Best Organisations To Donate Clothes In U.S
‘Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference.’ - Quoted responsibly by Kathy Calvin, a philanthropist, and a chief executive officer and former president of the UN foundation (2013 - 2019).
Donations are not just a cause for humanity but it is also a way to shift from linear economy to a circular one. In the linear economy, the wearables produced from the cloth are dumped in the landfills with no further use. However, in a circular economy, the wearables are not dumped straightaway in the landfills but are reused again by someone directly through the medium of donation or by the textile companies to repurpose and recycle the material for making a new pair. If scrutinized the situation of the dumps well, the dumped ones are usually the ones that can be reused well for a minimum period of 2-5-10 years in parallel, thus saving electricity and huge water consumption.
(Did you know: A single pair of denim production consumes 10,000 litres of water which can be used by a normal human being in 10 years of span)
As per the survey, about 25 million pounds is dumped in the field every year by the United States, and among them, 19 million pounds has not reached its optimum usage stage. The production is 12X times every year compared to the dumping and most of them lie in the shop for the next year's sale season. If this is calculated in reality, the numbers can go beyond our human imagination.
This data is a straight reflection of carbon footprints emitted by the textile industry in the United States. As per the report of the United Nations in 2018, the production and supply of textile industry from the embryonic stage to the debut to reaching the end-user and then the journey to the landfills contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions in totality, if measured in totality, the emissions are higher than the combine excretion of aviation and shipping industry.
(Source: Statista)
In the book "The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good.", author Elizabeth L. Cline states "Fashion's carbon impact is much larger than the industry's GDP. It's taking up more than its fair share of impact on the planet,"
HOW DONATIONS PLAY A ROLE?
Donations are done for the non-affordability curve of the community. The population falling under the curve using the donated apparels happily and till the end optimum use as it is predicted they cannot go out in the market of fast fashion and purchase new ones like the population falling above the affordability curve. The needy ones know the value of a single piece of cloth and this is where it makes the difference.
If the same clothes are dumped in the landfills after use it will increase the plastic particles in the oceans along with an increase in wastage and carbon emissions in the environment.
ARE DONATIONS RELIABLE?
As per the study by Margaret Gibelman and Sheldon R. Gelman in their piece, Very Public Scandals: Nongovernmental Organizations in Trouble in the journal International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations volume, focuses on the issue of malpractices by the Non-Governmental Organisation in the name of good work. The scandals of the organization were released by the United States media in 2001, checking wisely the reasons for this wrongdoing. The reasons were purely commercial and millions of dollars were made by selling old clothes to the textile merchants for reuse and the leftovers to be dumped on the landfills. These particular frauds drastically increased the pollution level and carbon footprints in the United States with 2.8%.
Therefore, with every thought of donation in your mind, it is very important to study the organization well before trusting it to the core. The cause can be flipped cruelly by many Non- Governmental organizations in the name of help and care
We at CROW conducted a research about the Non-profit organizations in the United States that take donations of old clothes and after thorough inspection, we came with a list of top 8 trustable and reliable mediums.
A pillar of humanity since 1881. The American Red Cross community works for disaster relief, disaster rescue, and emergency assistance service in the United States. The clothes donated here are used for helping people in need during emergency or disaster time. The donations reach the actual user and your intentions are served well.
Address:
431 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20006
Phone: +1 (800) 733-2767
Founded in 1997, Dress for success works on the goal of employing every woman in the world with the best authorities. This Non-government organization helps with professional wear to women with low income while representing themselves in the interview as well as daily work life. The concept here is to help the women match up with the required standard of the high-end companies without feeling inferior. Since the reach of 45,000 in 2006, the graph has just increased unimaginably to adding thousands behind.
Address:
32 East 31st Street
New York, New York
10016
United States of America
Phone: 212-532-1922
3. Room to Grow
Room to Grow, a blessing in disguise for children born under the poverty curve. The organization makes effort to provide basic care, nurturing, and skills to children and parents through coaching and different material to help them cope with the world and compete in the same stage with the children of wealthy families. This basic coaching helps parents nurture the kid from the birth stage in a way that he or she is confident and competent enough to adopt the education structure.
Address:
South End Location: 400 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, MA 02118
Dorchester Location: 230 Centre Street, Dorchester, MA 02124
Warehouse & Volunteering: 63 Sprague Street, Hyde Park, MA 02136
Phone: 617.859.4545
A Christian International organization, serving in 131 countries, to the officers and soldiers in need. The organization is successful in helping 1.7 million salvations at emergency and disaster times with food and clothing.
Address:
International Headquarters
101 Queen Victoria Street
London
EC4V 4EH
United Kingdom
Phone:
020 7332 0101
A very thoughtful project started for the school students who wish to go for their senior prom. Dresses and accessories are donated to the schools every year to make the girls feel confident and beautiful for their prom.
Contact Address: projectglam@wgirls.org
A very thoughtful cause by One Warm Coat to provide coats to the needy in sheer winter. Every coat is reached to the needy owner and used to the optimum level.
Address:
1201 California St,
San Francisco,
CA 94109
Phone: 877-663-9276
7. Soles4Souls
A genuine effort by Soles4Souls to help the children with proper shoes and clothing in order to protect them from unwanted diseases.
Address:
319 Martingale Dr,
Old Hickory,
TN 37138
Phone: +1 (615) 391-5723
8. ThredUP
ThreadUP makes us believe the old can be new till it’s last breath. It is an organization working into second-hand women and children's clothing where one can exchange it with less prices compared to the market and help in reaching the carbon footprint goal.
Address:
114 Sansome St 5th Fl,
San Francisco,
CA 94104
Phone: +1 (415) 402-5202
Atop are some of the genuine organizations that are working in the same cause which you are planning to enter with the medium of donations.
Your waste can be someone’s happiness.
Donate and make the world a better place!