The 5 charities that pick up your donations

 

The 5 charities that pick up your Donations

One of the first steps for a successful DIY (Do It Yourself) move is to get rid of all the stuff you don’t need anymore. You could load these items on your rental truck to take to your new home, or you could donate them.

When you donate, your old household goods go to a new home where they will be used and appreciated. Plus, donations to charitable organizations are tax-deductible.

If the inconvenience of hauling heavy or bulky stuff to a donation center is what’s holding you back, then we’ve got good news for you. Rented Truck Driver has created a list of five national companies that will pick up large items like sofas and tables from your home.

The 5 charities that pick up your donations:

The Salvation Army: Best overall

Habitat for Humanity: Best for donating furniture

Goodwill: Best for donating clothing and appliances

PickUpMyDonation.com: Best for finding local charities

Furniture Bank Network: Best for donating home goods

The Salvation Army

First on our list is The Salvation Army, an international organization that uses donations to help those in need all over the world. If you’ve ever gone shopping around the holidays, you’ve probably seen Salvation Army volunteers asking for donations for the organization’s red kettle project.

That may be what The Salvation Army is best known for, but the organization also accepts donated household goods, and it will send someone to pick up your furniture donation.

Items The Salvation Army accepts:

  • Appliances
  • Clothing
  • Furniture
  • Dishes and kitchenware
  • Decorations and household items
  • Computers and other electronics
  • Automobiles

The Salvation Army assists roughly 25 million Americans every year, and it operates in 131 different countries.1 Here are some of the communities that the organization assists:

  • Disaster victims
  • People experiencing homelessness and/or food insecurity
  • People in addiction recovery
  • Veterans
  • Older adults
  • Victims of domestic violence

Please don’t donate junk. If there’s something you’re thinking of donating, first ask yourself if it would be useful to someone in need. If it’s unusable or broken beyond repair, it isn’t worth donating.

If you’re unsure how useful the item is, call a donation center and ask if they’ll accept it. If you can’t donate it, contact a junk removal company to take it off your hands instead.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit with an ambitious humanitarian goal: “A world where everyone has a decent place to live.”2 Habitat for Humanity collects monetary donations to build and renovate affordable housing that those in need can apply for.

You can also donate furniture and other household goods to Habitat for Humanity. The organization resells these items in home improvement stores-called Habitat ReStores-and uses the money to fund its humanitarian efforts.

Items Habitat for Humanity accepts:

Your local Habitat ReStore may have specific donation requests, but here are the items Habitat for Humanity typically accepts:

  • Appliances
  • Furniture
  • Building materials
  • Vehicles

Habitat for Humanity helps individuals and communities in over 70 countries.3 Anyone can apply to live in one of the organization’s homes, but applicants are accepted based on financial need.

In addition to paying their mortgages, which come with affordable and realistic financing options, Habitat for Humanity home buyers also agree to help the organization with volunteer work.

Goodwill:

Like Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill resells donated furniture and other household items to fund its charitable objectives. It sells these items on the Goodwill website and in thrift stores across the country and uses its earnings to provide career training and employment assistance to underemployed individuals.

Goodwill also offers discounts and vouchers to the people enrolled in its training programs, allowing them to affordably furnish their homes and buy clothes for their families.

Items Goodwill accepts:

  • Clothing
  • Books, DVDs, and other media
  • Sports equipment
  • Dishes and kitchenware
  • Tools
  • Electronics
  • Small appliances

Goodwill gives vocational training and career assistance to anyone experiencing employment barriers. This can include people with disabilities, people who have been laid off, veterans, and people who don’t have marketable job skills or resumes.

Goodwill’s free online training programs teach valuable workplace skills, financial literacy, and interview coaching. Goodwill also helps people earn high school and college degrees (or equivalents) and can even assist with industry certifications.

Lastly, Goodwill offers a job search tool to help job seekers connect with employers.

PickUpMyDonation.com

PickUpMyDonation.com isn’t actually a donation center like The Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity, and it doesn’t pick up your donations and distribute them. Instead, it helps you find local nonprofits and thrift stores that do.

If your donation isn’t large enough for a local nonprofit to send a truck (most nonprofits can afford to pick up only large donations), PickUpMyDonation.com can still help. The company will put you in touch with a company like College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving-one of our favorite local moving companies-to pick up your donation and take it to a nearby center.

Items PickUpMyDonation.com accepts:

Since PickUpMyDonation.com doesn’t literally pick up donations, it doesn’t determine what items are accepted for donation. That depends on which nonprofit you choose to donate to, so read that organization’s list of accepted items to ensure they’ll take what you’re donating.

PickUpMyDonation.com doesn’t help communities directly. Instead, you choose the nonprofit you want to work with-and who your donation benefits.

After PickUpMyDonation.com directs you to nonprofits in your area, choose one that benefits a community you care about and want to help.

Furniture Bank Network

Furniture Bank Network helps people furnish their homes with comfy and practical secondhand items donated by people within the community. The best part is that recipients get the furniture for free (aside from delivery fees).

People can get furnishings from their local Furniture Bank only if they are referred to the organization through one of its social service partners. This ensures that the furniture goes to those who need it most.

Items Furniture Bank accepts:

  • Furniture
  • Electronics
  • Appliances
  • Dishes and kitchenware
  • Decor

Furniture Bank’s goal is to help those who can afford apartments or homes but can’t afford to furnish them. This can include the following groups:

  • People who have experienced homelessness
  • People who are unemployed
  • People with disabilities
  • Disaster victims
  • Victims of domestic violence
  • Immigrants

Don’t let the stress of moving ruin your experience. With Rented Truck Driver, you can have peace of mind knowing that your belongings are in good hands and you can focus on settling into your new home.