Would you contribute to a charity like this? (I’m thinking of setting up one.)

[vipersnest1]

I’m not asking for donations and don’t intend to say what the specifics are, but if you were asked to donate no longer needed baby and child items that would make the life of a baby or child better, would you be willing to? I’m talking about relatively low-cost items like clothing but not giving specific details.
Sorry for being mysterious but I don’t want to fall foul of MN talk guidelines.
I’m just putting the feelers out there to see how viable this might be as I’m retiring and the issue is something close to my heart and that I’ve wanted to do for several years now.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
TIA

Yes I would donate to something like this.

Have you done your research? In my area there are organisations and charities like this already. And one of the key issues in the charitable sector is duplication. Setting up a charity takes a lot of time and effort, you need a board of trustees, do your annual accounts w charity commission etc. is it worth doing all that for passing on donations?

Yes, absolutely, I’d donate.

Surely you must already know that people give unwanted things, including baby clothes, to charity? This can't be a new concept for you!

Lots of charities do this already, unless you have some unique spin. You'll also get a lot of unusable crap.

A baby bank? These are great organisations and there are lots of them - agree re:duplication.

I’ve seen a couple post on our local Facebook asking for items, called baby banks. So I googled and there’s a national network.

So I’d say yes, it’s needed; yes, people donate. We’ve got a uniform bank in our city, too.

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

Maybe you could volunteer somewhere instead of starting your own thing?

We had such an org where I used to live but had to close because of a combination of insurance, safety of second hand equipment and quite frankly, the people who it was set up for turned their noses up at second hand.

the idea isn’t bad but you need to see if people would actually want to use such a service and what items you can pass on

Just to let you know that this would help with children who have a specific issue which is very adequately dealt with in the UK. It is elsewhere in the world that problems arise because of it and babies and children can suffer terribly. Donations of the items would make a massive difference to their lives.
Just to repeat the items are those that are used here, but are low-cost.

We have a great charity in London that does exactly this called Little Village. If your local area doesn't have a similar charity or an existing baby bank, then it could be a great idea to start one. Agree with pp that volunteering somewhere else first could help, as well as assessing demand in your area.

There is quite a few of these in my area. They do really well and get more than enough donations.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I would think that the cost of handling and posting items overseas sounds prohibitive to a charity’s viability.

FYI, I have reported my thread to MNHQ giving details so they can give it the once over.

Yes I would if it was simple enough to do!! The baby bank round here is a bit of faff to drop stuff off to so I don’t really bother but will chuck a few things off their Amazon wish list into my basket when I see an appeal on Facebook!!

@SoScarletItWas, the items are lightweight and I would hope to send them in bulk. I’m mindful of the fact that the charity would need to raise funds to send them.

@JollyHostess101, I would hope to have donation boxes in places like doctor’s surgeries (that might be a bit of a pipe dream) and nurseries and pre-schools.

How would this work? Do you have contacts on the ground who will distribute the items on your behalf? Are.you sure these items are needed or would funding be more useful/appropriate? Is there a charity/agency already doing this work?

It depends what the cause actually is, whether the charity has all the markers of being legitimate and how difficult/ easy it is to make the donation.

Would it not be more effective (and environmentally friendly) to purchase and distribute the items in the location they are needed rather than have people donate them here then ship them - this would have the benefit of supporting the local economy in the presumably disadvantaged place, plus the real issue is going to be building the network of people to get the items to the people/children that need them, once you have this in place the network can presumably also assist in sourcing too, without the need for an intermediary, storage, distribution facility?

Inefficient charities annoy me greatly so the details would matter.

There are so many places that collect used items for charity that finding an appropriate place for most gently used items is not difficult.

People are not going to bring a bag of stuff to donate along when they or their kids are sick enough to need a doctor and no way are gp surgeries etc going to let people come in for the sole purpose of dropping bags of clothes off (especially since COVID). Pre schools and nurseries are unlikely to agree to the extra work.

This is an issue that UNICEF have recognised. The items are not easily obtainable where they are needed, so it is feasible for them to be sent from overseas.
I am in the process of opening communication with the specified person in UNICEF who heads up the initiative to help with this issue, but they are more concerned with protecting the children involved (again not wishing to name the issue specifically in case someone tries to accuse me of ‘begging’).

@NanCydrewandtheclueinthename, the only thing they would need to do is to have a collection box in the reception area.

Absolutely this. By the time you've shipped and imported donated clothing it becomes very expensive. Better to donate to organisations on the ground and for them to source and supply locally.