To want a clothes collection that actually donates to charity?

[BoogieWonder]

I have done a big clear out of children's and my clothes, so have loads of good quality stuff that I'd like to go to charity. Trouble is, all of my local shops are very difficult about donations - you can only take a small amount, you can only donate on certain days (which seem to change constantly) etc.

Ideally I would like to just get rid in one go. The local clothes bins at the supermarket are allegedly for charity, but when you read the small print just seem to sell on and then donate a tiny per cent of profits.

I've found a few places online that will collect, but either they don't say what will happen to the clothes, or it turns out they are selling them abroad and then giving an undisclosed amount to charity which I imagine is very small.

BHF will only collect clothes along with furniture which I don't have. Are there any genuine charities which would collect? I found one called Triad but it's London only.

If you really have loads of stuff in good saleable condition maybe consider buying less, give the money to charity and save the planet too.

Take a look online at local groups or post on a local Scout Facebook site, to find out about jumble sales. Lots of Scout groups do jumble sales a few times a year and the money raised goes directly towards the Scout Group.

Olio
Trashnothing
Freecycle
if they are in your area.
Better even, ask parents of younger/smaller kids in your school.
Hardly any clothes donated to charity shops are sold.

The amount of money or the amount of clothes?

Charities are inundated with stuff. Because most people have too much stuff. So you’re just giving them a job to get rid of it you can’t ask them to also collect for free.

If you want to donate a decent amount of money to charity, then you’d be better off trying to sell it yourself and donating the money to charity

you’re asking too much, basically I can’t work out exactly what it is you want but if you want the charities to collect for free but they then can’t sell the clothes what is the point?

Have you got any Barnardos near you - in quite a few places near me they have branches that only sell children’s clothes and toys and have separate stores for adults, then a third for furniture and bric a brac
look online for donation centres and bigger out of town stores on retail parks
I have found that the Salvation Army and cancer research are moving towards this model and they often have much more space to store donations than the little high street ones
I’ve also found local charities who provide children’s hospice care also have larger children’s sections

Ah thanks, what time are you planning to send over the time machine?

I'm not sure where you live, but we have one called the clothing bank, it sorts and gives the clothes direct to people in need so no shops, just donations, then straight to recipient

if you want the charities to collect for free but they then can’t sell the clothes what is the point?

I do want them to sell the clothes?!

Baby banks are set up for this purpose - you can use this tool to find one near you. They often take clothes up to age 18, but will obviously have items they want/need or don’t want at any point in time.

https://babybankalliance.org/baby-bank-map/

I also sometimes send a big package of items to my baby bank via the cheapest Evri parcel, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be the nearest one.

Find a warehouse-style charity shop in your area and ask if they'll take a car-load. There are two in my area near me. Both are hospice ones.

My location is part of my username.

@BoogieWonder

I realise it's a bit of a hassle for you, but if you'd prefer that charities got the benefit of your clothes, then I'd suggest that you donate bit by bit (perhaps two or three bags at a time) to charity shops.

The charity sector as a whole has a shortfall of volunteers, I believe, so some individual shops may not have enough staff to process donations quickly, which is sometimes why some shops request small amounts or that it's done on particular days.

I think the point is that if you want the clothes to do the best for charity you will have to do a bit of the legwork.

the reason the companies that pick up and then sell the clothes (with just a small % going to charity) exist is because people are lazy

Our local primary school has a big metal clothes bin in their car park that gives a percentage to the school - it goes by weight, so I always make sure I put heavy things like shoes in there.

But they’re inundated with clothes

Even really good clothes

So the average clothes I’m presuming you’re giving average and not designer expensive stuff, they’re very very very hard for them to get rid of by selling.

So you’re assuming they can sell clothes, but they can’t necessarily do that

Sell your clothes on vinted and donate the money to charity directly

@OrangeFlower14

I don't think there's anything wrong with the OP giving the clothes to the charities - it just needs to be done in the way the charities request; so if they can only take a few bags per donation, then it needs to be done in that way.

By ringing round I’ve found some charity shops that are easier to donate to than others. Oxfam, Woodgreen and Mind are rarely taking donations near me.

My local Sue Ryder only takes two big black bags at a time per household, but I get rid of clothes probably every 6-12 months so that’s fine. Anything stained or heavily worn and thinning is recycled/binned and I donate the nice thing. Sue Ryder send me a letter periodically to tell me how much they’ve raised from what I’ve given them which is nice. The only thing I have had to watch is CE marks on toys. We’ve been gifted a few things from Temu and I don’t trust the CE marks to be honest. Quite rightly, SR won’t take toys without CE marks.

Oh yes, I agree but there’s no point moaning that people won’t collect a big load they probably haven’t got anywhere to keep a big load before they send it abroad ..where it will probably end up in landfill anyway.

I'd say your best donating to a women's refuge or a grass roots homeless charity or a grass roots local charity.

Our local area has a x town in need Facebook group that people post on asking for things - usually appliances/ crockery/ furniture and clothes (usually with ages eg. Boys age 5 and girls age 7 clothes).

We also have a grass roots homeless and vulnerable people support charity who set people up in their first homes (victims of DV/ homeless/ special needs/ care leavers ect). They take absolutely everything and pretty much everything is used or given away.

where are you? Hospice charities usually are good, typically though they don’t take donations on Saturdays because they are run off their feet with customers and struggle to get Saturday volunteers, sometimes by arrangement they will. We take up to 10 bags/boxes without an appointment, larger amounts by arrangement because of space constraints. As to what they can sell, clothes must be lightly worn, not obvious wear like bobbles or fading, no tears, stains or missing buttons.

The ones who'll take several bags at once near me are big Sue Ryder and Thames Hospice. They're not the small shops.

Another way @BoogieWonder , is to go to a town with several shops, and drop a bag or two in each.

Ps we don’t sell SHEIN, primark (unless new labels attached) or most supermarket clothes unless particularly good or not t shirts etc. it takes space on the shop floor to sell them and people don’t want to buy second hand mass produced stuff only a few pounds new we found

Salvation army?

Have you looked at Redonate @BoogieWonder?

Agree I give a lot out via local free cycle whatsapp. If you don't have one hit up your class whatsapp group or nct group. I also give to local baby bank which always needs kids (although often not baby clothes). I only give to charity shops a few good quality kids bits if no takers elsewhere. I just hate the idea it's going to be shipped off to the global south as rags and pollute their beaches. This is now why I buy 95% second hand clothes!