Where to Donate Craft Supplies for Charity
Sometimes I get rid of fabric.
Shocking, right? Fabric is meant to be hoarded, right? But honestly, though those old pastel celestial prints might be useful for insulating my house or making my fridge run more efficiently, I am so over the stars thing and I am never going to use this stuff.
My local quilt guild takes donations of kid-friendly and soldier-friendly fabrics for various community service projects, but what if you don’t have a guild nearby? And more importantly, is there anything I can do to find a new life for the perfectly good yarn that I often see abandoned in thrift stores and at garage sales?
Here are five organizations that accept donations of craft supplies. Feel free to add more in the comments. I’ve tried to stick to permanent organizations instead of individuals or temporary efforts, and this list contains only organizations where I could confirm they accept donations. (There are hundreds upon hundreds of organizations listed all over the web, and hundreds of websites, but many of them no longer exist.)
- » See also: A Review of the Green Guide for Artists
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If you’re going to donate supplies, please be thoughtful and make sure what you’re donating is appropriate. Someone in our guild once donated vinyl to the baby quilts project… um, ok… thanks, I guess…
The CUREchief Foundation provides scarves to people with cancer, alopecia, and other conditions which may cause hair loss. These CUREchiefs can be worn on the head, or around the neck. They accept donations of cotton, flannel, and polar fleece for their volunteers to use in making CUREchiefs. For their address, see their Volunteer Page.
Care Wear Volunteers has volunteers nationwide who make and donate handmade baby items to hospitals. Founder Bonnie Hagerman sent me this information about what they need:
Care Wear Volunteers appreciates receiving donated yarn, fiberfil, quilt batting, narrow white lace, flannel, broadcloth, and other fabrics suitable for children’s toys, apparel, and blankets/quilts. Donated supplies will be distributed to volunteers who request assistance with their projects that are donated to hospitalized children. Contact: Bonnie Hagerman, Care Wear Volunteers, c/o Hood College, 401 Rosemont Avenue, Frederick, MD 21701
Members of the Charity Craft Volunteer Network in Central Texas craft to help infants, children, breast cancer patients, elders with Alzheimer’s, patients in hospice, and others. They can use fabric, yarn, fiberfill, batting, and thread. You can see the types of items they make. Their Donate Page has the address.
Newborns In Need focuses on helping needy families clothe their babies and keep them warm by providing clothing and blankets to families taking their infants home from the hospital. Appropriate donations of fabric, sewing notions, and patterns are welcome. Donations may be sent to Newborns in Need National Office, 3323 Transou Road, Pfafftown, NC 27040.
You can contact the local chapter coordinator for the Project Linus nearest you to find out whether they need fabric for making kids’ blankets. “Materials must be new, unused and free of contaminants such as mold, mildew and smoke. They should be cotton or cotton/poly blends.”
The Preemie Project has chapters in Iowa and Michigan that make items for the NICU, PICU, and infant bereavement programs. Their Donate Page is up to date with needed supplies, including flannel, fleece, thread, ribbon, and lace.
[Photo by Dominic Morel.]
You can also check with your local elementary school. I’m a teacher and I am always in need of yarn for our various weaving projects. Often scouts or your local day care center (school age care especially) can use these materials.
There is a lady in my home town who makes quilts for kids at the nearby Shriner’s Hospital. She takes fabric donations and I intend to give her some fabric that I have held onto. I am cleaning out and getting rid of things before I move. I don’t know her name, but I know where she lives and it will give me pleasure to know that my fabric will be used for a worthwhile purpose.
Elgin’s Angels is a Texas non-profit agency that makes/collects handmade stockings as well as stocking stuffers from the local communities. They fill the stockings with an assortment of items to give to the local Austin-area agencies who provide services for abandoned, abused or underpriviledged children.
Examples of craft items needed: Fabric, yarn, fiberfill, batting, ribbon, embellishments, buttons, small toys, beads, hot glue, etc.
Addendum to previous comment.
Please see our website for more details and contact information: http://www.ElginsAngels.org
We accept donations of craft items as well. We are a group of folks that enjoy crafting for others. Many of us have disabilities and are on limited incomes so every donations is a great blessing to us. We provide items to those in need from preemies to senior citizens as well as shelter animals.
I work with young adults with developmental disabilities in Chicago. We incorporate music and art activities almost everyday. We would love any donations of old musical instruments and arts and crafts supplies and even books with project ideas.
We can use fabric, crayons, paper, glue, markers, yarn, buttons, paint, construction paper, tissue paper, or just about any other items that can be used for projects.
Hi there,
I am an acupuncturist and in our profession we have packaging that could easily be recycled for a craft project.
All of our needles come packaged with “little plastic tubes” that act as a sheath to the needle. Once we use the needle, it is essentially trash. To my knowledge, no one has figured out a way to dispose of them or recycle them. I began saving them last summer to donate to a local craft group but then the group dissolved.
I can send you pictures if you are interested. My goal is to set up a blog or link on my site where acupuncturists can connect with organizations that may be interested in them as a craft supply.
Thanks so much!! Love your site!