Where Can I Donate Stuffed Animals in 2023?
Some old stuffed animals can't be thrown away for some reason, yet you don't want them anymore. A way to deal with these stuffed animals is to donate these old pals to someone who really needs them to maximize their value. You may ask, "Where can I donate my stuffed animals?" there are many places where you can donate stuffed animals. Some may accept used toys, while others may only take new ones. Some of them may pick up your donations of stuffed animals from your home, while others may require you to drop them off at a specific location. In this article, we will introduce you to 10 different ways to donate stuffed animals and answer some frequently asked questions about toy donations.
10 best ways to donate stuffed animals
If you don't know where to donate your stuffed animals, you can reference the list of programs or places where you can donate the stuffed animal you no longer need.
Project Night Night
Project Night Night is an organization that sends Night Night Packages to homeless children, providing them with new security blankets, age-appropriate books, and stuffed animals. The goal is to bring sweet dreams to these children in need. However, they have strict standards for donated stuffed animals. They only accept brand-new stuffed animals that are smaller than 20 inches. While this may seem unreasonable to some, it is necessary for hygiene and contamination purposes. While some people who buy a stuffed animal may want to donate it, providing the best stuffed animals for these children's safety and well-being is crucial.
It's important to note that Project Night Night does not offer a pickup service for donations. Additionally, the only drop-off locations are in Michigan and California. Kindly adhere to the delivery instructions provided. It's worth mentioning that the stuffed animals must be accompanied by their original hang tags or price tags.
Mom it Forward
Loving Hugs is a non-profit campaign run by Mom It Forward. Its mission is to provide new or slightly used stuffed animals to children in war zones and refugee camps who need comfort and support. The organization works closely with the U.S. Navy and other non-profit organizations deliver help to children with pain and mental illnesses worldwide.
Loving Hugs accepts stuffed animals in new or gently used conditions, making it easy for anyone to donate. If you have a new or slightly used stuffed animal that your child no longer uses, you can send it to Loving Hugs to help a needy child. To learn how to donate, visit their official website.
Beanies for Baghdad
Beanies for Baghdad is a program where our soldiers have asked for items to give to the children of Iraq and Afghanistan. These children live in extreme poverty, and many have never seen a toy or anything else good. Besides that, the service includes pickup services all over the country. The pickup service is exciting—beanies for Baghdad recruits young teenagers to drive in their free time to fetch donated items.
Tips:After donating your old stuffed animal, you can also buy a new one by coming here and checking out our recommendations for the best stuffed animals!
Toys for Tots
The Marine Toys for Tots Program aims to collect new or unwrapped toys and distribute those to kids and children in need at Christmas. It is an IRS-recognized non-profit charity organization started in 1991. Last year, in 2022, Toys for Tots delivered an unprecedented 24.4 million toys, books, and games to 9.9 million needy children. Besides several different kinds of fundraising, there are two ways to donate stuffed animals. You can either donate by mailing or donate through a virtual toy box. If you want to donate by mailing, you can print out Toys for Tots' mailing address at their official website. If you have a new or unwrapped stuffed animal, you may want a refund and buy one you chose on the Toys for Tots wishlist.
Churches
Some churches with church schools inside usually have heavy financial burdens, so they always adopt donations, including cash, stuffed animals, groceries, etc. You may reach out to a local church and ask if they need extra stuffed animals. There are two things you must pay attention to, though. First of all, stuffed animals must be cleaned up. Secondly, since you're donating to the church, you have to make sure that the appearance of the stuffed animal accords with the church's creed and belief; otherwise, it would be offensive to send the gift.
Libraries
If you find all the programs and projects too complicated, you can clean up your stuffed animals, put them in baskets, and then drive to local libraries. There are usually areas where you can donate those stuffed animals directly. There are few restrictions on stuffed animals for libraries, but different regions might have additional rules, so remember to check out the rules of your local libraries.
Tips:If you don't want to keep your old stuffed animals and don't want to donate them, are there any methods to deal with them? Of course! You can click to learn more about how to deal with old stuffed animals.
Foster Care Agencies
Compared with other donation methods, foster care agencies might be the best places for used stuffed animals. Those agencies adopt many foster children and orphans every year, and they have a very abundant demand for stuffed animals because stuffed animals are consumables in foster care houses. There are a few restrictions on what you can send, but you must remember to send clean stuffed animals. Meanwhile, tag the appropriate age on each stuffed animal you send since there are children of many different ages. That will help the staff better categorize the stuffed animals and distribute those toys to corresponding age groups.
Social Services
Social services are very similar to foster care agencies, sometimes correlating significantly. Unlike foster care houses, social services usually provide mental or family assessments with an agent. Sometimes, they send someone to pick things up for donation. It would help if you prepared things suitable for kids and tidied them up. Also, contact your local social service center to let someone pick up your stuffed animals!
Women's Shelters
Women's Shelter is also somewhere you can consider sending your gifts. Women's shelters are built for women to stay temporarily away from specific potential physical damage like a husband abuser, drug addict, family members, etc. Until the court verdict, the parole regulations. Most of the time, they bring their young children with them to make sure they are all away from danger. Since they won't stay long term, they won't have a lot of luggage with them. As a result, many donations are made to them for transitions. You may bring your cleaned stuffed animals and drive to the local women's Shelter. You can let those kids pick up what they want directly.
Kindergarten
Yes, some public kindergartens have shrinking budgets yet have a relatively high demand for preschool props. You can contact some local educational institutions, bring your stuffed animals to the school, and let teachers select the ones suitable for underaged kids to play and maybe somewhat educational.
Summary
There are many ways to deal with your old stuffed animals; you don't necessarily have to toss them away. You can carry on their values by giving them to people in need. They will keep giving comfort, warmth, and companionship to those people. Also, if you want to buy new stuffed animals for donation or yourself, come to PlushThis for the best stuffed animals in the market!
FAQs
How do I clean my stuffed animals before donating them?
Based on whether it can be machine washed or not, if it is machine washable, then throw it into the washing machine and clean it. If it's hand wash only, you should get soap and clean it up with water carefully. If you want to know more about how to wash stuffed animals, click the link to learn more.
How do I pack my stuffed animals for donation?
For packing stuffed animals, you should wrap up the stuffed animals in acid-free paper to protect the stuffed animals' fabric from exterior damage. Then, it would help if you put the stuffed animal into a dry box with cushions as buffer zones.
How do I get a tax receipt for my toy donation?
First, if you want a tax receipt, you should find an IRS-recognized organization, which means the government will monitor the whole donation process, which will be transparent. According to different organizations, the way of getting receipts varies, so you should contact customer service for the next step.