Setting up a donation drive with Goodwill is easy and beneficial to your community. Clothing, books, working electronic donations and furniture, are sold in Goodwill stores, keeping them out of landfills. The money from the sale of your donated items helps Goodwill provide free job training, job placement, and career services for people and families in your community.

• Plan Your Donation Drive
• Promote Your Donation Drive
• Celebrate Your Donation Drive’s Success
• Request Donation Drive Support

Here are 8 easy steps to planning your event. Allow three to six weeks for planning.

1. Form a small group of people to coordinate the drive.
2. Decide on the period of time you will be holding the drive.
3. Choose a theme for your drive (ex: run the drive in connection with a holiday, special event, or corporate initiative).
4. Establish commitment from key players in your group or organization (Ex: management, administrators, teachers, etc.).
5. Set a goal for the amount of items or pounds of goods you will collect. Suggest that each participant bring in one dozen household goods or clothing neatly folded or on hangers.
6. Decide if additional promotional materials will be needed to successfully promote the drive, and contact the Goodwill Marketing & Communications Manager. The materials available for promotion include: brochures, posters, and balloons.
7. Organize the delivery of the donations at the end of the drive by registering your drive with Carolyn Becker, Director of Communications & Community Engagement, via email.
8. It is important that Goodwill is aware of your plans to hold a drive so we can support you along the way. Goodwill will help you by providing publicity for the event when possible, promotional materials and assistance in coordinating the drop-off or pick up of the donations. We will also provide donation receipts as needed.

Let people know what you are doing and how to get involved. Here are some suggestions:

• Schedule a fun kick-off event.
• Display posters and information in key locations throughout the office (ex: copy room, break room, elevator).
• Host a “Spread the Goodwill” information meeting. Take a few minutes in the morning or at the end of a meeting to explain how they can make a difference!
• Include an article about the drive in your company newsletter.
• Send a company wide email.
• Include a flyer in employee paychecks.
• Set up a display or bulletin board in the office or break room to inform coworkers of the project.
• Develop a collection system and create a drop-off location/ box in a central location (ex: lobby).

It is always important to make the event fun for everyone involved. Here are some ideas:

• Encourage friendly competition between departments, classes, and offices.
• Challenge a rival company or school.
• Offer incentives or prizes (ex: stickers, dress-down days, pizza party).
• Organize a fashion show with the donated clothing.
• Assign a point value to different items and have an incentive for the person or team with the most points (ex: jeans – 10 points, shirts – 5 points, shoes – 8 points).

Celebrate the success and announce the results. Here are some simple ways to follow-up and say thank you:

• Give each of the donors a certificate of appreciation to acknowledge their participation.
• Send thank you cards, letters or emails to show your appreciation.
• Send a company-wide email to announce the overall results and acknowledge the participants.
• Include the results of the drive in a follow-up newsletter.
• Throw a party to celebrate the success of the drive.

With Goodwill of Greater Washington, setting up a donation drive is easy and beneficial to your community. Clothing, books, housewares, working electronics, and furniture donations are sold in Goodwill stores, keeping them out of landfills. The money from the sale of your donated items helps Goodwill provide free job training, education, and career services for people and families in your community.

Don’t have all of the information requested? That’s okay! We will set up a call with you after the form is received.

*Donation drive support is contingent on scope and availability. Form submission does not guarantee a commitment.