Donating stuff

[Didier]

Does anyone have recommendations for good places to donate clothes or household items (e.g. kitchen appliances)? I've been reading about the business models behind the nonprofits that work with Savers and don't want to go that route, nor do I want to go Goodwill. But I've been looking around and am struggling to pinpoint good organizations. Any recommendations are appreciated.

[FISHMANPET]

Curious what you've found out about Savers and Goodwill.

[Silophant]

I like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Sharing and Caring Hands.

[mattaudio]

Arc. http://www.arcsvaluevillage.org/

[Didier]

Re: Savers

http://www.startribune.com/savers-thrif ... 283714991/

[RailBaronYarr]

We rotate our donations between Goodwill and the Epilepsy Foundation. EF will pick up from your front step at a scheduled time, which is nice. I had never heard anything too terrible about Goodwill..

[FISHMANPET]

Yeah, curious about what's wrong with Goodwill myself.

Good to know about Savers though. I was always a little worried about donating to a for profit thrift store. They're across the street from me, glad I never brought anything there.

[QuietBlue]

If you're just looking to get rid of something for free, Craigslist or various neighborhood websites (i.e. Nextdoor) have always worked well for me.

Besides organizations already mentioned, Bridging is good for larger things like furniture too, and there are organizations for Lupus and veterans that I know do pickups as well.

[Didier]

Thanks for the tips so far.

Re: Goodwill, somebody can probably speak more to this, but they've been called out for having high executive salaries. That is what it is. But I decided to stop supporting them when it came out they pay disabled workers below minimum wage.

A provision in the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) of 1938 gives employers the right to pay people with disabilities below the minimum wage. At Goodwill, explains Leigland, disabled employees take a timed test to see how quickly they can sort and hang a rack of clothes.

Basically, if someone is disabled and folds the rack of clothes in twice the allotted time, they are paid half of minimum wage. So that practice, combined with the executive salaries, made me want to look for different organizations to support.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/ ... d-workers/

[LakeCharles]

I second Arc's Value Village. Also a pretty good place to shop.

[mattaudio]

A provision in the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) of 1938 gives employers the right to pay people with disabilities below the minimum wage. At Goodwill, explains Leigland, disabled employees take a timed test to see how quickly they can sort and hang a rack of clothes.

Speaking of this issue, which seems threadgermane since many second hand stores employ or serve the disabled community...
http://www.startribune.com/a-matter-of- ... 339820912/

[Didier]

To follow up on this, there is a place in St. Paul called Joseph's Coat that gives slightly used clothes to people in need for free.

http://www.josephscoatmn.org/

It seems that Arc's Value Village is also a different business model than the places affiliated with Savers.