwill was on a list of charities not to donate to because the CEO makes mult-millions while people they claim to help get little AND the developmentally-disabled people they hire to stack the racks have money deducted from their pay for putting a hangar backwards on the rack.

I was under the impression that our local Goodwill here in Seattle will take almost any item, and if they don't feel it has a decent resale chance they can put it in a special recycling bin for carpet underpadding and other secondary uses?

My local Human Society runs a thrift shop to benefit the animals, I donate my items to their thrift shop.

My cleaning lady takes all the stuff I’d would otherwise throw away

Yeah, I give most of my stuff to my handyman. If he can't use it, he has a yard sale.

Goodwill has staff that research potentially valuable items and they then sell it online instead of their stores. I used to always find great stuff at goodwill,but havent in years.I rarely go to them anymore. Also,they get a huge chunk of federal money every year as well as charge states for their rehab and halfway house programs for ex cons . They are getting paid from EVERY angle and as far as I know pay little in taxes. Huge scammers,Id throw my donations on the street before I gave it to them .

These days, all it would take is a drive out to the local tent encampment and leaving a bag of clothes curbside, to get rid of any unwanted clothing items and see them put to immediate, needed use.

Don't even consider giving to Goodwill! Their management siphons off millions.

Find a local charity instead.

I donate books to a charity that gives them to prisoners. Their favorite categories, last time I gave them stuff, were gay fiction, popular mysteries, and cookbooks. PLUs in jail: who knew?

60 Minutes had a segment on Goodwill some years ago. I recall that when they get overloaded with clothes, they will sometimes be sent to Africa, so hang-in there Darfur Orphan! Alternately, they go towards making rags. Who knew there was a market for rags? In the case of rags, they still make some money off them, which goes to helping the needy.

Their store here is always packed, so, if my donation does some good at all, I’m happy.

I donate to housing works in NYC.

R26 - Here's another vote for Housing Works.

Now, if I could just stop repurchasing my own donations!

I've donated lots of things to Habitat for Humanity's Restore second-hand shop. Dishes. Electronics. Kitchen stuff. Some furniture. They come and pick it up. I had to laugh reading r27. I actually missed some of the dishes I gave them, and went back to find them. Of course, they were gone by the time I got there. I hope one person bought them all and is enjoying them as much as I do.

Yes, R28, the Restore stores are good too.

I donate books to my local Friends of the Public Library. As far as charities go, I've been warned off donating to some of them, but I consult my own convenience. The closest location to me is a St Vincent de Paul store,so they get the bulk of my donations. But sometimes, I'm going in the opposite direction, so Goodwill or the Salvation Army it is, whichever is closest. And my boyfriend is a social worker, so he has taken a lot of furniture off my hands to help furnish his clients' homes. I try to stick to a rule that, if I buy new clothes, I've got to donate the same number of pieces of older clothing: that way, my closet doesn't explode.

What R7 said. Goodwill is simply a lousy organization, a for-profit business masquerading as a charity. The Salvation Army is a cult run by fundie nutjobs. Find thrift shops that are run by local charities to donate your stuff to, or look for local organizations that will accept donations of books, clothes, etc. These are always competing with Goodwill and The Salvation Army for donations, since most people think of those two first when looking to donate, but are far more worthy of whatever you've got to offer.

People are now sellIng/giving away their better or merely acceptable things on Facebook Marketplace and other local buy and sell platforms.

I live in a nice suburb where the thrift stores should have a lot of good stuff ("good" as in relatively clean and in functional condition). The stores in my city are just crap, all of them. Clothing worn out, missing buttons, etc., broken knickknacks, cracked crock pots--even a very stained commode! Fifteen or twenty years ago you would find at least one GREAT thing at almost any thrift store in any town. Thrift shops didn't used to put obviously broken , dirty/smelly or tattered items on the sales floor. Now I guess they take whatever they can get. Much of it should rightfully be in the dump.

Whatever 'donors' can't sell or even give away online, they just box up and call the thrift store for a porch pick up. At least the thrift stores can wholesale the old underwear and socks to that asshole who turns it into My Pillows.

A local hospital has a donation box for magazines and books to distribute to waiting areas. When magazines pile up, I make a run and donate some books as well.

Goodwill sucks. I worked there in 2008. The salaries of management are astronomical. Most of their retail sales go to administrative overhead and bloat.

We have a couple of local thrift stores here that are just awesome. Our town has a bunch of rich people and I have found some great stuff at the local thrift stores. I found a Le Creuset dutch oven for $10 last year. And a Williams Sonoma throw blanket for $2.99 last week.

In 2016, Goodwill's CEO was paid $2,300,00. Of every dollar they receive $0.08 goes to help people, compared to The Salvation Army (93-cents) and St. Jude's (91-cents).

I attended Parsons School of Design when it was in the East 50s. We were given a list of days the Sanitation Department collected on Park Avenue, Sutton Place, Beekman Place, and Mitchell Place. Rich folk threw out amazing stuff.

[quote] if you itemize you’re taxes, you get a tax deduction for the donation

I brought that up once and got a dozen people telling me I was a terrible human being for even mentioning it!

[quote]I would feel guilty throwing a whole book away too -- even the awful ones.

I've had some that fell apart and weren't worth rebinding, and I figure recycling is the best thing to do with them.

If you have books with old bindings but that aren't worth reselling, donate to Goodwill anyway, because people buy them for decoration.

What would we do without all the Frauen thinking that the DL is here for them to humble-brag and instruct us all on how we need to be as wonderful as they are.

We KNOW, ladies. It ain't our first winter, and gay people give more than straight people when it comes to philanthropy.

Christ on a cracker.

Yesterday, we hauled 10 huge garbage bags of really good quality second hand things to our local SPCA thrift shop. All the employees are volunteers and don't get paid, and all money goes directly to the feeding and medical needs of animals in the local shelter. a no-kill shelter, by the way. Animals need a good Christmas, too. Five of our six cats came from that shelter, all chipped, neutered and inoculated before they were allowed to be adopted. One of them is a special needs cat who lost an eye as a kitten, and has a brain injury because of the accident. She takes mild seizures (not often) and during those seizures will sometimes pee in inappropriate places, but we knew the job was dangerous when we took it.

[quote]I would feel guilty throwing a whole book away too -- even the awful ones.

Were I somehow magically, tragically, to come into possession of a truly awful book—one, say, by Ann Cunter or Tubitha Hannity—I would feel guilty [italic]not[/italic] throwing it away.

I love you, r41.

R40, maybe you can create a thread where all the scolds can congregate and commiserate about how awful and fraulike the other posters are?

My brother in law has a collection of every book written by Bill O’Reilly (Including fiction); Sarah Palin, and every other wing nut there is. It’s truly appalling and I would have a hard time inflicting them on a charity.

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

Salvation Army was the only charity that was willing to pick up several pieces of furniture from my 5th floor walk-up apartment. Several local charities I called declined. Fuck them.

[quote] R38: I brought that up once and got a dozen people telling me I was a terrible human being for even mentioning it!

You are not an awful person. They were wrong.

LA people, this is a nice place to donate. The gay man who manages it is very nice.

As others have posted, Goodwill exploits their workers and makes a fortune for themselves. I also give my unneeded good stuff to our local animal thrift shop. I know where the money is going.

I donate to Purple Heart. You can leave the stuff on your porch and schedule a pickup.

[quote] I consult my own convenience

If your convenience takes you to the Salvation Army, then you're the most rancid cunt that ever lived.

[quote]In 2016, Goodwill's CEO was paid $2,300,00.

Wow--and I thought I was poor!

[quote]In 2016, Goodwill's CEO was paid $2,300,00. Of every dollar they receive $0.08 goes to help people, compared to The Salvation Army (93-cents) and St. Jude's (91-cents).

Stop making shit up. Post a link verifying these claims.

Do any of you have any good one liners to say to the Salvation Army bell ringers during the holidays?

I'm never rude to them, R54. They believe in what they're doing, but I just as strongly believe their organization is not a good one.

Goodwill at CharityWatch. Looks like 12% of the money they raise goes to helping others. Couldn't find an entry for Salvation Army.

Aren't the Salvation Army bell ringers all on probation and doing their community service? It's sad because I do like the tradition of hearing that bell during the holidays but could never give to that wretched organization.

Miss Coco....

I would never send money to the ASPCA. They have millions to spend on commercials showing dogs left outside in the winter to make you feel bad and send $19 a month. I give $25 a month to the shelter in my county, who really needs the money. How many millions does the CEO of the ASPCA make?

In New York, public stations WNYC and WQXR tell us donations pay for programming. In 2016 it was revealed that CEO Laura Walker was paid $800,000 a year, Thankfully, she retired after 20 years.

Just to set the record straight, R59, My SPCA is outside of the US. They get absolutely no government funding and have to rely on personal donations. The price they charge for adoptions doesn't even come close to covering the amount they spend on medical treatment and feeding of the animals there. The vet they employ actually donates his time. He spends mornings at the SPCA hospital and afternoons at his own veterinary clinic. I know him well, and the man is a saint. He also works with the local feral cat society and these people are my heroes. They and the vet go on spaying/neutering missions in a bus they've purchased and kitted out with a mini hospital inside. They call at the feral colonies and trap any cats that are not neutered, give them time to recover, and release them back into their colonies again. Any that are deemed to be eligible for re-homing are taken to the spca.

[quote] I would never send money to the ASPCA

A good rule of thumb for most donations of money or items is to go local when possible. These people are usually "boots on the ground" in your community and will direct money and/or resources to where they are needed most, at the lowest cost possible.

The bigger an org is, the more layers of bureaucracy and the more likely money/resources are supporting an office, not a person in need.

I appreciate the ASPCA (national org), HSUS, etc but overall, they spend more time as lobbying groups, and as such are spending most of their time trying to influence lawmakers - and there is a need for that, which I wholeheartedly support as well. They do some minor field work, but as stated before, it's always best to start with a look at who needs help locally.

The Charity Navigator's PERFECT 100. All of these charities have perfect scores on charitynavigator.org.

Guide to Donating Noncash Items

IIRC, there was a woman running a gay-focused charity in Boston who had a gambling addiction and embezzled a lot of the charity’s money. She jumped through hoops to do so, as you might imagine. I think the head of compliance or maybe it was head of finance, left the charity and she took that position despite objections.

The charity eventually merged with another and she went to jail.

I am sure the poor people are SO GRATEFUL for your garbage.

R56 you can't find the Salvation Army because Religious Organizations aren't reviewed.

R63 That's a helpful site, but they also only review and grade larger charities. It may be that a local charity or nonprofit is below the threshold.

They have a helpful guide for anyone who wants to know what to look at.

I know some money goes to overhead, and I don't begrudge an org that, but you do want to make sure there's a basic layer of transparency, and that they're updating people on what they're doing.

IIRC, at the Gay March on Washington that was two marches ago, don’t know the date, sorry, remember that? At it, there were hot guys on every street corner with clear, extra large garbage bags soliciting donations for some worthy cause. The leader of that drive just ran. It was estimated to be a huge sum which I also don’t remember. At least $100,000. Could it have been a million? I wish I remembered.

Embezzlement like these two stories are sickening!

Just say NO to Salvation Army.

R56 You won't find The Salvation Army. Charity Navigator doesn't review Religious organizations.

How can anyone work at goodwill? You’ll bring bed bugs home with you,

Goodwill is NOT a legitimate charity. The Salvation Army are a bunch of homophobic bigots.

Just leave it on the street for the bums and downtown scavengers. They like stuff.

It’s true that goodwill is not a charity. But if you have items in good condition and no other local charity thrift stores, it is better to donate than to trash the items. There is an environmental benefit as well as helping people who can use or appreciate those items

R75 agreed, if no other options are around then by all means donate to Goodwill.

But often, there are other options. Just suggesting a few minutes of searching before giving it to them.

The local thrift shops in Florida are overflowing. When my mother died they refused to take a lot of stuff because they had too many of them already or didn’t have space. I remember walking in and they had a very long wall just filled with baskets of all lengths, depths & styles. Apparently, it was a very big look in the 1990s and some of them had sold for a lot of money from Pottery Barn.

R13 We didn't, little guy! We have all these wrapped up for you, Darfur Ophan.

[quote]But if you have items in good condition and no other local charity thrift stores

If your town rates a Goodwill store, it will almost certainly have other charitable thrift stores in the area. Goodwill doesn't waste its time in places where there's no one to sell to.

R60, the person who heads KERA, Dallas' public broadcasting, Maryann Alhadeff gets $520,000 a year.

And it goes up EVERY year!

The programming schedule (and the quality of the programming) mostly sucks, (and it gets worse EVERY year)!

Who the fuck do these public radio people think they are?

North Shore Animal League is also one of the worst offending "charities" when it comes to abusing the money they get. Your donations go to fund cocktail parties which the likes of Howard Sterna and his awful wife attend. A few years back Howard was shilling for NSAL for money to build the Bianca Wing..something his 50 million in Sirius salary could have paid for many times over.

here a good site to see just how our hard earned money is spent

That’s right! Send all your shit to Goodwill! I make out like a bandit there. My entire wardrobe is thrifted and I’ve gotten incredible things there. Your trash is my treasure, bitches.

I'm gladly accepting people's books, knick knacks, antique glassware, art and prints especially signed numbered, anything collectible. We are trying to raise money for my aunts kidney transplant surgery. Send it all to justin schmittler 56 joyce Ave prairie du chien wi 53821. Thank you.