5 Tips For Donating Clothing

Looking for 5 tips for donating clothing? It is always nice when you have a chance to help others out by donating clothing. However, you should always give a lot of thought to which items of clothing you wish to donate. You want to make sure that you are donating clothing that others will be able to use.

1. Thrift stores. If you are donating clothing to a thrift store, you should always ask the thrift store what charity they are associated with. Many thrift stores operate using a name that sounds like a charity, but in reality, they are a for profit business.
2. Drop off boxes. You should always verify whom a clothing drop off box belongs to before you place your clothing donation in the box. Unfortunately, it is not a rare occurrence for a for profit business to own drop off boxes that are illegally using charity names on the front of the box.
3. Check how your clothing donation will be used. It is always a good idea to call a charity to see how they will use your clothing donation. Some charities may own a store where they will sell the clothing in, while others will sell your used clothing to a third party company for a fixed fee.
4. Phone solicitation. If you receive a phone solicitation that is asking for a clothing donation, do not hesitate to ask what charity your donation will be benefiting. After you are finished with the phone call, call that charity to verify that they have given permission to the company that called you to solicit clothing donations.
5. Second hand clothing. Not all charities will accept second hand clothing. It is always a good idea to call a charity ahead of time to find out what type of clothing donations they accept.

You should never try to donate soiled clothing. Most charities appreciate it if you have the clothing that you are donating dry cleaned ahead of time.