Another charitable S/O: What do you donate other than money?

[Deleted]

I saw in the charitable donations thread that several people mentioned that they donate tangible goods and/or time.  What do you give and to what organizations?

[Deleted]

-We give items to Goodwill and a youth group that has a yard sale to raise money for summer camps. This isn't another way of getting rid of trash.  I really do try to make sure everything is clean and well cared for.  
-I am in charge of the children's program at church and probably spend about 10-15 hours per week working on lessons, attending meetings, or dealing with administrative stuff. I have a "staff" (all volunteer as well) of 38 adults that handle music, Sunday school, and mid-week activities and there are approximately 85 kids in the program.
-Toys for Tots gifts
-Our family wrapped gifts for 200 foster children before Christmas.
-I was helping at the elementary school my kids attend until I had the baby last year. I plan to start helping again after the baby starts preschool in a few years.

[thefield]

I am the head of a division of the Annual Fund at my children's school.

I am also an officer of the board of my high school's alumnae association.

We also volunteer at the school and numerous "little" volunteer and material donation projects throughout the year.

[Deleted]

I volunteer 20 hours a month to girl guides.

DH is on the board for a local economic development non-profit

We buy angel tree gifts

We make and donate several loaves of sandwiches once a month for a homeless shelter

We donate clothes, toys and household items to a local women's charity

We contribute to food drives

We donate refundable drink containers to bottle drives

We deliver christmas hampers

[ddi741]

We donate clothes, furniture, household goods etc to a local ministry/goodwill type place and the salvation army. We donate our newspapers, paper towels and other supplies to the Humane Society (they post on FB what they need)
We also donate old towels and blanets to the humane society. I would LOVE to volunteer there but I just couldn't do it. I'd either bring every animal home with me or cry the whole time that I couldn't bring them all home with me.
We donate gifts to toys for tots
We donate food to local food banks.

[BeagleMama]

My biggest, huge time commitment is serving as the incoming board president for the Junior League in my area (all the board leadership stuff + all the other community service that members work on).
Serve on the board for my sorority's local alumnae chapter as well as volunteer at the closest college chapter.
Donate clothes, household items and toiletries to the local domestic violence shelter.
Purchase a few "angel tree" gifts for seniors each Christmas.
Frequently contribute to various ad hoc drives at work (college campus): food, coats, school supplies, etc.

[lindyanne]

I have volunteered a ton of time for different things with my son's school this year. I have also done quite a bit of baking for different organizations (his preschool, elementary school, fundraiser for free care fund, etc). I hope to be able to volunteer to bake more at the Ronald McDonald House next year when he is in school full time (everything needs to be made on site or in a commercial kitchen).

[pinkdutchtulips]

Time to my church and Girl Scouts not only as a troop leader but also as a member of our service unit's executive board

[v]

I give my resaleable hand-me-down clothes/books/household items to Housing Works, which is a charity that supports people with HIV/AIDS. And old bed linens/towels go to a local animal shelter.

Other than that, I'm honestly not a huge fan of donating *things*. It seems that charities often can get more out of a donation of money than they can out of a donated item that I bought for the same amount, so I prefer to give them money and they can do what they need to with it.

My husband is involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters through their workplace mentoring program. Now that I have a steady and humane work schedule I'd like to look into volunteering -- but that's going to have to wait for a bit because of work travel.

[Deleted]

Mar 4, 2015 17:56:06 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

Time
Clothing and household goods. I once donated a car.
Blood. Hopefully, bone marrow at some point.

Oh, and speaking of things I haven't done yet, I'm giving serious thought to cutting my hair really short again. If I do, I'll donate it.

I did this after DD2 was born.  My hair drove me CRAZY by the end but I am glad I did it. I donated to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths because I only had 11 inches cut off and they don't require as much.  Locks of Love had also been getting some bad press at the time.

[magdala]

I sit on two non profit boards and DH sits on three different nonprofit boards. We donate gently used items to the Epilepsy foundation because they are kind enough to pick up our things. I also donate blood...the blood bank chases me because I am a universal donor and they always need my blood type. While pregnant, I could not donate and the local coordinator was very disappointed that I wasn't coming to visit regularly

[Deleted]

In a board member for a not profit, and volunteer my time helping them develop the organization, put on local education events related to their mission, and recruit dinars and financial sponsorships.

I'm a past president for a corporation that manager my college sorority house.

We donate financially to the animal shelter, a women's domestic violence shelter, and a couple of work-related organizations in town.

[monsterz]

We donate pet food and supplies to the local animal shelter.

During christmas we donate toys to various organizations.

Household goods and clothes to goodwill.

[Deleted]

I donate to our church food pantry
Various things requested by my children's school
Randomness to the Goodwill
I help with Boy Scouts
I do crafts at DD1's school

[crashgizmo]

I tutor a 3rd grade student on reading skills once a week through the non profit org that I run.
I donate clothes and household goods to Goodwill and Salvation Army.
I volunteer at a local animal rescue.


DH pretty much buys everything his employees kids are selling, so he does his part.

[spunkarella]

My biggest commitment by far is serving as a CASA volunteer. In addition to working cases, I sometimes donate needed items to the children we serve, or volunteer at CASA fundraisers or events like the county-wide back to school bash.

[Deleted]

At my kid's school: I create and maintain the school website with weekly updates, in charge of fundraising for the Booster Club (I raise a lot of money each year), donate $ and resources.

I give at the office.

We do all the stuff that I don't really keep track of: clothing, food donations, toys for kids/Christmas, other stuff throughout the year.

[lizlemon19]

clothing and household items to women's shelter

kid toys or booksto dcf/cps office
food to church pantry and local homeless outreach org

[imojoebunny]

I donate lots of time, mostly to schools right now, but I have done a lot with neighborhood things in the past (parades, runs, park improvements, historical stuff).

We also donate our cabin for a long weekend a couple of times a year. It's 2,000 square feet on a river in a community with lots of amenities, relatively close by. It has always gone for what a person would pay on the open market, less taxes.

We don't rent it, but a lot of our neighbors do, so it's easy to price.

[krystee]

I walked dogs for a rescue last year. I also helped stuff care packages for kids in Haiti orphanages. I hope to get involved with a local program that's kind of like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, but for the elderly, later this year.

[iheartbanjos]

School supplies on DD1's teacher's wish list (though that benefits my child, soooo....).

We also donate all household goods/baby gear to the charity run by our church. I use the It's Deductable app on my phone to track.

[kadams767]

I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and spend time when possible on-site assisting with housing rehabilitations in my city. In the past, I volunteered with a program called Lawyers for Learning, which was tutoring provided by area attorneys in high need school before school twice a month.

I also coordinate a school supply donation from my office to our local school district and Boys and Girls Club, donate holiday gifts/adopt a family at holiday time, fill food donation bags for the food pantry and bags of toiletries/necessities for the women's shelter. I give blood when I can, and give towels, sheets and blankets to the SPCA where I got my pup.

[Susie]

Time: I'm currently teaching a 4 week adult swimming clinic to my tri club (I do it annually), I'm on the club board of directors, I mentor law students, and I do admissions ambassador stuff for my college.

Body: I donate whole blood, and am registered with Be the Match (no match yet).

Stuff: I donate nice used clothes (coats, etc.) to various charities, and appliances/house stuff to Habitat for Humanity whenever we update something (that still works just fine).

Those are the usual suspects.

I used to volunteer with Doggie Derkins as a therapy dog, but don't do it actively anymore (although I maintain his certification if the right opportunity came up).  We were doing it with a school for kids on the autism spectrum, and at the VA hospital, but those weren't great fits for a variety of reasons.

[lizlemon19]

Oh: the animal shelter we got our cat from takes towels, blankets, and stuffed animals.They will also take used crib mattresses. I will usually add food and cleaning supplies.

[lishie]

I spend a good bit of time volunteering at the boys' school. I'm on the PTSC executive board, do a lot in the classroom and for school activities. I'm also involved with a local neighborhood group, I work on park and playground cleanup, and other activities.

I do a few big goodwill donations each year.

Before kids, I served on the board of directors for a local arts nonprofit.