It is no secret that most Americans have more clothing than they need and wear. Experts say that people buy twice as many pieces of clothing today than we bought even two decades ago. As a consequence, Americans throw away a lot of clothing, linens, and other kinds of textiles. It has been estimated that the typical person will throw away 70 pounds of these products every year. The thing is that these items can be used by others. Making charitable clothing donations can help others while giving new life to the items we do not use any more. Not only that but there it is very easy to make donations of clothing because there are a number of charities who will pick up your stuff. That means you can increase the good you do when we combine our efforts with those of people we know by holding a clothing donation drive.
- Set a place to collect the items. If you have space at your home, you can set your place and give your address to one of the charities that pick up donations. There are a lot of charity organizations that arrange donation pickups that can be made from your office, home, or someplace else. Have a central location where people can bring their items.
- Find a local organization to work with. When it comes to making donations of clothing, you may have a number of options. If you are looking to help a certain group or segment of the population, there is probably an organization near you can that help. There are charities that specialize in helping families in need and others that have the goal of helping military families or veterans. People also are more likely to give when they know to whom they are giving, specifically.
- Spread the word. With social media channels, it is easier than ever to spread the word. You can put together a Facebook event with the location of your drop off spot, the dates you will be accepting donations and information about the charity to whom your donations will go. You can also coordinate with the charity so that they put out the word of your clothing donation drive and can repost your social media posts. Whenever someone makes a donation, make a point to thank them on your social media pages. This can encourage others to make donations of clothing of their own.
- Do not forget to mention the tax write off people can get. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats donations of clothing the same way they do donations of cash. Make sure all of the people you tell about your clothing drive that they can take their donations off of their tax bill. The IRS does require that any donations that are worth more than $250 have paperwork to prove the donation was made. You can talk to the charity about this and what you can do for people who donate to your drive.
- Sort and clean the items you take in. You should encourage people who make donations of clothing to clean the items before they bring them to you but if they are dirty, you should launder them. When you make your donations of clothing to charity, it just makes more work for the staff at the charity if you give them dirty clothing. You should also make an effort to sort what you get from the people you know so that it will be easier for the staff to put those items out on the shelves of their consignment shop or give them to people in need.
- Celebrate your success. When your donation drive is over and the charity has picked up the donations, take some time to thank everyone who participated in the project. You may even want to have a party at the end to celebrate the success of your clothing donation drive.
People feel better about themselves and their lives when they take the time to give back to their community. Donating used clothing through a donation drive is one of the easiest ways people can help other people and become much happier and healthier as a result.