Charity collections

Dreamscometrue

I don't have a car so from time to time I leave items outside my home to be collected. Tree of Hope were due to collect last thursday between 8am and 1pm so I left a large bag of clothes & bedding outside on Wednesday night. Come 1pm the next day it hadn't been collected so I sent a text to the given number. I sent several texts but no response & no collection. I called the charity & they were very sorry but come the end of Friday still no collection! Would like to send these items overseas to people I know but too costly to post. NSPCC have just posted a bag through. I wonder whether they will turn up? There have been so many times when I've left charity bags but they rarely collect!

Hermia

This has happened to me a few times too. I remember once most of my street put bags out for one charity (I think it might have been SCOPE) and they were never collected. I am not sure why charities would pay to deliver bags and then never collect them!

Jobseeeker

The bags are from private companies who give a small % to the charity. If you give the stuff to the charity shop it all goes to the charity

MothballsWallet

NSPCC's collections are managed by ClothesAid rather than the charity themselves.

Savvy_Sue

Jobseeeker wrote: »

The bags are from private companies who give a small % to the charity.

Not in all cases.

Jobseeeker wrote: »

If you give the stuff to the charity shop it all goes to the charity

The issue for the OP is that she does not have a car, so getting bags of donations to the charity shop is a bit of an issue!

MothballsWallet wrote: »

NSPCC's collections are managed by ClothesAid rather than the charity themselves.

But some charities do distribute the bags and collect them themselves.

Thinking about it, the system we've found which works best is when you phone the charity shop direct and ask them to pick stuff up, rather than putting bags out when they happen to deliver them. Not all shops are able to do this, but eg our 'chain' of local hospice shops has their own vans and collection service, and we find they come when we've arranged with them!

Mids_Costcutter

Another issue reported in the national press and on this forum previously is the risk of theft of the bags: there is an international market in second-hand clothes and rags. For this reason alone I don't leave charity bags outside the house for collection any more. I always take direct to the charity shop or clothes bank.

What never ceases to amaze me though is the sheer number of charity clothes collection bags we receive through the letterbox: I reckon about 1-2 a week. Is it really cost-effective for a charity (or their agent) to deliver these to every address in a town and then check for bags a few days later on every street? Although in my experience too the latter often doesn't happen.

rarrarrar

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Is it really cost-effective for a charity (or their agent) to deliver these to every address in a town and then check for bags a few days later on every street? Although in my experience too the latter often doesn't happen.

Sometimes the distribution and collection of bags is contracted out to small companies who get paid by results !

Endorse the comments about dropping off donations direct to charity shops or ringing them up and seeing if they have a local volunteer who will collect.
If you read the small print on many of these bags, the charity named often gets paid a small amount per ton of donations collected the items do not end up in the charity shops.

LittleVoice

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

The issue for the OP is that she does not have a car, so getting bags of donations to the charity shop is a bit of an issue!

I have a bag of clothes which OH has discarded.

Those that look reasonable for a charity shop will be taken one-by-one to a shop. I don't feel that I have to have a full bag of stuff to hand over in a shop and have often taken just one or two items in.

I'll check with local CSs whether they would like the remainder (clean but only good for gardening!) for passing to the "rag man" for payment to them. If they don't want those then I shall put the items out for our local authority collection. They collect used clothing at the same time as general recyclables but in separately colour coded bags. The income from this goes to the Mayor's charities of the year.

teddysmum

Animal rescues welcome towels, bedding (duvets but not feather filled ones), throws and anything, even some curtains, which would make a soft bed or wrap for a rescued or sick animal. They usually have a volunteer who will collect.

Katiehound

Yet another charity bag fell through my letterbox last week. It was for "Tree of Hope" charity. Never heard of them and as it happens we already have 10 charity shops in town which are either local or national charities and are crying out for stock.

I did look closely at the envelope ( after I had taken out the donation bag for a bin bag!!) and this is what it said:
The scheme is being run by SOS Cothes Ltd.... the charity will receive at least £60 for every tonne of clothing collected"
Daylight robbery!! That's a pittance.
If I take a bin bags of rags to my hospice shop they get about £5.
Far better to give items to your favourite charity because they get all the money and cut out what is obviously big business. If you haven't got a car I guess there will be at least one charity willing and able to collect.
(and don't forget GiftAid on donations of goods)

Davef_2

Katiehound wrote: »

Far better to give items to your favourite charity because they get all the money and cut out what is obviously big business. If you haven't got a car I guess there will be at least one charity willing and able to collect.
(and don't forget GiftAid on donations of goods)

Totally agree Katie. We are in the process of having a clear out before the house goes on the market and recently donated stuff to the British Heart Foundation.

Had the letter back from them yesterday thanking us for our donations and informing us they got £130 for our items. Also they can claim an additional 25% GiftAid.

Didn't have to take the goods anywhere either as they have lorries to collect so it doesn't matter how big or small your items are.

We only give to charities we have heard of where it has affected our family in some way such as the BHF and Cancer Research. All bags for charities we have never heard of go straight into the bin.