Goodwill happily accepts the following new or gently used items:
- Vehicles —We accept donations of vehicles in all conditions. ...
- Clothing, shoes and boots
- Jewelry
- Hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves
- Books, records, CDs, videotapes, and DVDs
- Games, toys, and sports equipment
- Housewares: dishes, glassware, kitchen utensils, lamps, and small appliances
- Collectibles, antiques, knickknacks, and other giftware
Full Answer
What items does goodwill not accept?
Goodwill greatly appreciates every donation. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept the following items due to safety, legal or environmental concerns: Used mattresses, box springs, water beds, and sofa sleepers. Upholstered furniture (couches, mostly upholstered dining chairs, etc) Automobile parts of any kind (including tires and car batteries)
Do you get paid for giving clothes to Goodwill?
Do you get paid if you donate to Goodwill? You may not get any cash for dropping off your clothes at the local Goodwill/Salvation Army, but your donations can be used as deductions come tax season, which can save you some dough and possibly get you a larger tax return.
What items does goodwill accept as donations?
Here are a few examples of electronic and media items accepted by Goodwill:
- Desktop computer
- microwave
- lamps
- video games/DVDs/CDs
- Books
Do you get money for donating clothes to Goodwill?
The answer to that question is no.The Goodwill will not pay for the clothes you give to the Goodwill. You mentioned the word give in your question and so when you give something away it's considered free. The Goodwill is a nonprofit organization.The Goodwill is based on getting free Donations to help people in need. Thanks for the question.

Should I wash clothes from Goodwill?
Most secondhand stores don't wash the clothes before selling them. Donations are typically washed before they're donated, but we still recommend giving them a good cleaning when you get home. Even if the clothes are washed before they hit the thrift store floor, people will have since touched them.
Does goodwill take pillows Texas?
Due to stringent government regulations and environmental and safety considerations, Goodwill cannot accept the following items: Paint, cleaning supplies, or other hazardous materials. Mattresses, box springs, bed pillows, and water bed components.
Is Goodwill taking donations Texas?
Residential, commercial, and all group bulk pick-ups have been temporarily suspended. However, you may donate curbside through our Clothing & Housewares Curbside Collection program. Our loyal donors are the heartbeat of Goodwill and it is with a grateful heart that we accept each donation.
Can you deduct gently used items?
The IRS allows you to deduct fair market value for gently-used items. If you’re not sure what your donation might be worth, there’s a helpful guide here.
Can Goodwill employees refuse donations?
Goodwill employees may decline a donation if it is not in clean or in saleable condition or if they are unable to assist with larger items due to risk of injury. Our employees often help unload donations, however cannot help if (in their judgement) doing so may damage any vehicle, or if doing so is unsafe for them or anyone else.
Is Goodwill donation tax deductible?
Donations should be clean, safe and resaleable. Your donations to Goodwill are tax deductible. You can find all donation sites here. We are unable to do home pick-ups. To find a list of items we cannot accept, please scroll to the next section.
How long does Goodwill keep clothing?
If an item doesn’t sell within four weeks, it’s sent onward in the process.
How many Goodwill stores are there?
Goodwill operates more than 3,200 individual stores, Kyle Stewart, director of donated goods retail, told HuffPost. When you donate a bag of clothing at a store, workers most likely parse through it to determine what can be sold and what can’t: Wet or mildew-y clothes are eliminated, but everything else is fair game. Advertisement.
How to prevent clothes waste?
Of course, the easiest way to prevent clothing waste is to avoid buying clothes you don’t need. Keep a clean closet, and a cleaner planet will be waiting for you later.
What percentage of donated clothes are cut into rags?
Beyond that, 30 percent of donated clothes at S.M.A.R.T. get cut into rags for industrial use, and 20 percent is processed into a soft fiber filling for furniture, home insulation, car sound-proofing and more.
Can donated clothing be resold?
Not quite. In reality, donated clothing often takes a much longer journey before meeting its ultimate fate. In the end, it may get re-sold. But it also may end up in the trash, joining the approximately 12.8 million tons of American textile waste that was sent to landfills during 2013. And that benefits no one.
Can clothes be recycled?
According to Walsh, nearly 95 percent of all clothing waste could be reused and recycled. We just aren’t disposing of it properly. For starters, you should never, ever throw your clothes in the garbage, Medellin says. Instead, take them to a Goodwill or other donation center.
Does Goodwill donate clothes?
As you’re probably starting to realize, it takes a ton of effort to guide your clothes from the Goodwill donation bin to their final resting place. Knowing how Goodwill works can help you make smarter decisions when deciding if another jeans purchase is really worth it for you, for the donations staff and for the environment.
Does Goodwill Take Underwear, Bras, and Socks?
Goodwill won’t take bras, underwear, or socks, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw them away! (Foto: CC0 / Pixabay / StockSnap)
Other Items You Can Donate to Goodwill
You can also donate your hand tools to Goodwill. (Foto: CC0 / Pixabay / picjumbo_com)
What happens if you sell clothes through a thrift store?
If they sold them through their thrift store, someone who needed those clothes and couldn´t (or didn´t want to buy similar new and more expensive clothes) will have purchased them. So not only does the charity raise funds, but someone gets access to affordable cloth
How to sell used clothing?
If you want to sell used clothing, go to a consignment shop. Find out from them how they have their sales set up. Some will buy your items outright, others will have them for sale, and after a period of time, either you get a percentage of the sales for the ones that sold, and you take back the items that didn’t sell.
Is Goodwill a non profit?
There are a few chains now that buy premium used clothing and handbags for resale while Goodwill Industries runs on donations. Goodwill is a for-profit company, essential ly a retailer with no cost of goods sold. Religious charity stores like the Catholic St. Vincent de Paul and the evangelical Salvation Army Thrift Stores as well as many local charities do the same thing as Goodwill but are non-profits and routinely give items out of inventory to the poorest clients. Goodwill is just a convenient way to get rid of surplus stuff or what’s left after a death.
Does Goodwill give you a receipt?
Personally, I donate to Goodwill frequently. It is convenient, the staff is friendly and helpful, and you get a receipt for taxes. I visited there over a dozen times this summer while decluttering my house.
Is Goodwill donated?
but yeah, most of what’s at a Goodwill is donated stuff.
Does Goodwill take puzzles?
They try to donate board games and puzzles, with all the parts taped up inside. Goodwill will not take them because they don’t have the time to check each one before putting it on the shelves. The other one is really kind of crazy.
Is Goodwill stealing donations?
From the POV of someone who works at Goodwill - yes, it is stealing, but there shouldn't be stuff piling up outside the store in the first place. Donations are supposed to be taken inside the store, either through the drive through donation bay, by store employees in the main shopping area, or in closed bins outside the building. If there is stuff just laying around, piled up against the wall, that's dumping, and that's also illegal. It should be cleaned up right away by the store employees. So if there is a pile of donations outside the store at all, that's a bigger problem then somebody taki
What is a broken item at Goodwill?
Pack breakable items with care. For Goodwill, broken items are just more items of garbage that they must deal with.
What happens when used clothes are sent abroad?
When our used clothes get sent abroad, their sales compete with other local merchants and textile industries in the area. This competition can put financial pressure on those who may already be struggling to make a profit.
What happens when clothes break down?
While the clothes will break down eventually, their disintegration eventually leads to “…a poisonous clothing soup which spews toxins into the environment as the fibres break down.”
Where do second hand clothes end up?
According to data from the United Nations Comtrade Database (posted by the BBC), the U.S. exports $687 million of used clothing to other countries and more than $100 million of those frocks end up in Canada. However, the Global South may see the majority of the pile of our unwanted clothes. Figures from the U.N. database show that more than $300 million worth of secondhand clothing heads to countries including Chile, Guatemala, India, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Tanzania, Honduras, Angola and the Dominican Republic. An additional $275 million ends up elsewhere.
Can Goodwill items be reused?
Goodwill and other charities want items that can be resold and reused. However, we can all do our part to make the worker’s jobs a bit easier and ensure that clean and useful items end up on the floor of these stores. Keep these tips in mind when making your donation piles:
Which African country banned second hand clothing?
The African country of Rwanda took action in 2018 to protect its own textile industry from being decimated by the import of secondhand clothing from other countries by becoming the first country in East Africa to ban the import of secondhand clothing.
Does Goodwill recycle clothes?
Goodwill explains that when textile items don’t sell at the outlet, they are recycled and given another life in some form. The nonprofit’s website details that they have seen that “textile recyclers divert about 2.5 billion pounds of used clothes from landfills.” However, for those items that don’t get diverted, they get tossed into trash bins. Ultimately, this becomes a problem for not only the environment, but for Goodwill as well, as their trash bill increases.