Best charities to donate stuff to?

[Amy SF]

I usually donate unwanted goods to thrift stores/resale shops; my current fave is the Stray Cat Alliance resale shop in West Los Angeles. But supposing I wanted to donate clothing and other goods to people directly. There are so many charities that ask for such donations that they'll then give to veterans, the homeless, poor people, etc. It would take a long time to sift through all of these to determine which are legit and which are basically a scam.

I'm interested in recommendations. American charities, of course. Is there a charity collecting items that you like, have a positive experience with?

I didn't make this thread American-specific, however, in case non-Americans wanted to make recommendations to each other.

 

[Joe]

This is kind of a tough question.

My family is/was Catholic, so after my Mom died, her clothing got donated to Catholic Charities, which is still fairly good in my book. They also have Goodwill collection centers right near most of the recycling dropoffs here.

I would hesitate to give to the Salvation Army due to their anti-gay policies.

The Quaker Meeting House collects items for the homeless. But they have lists of items wanted, and they want almost all their donated stuff to be new.

There are particular organizations who organize once-a-year drives, but I suppose you are looking for something that has on-going programs.

 

[beancounter]

I can't recommend specific charities, but this is a good site to see if a charity you're interested in spends the funds received primarily on the cause.

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