It is so secret that Americans are generous. We donate to charity organizations all year round. Nearly 43% of us donate more during the holiday season but nearly 44% donate all year round. We give approximately 4.7 billion pounds of clothing every year. We have built the importance of charitable donations into our tax code. If we make a charitable donation, we can take them off of our taxes.
Donating clothing to charity goes a long way in helping families in need. By cleaning out our closets, we can really help other people. We have doubled the amount of clothing we buy from 20 years ago. Most of us have closets bursting with clothing we know we are never going to wear again. One rule some experts recommend is to look though the closet and donate clothes we have not worn for two seasons or more.
Tips for Clothing Donations
If you are making clothing donations to charity organizations consider the following tips.
- Wash it! Washing your clothes before making local clothing donations makes it easier for charity organizations, who usually clean everything before they distribute them. This saves them a step and makes the donation process easier for everyone. Plus, do you really want to make someone process what is really dirty laundry?
- Make a list of what you are donating. Make a list and include what you think each item is worth. This will save you a lot of time when you do your taxes. You can take it all off of your tax return but if you donate any one item that is worth $250 or more, you will need to include a receipt for that item. The Internal Revenue Service requires that.
- Organize your items. Put shirts with shirts and pants with pants. Staff at charity organizations will appreciate this as it will make their lives a lot easier as they process your donation. It cuts down on the time they will spend sorting it all. Most charity organizations process many, many donations a day so it really makes a difference.
- Are you donating fragile items? Wrap them! If you are making household donations, meaning household items, the last thing you want is to break it on the way to donate it! So if you are giving something fragile like dishes or glasses, wrap them before you leave the house. These items are needed and will be used but not if they are broken.
- Check your items. Families in need can use that electric mixer you want to donate so make sure it works before you bring it in. You may have electronic items and they should all be checked. If you have not used it in a long time, it may not work. If it does not work, just throw it away.
Making clothing donations to charity organizations is a great way to give back to the community and help people who really need the help. Donations for veterans are especially important. Most of us would like to help veterans and their families but cannot donate money. This is one way to give back and really make a difference.
