Bargain-hunters and rarity collectors love going to Salvation Army shops because there’s a decent chance that someone has unwittingly donated a valuable dress, pair of boots, books, toys, or record collection. What they don’t expect to find are the cremated remains of another human being. [More]
donations
Aid For Residents Of Puerto Rico Remains Unloaded At Docks
By 9.28.17
As residents of Puerto Rico continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, much of the needed aid sent to the island has yet to make it into their hands. Instead, cargo container after cargo container — holding things like meals, first aid materials, and other items — remain at port because the system in place to move the goods has been equally devastated by the storm. [More]
How To Donate To Disaster Relief Operations In Puerto Rico
By 9.25.17
Millions of Americans in Puerto Rico are without power, water, or homes in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Some of us who want to help with the effort to provide for these victims and to rebuild their lives may be overwhelmed by trying to figure out the best way to do so, and how to not get taken in by scams. [More]
Goodwill Returns $97,000 To Couple Who Accidentally Donated It
By 6.20.17
Do you bother to ask for a receipt when you donate your old stuff to Goodwill? If not, you might start after reading what happened to a couple after they donated some clothes. [More]
Former Bank Of America VP Accused Of Making $2.7M In Bogus Donations
By 5.22.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
A former Bank of America executive, along with her husband and another person, have been accused of bank fraud for their alleged involvement in an embezzlement scheme that involved making millions of dollars of fake donations in the bank’s name. [More]
Goodwill Has A Use For That Pile Of Amazon Boxes In Your Garage
By 12.21.16 — Updated: 12.22.16
If you’ve been shopping online a lot this holiday season or just in general, you probably have a lot of cardboard boxes in your house that you don’t need. You could break them down and recycle them, or you could fill them with crap around the house that you don’t need and make someone else recycle them. [More]
Patagonia Will Donate All Black Friday Sales To Charity
By 11.21.16
Outdoor outfitter REI is staying closed on Black Friday and encouraging customers and employees alike to spend the day enjoying the outdoors. Well, Patagonia, a company that has its own outdoorsy retail stores in addition to supplying REI, decided to do something different to work against commercialization of a shopping holiday: the company plans to donate all of its Black Friday sales to environmental charities. [More]
Apple Pay Will Now Let Users Donate To Charitable Organizations
By 11.14.16
As we head into the holidays, giving to charitable organizations might be something you’re thinking about. You’ll have another option for how you can do that, with Apple announcing today that Apple Pay now supports donations to non-profits. [More]
Americans Give More Than $1B To Charity Every Day
By 6.14.16
Usually, the stories we come across that deal with large amounts of money often detail the exchange of millions or billions of dollars between huge companies in mega-mergers and pricy business deals. But there are others shelling out cash every day, and they’re giving it to charitable organizations to the record-breaking tune of $1 billion per day. [More]
Starbucks Announces Plans To Donate All Edible Unsold Food
By 3.22.16
In the last few years, Starbucks has significantly expanded its repertoire of breakfast and lunch foods other than pastries. What it hasn’t been able to do is figure out a consistent way to donate all of those salads and sandwiches so that they don’t go to waste. Founder and CEO Howard Schultz announced today in an interview that this is going to change. [More]
If You’ve Received The Gift Of New Gadgets, Recycle The Old Ones Or Pass Them On
By 12.31.15
Many of you are now enjoying new gadgets, whether it’s from a winter holiday present or post-holiday clearance sale self-gifting. If your new item replaced an old one, don’t throw the old one in a drawer: consider recycling it or passing it on to an organization that re-uses technology. Yep, there really is someone out there interested in your old game console and conference swag flash drives. [More]
California Car Donation Charities Misrepresented Charitable Programs, Misdirected Donations
By 12.1.15
From time to time you may hear of a charity that accepts the donation of older, used vehicles that owners simply no longer have use for, promising to donate the profit of the future sale to a charitable program. While it might seem like a fairly straightforward operation, the state of California claims two such groups weren’t keeping their promises, instead using the funds to pay for their own expenses. [More]
Anonymous Donors Leave $500,000 Check In Minnesota Salvation Army Kettle
By 11.30.15
Anonymous donors in Minnesota’s Twin Cities were certainly in the giving mood over the weekend, slipping a $500,000 check into a Salvation Army kettle. Unsurprisingly, it’s snagged the record for the area’s biggest kettle donation to date. [More]
Kentucky City Allowing Motorists To Pay Parking Tickets With Canned Food For A Month
By 11.13.15
Residents of Lexington, KY now have another option along with searching through their couch cushions to come up with payment for parking tickets: the city will allow motorists to pay for their citations with canned goods throughout the month of November. [More]
Group Must Pay $700K Penalty For Allegedly Profiting From ‘Charity’ Donation Bins
By 10.29.15
How do you turn a charitable donation into a scam? Take the donated item and sell it for a profit, instead of giving it to the needy. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office has reached a settlement with a for-profit company accused of doing just that, by way of more than 1,100 clothing donation bins scattered throughout the New York City area. [More]
Report: “Wheels For Wishes” Charity Misled Donors About Make-A-Wish Donations
By 10.14.15
Car Donation Foundation, more popularly known as “Wheels for Wishes,” is the nation’s largest auto donation charity. Every year, it takes in millions of dollars from donated cars for the supposed purpose of benefiting local chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson says the charity has been misleading donors about its connections to Make-A-Wish and about how much money that organization was getting from the donated vehicles. [More]
Surprise, Surprise: Comments In Favor Of Comcast/TWC Merger Come From Groups Comcast Has Donated To
By 4.6.15
Large companies do a lot of philanthropic and community giving. Comcast is not alone on that front: volunteerism, grants, donations, and employee matching are common, perhaps even standard, at many of America’s biggest businesses. But where Comcast differs is that they, very publicly, turn their valuable giving into an unpaid army of on-demand lobbyists whenever they have a company to buy. Like Time Warner Cable. [More]
Please Do Not Donate Your Cremated Loved Ones To Goodwill
By 12.16.14
After someone dies, it’s normal to box up all of their stuff and take it to the nearest thrift store. However, it’s probably a good idea to give some of that stuff a cursory check first. Not just because you might be inadvertently giving away some serious valuables, but because the earthly remains of your relatives have a poor resale value at Goodwill. [More]
