We’re always so grateful when we receive donations for our charity shops – the good quality items we’re donated help us to raise vital funds for the rescue dogs in our care.

Recently, we’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of donations we have received and we cannot thank all of our supporters enough!

To find out more about the type of donations we need and what happens to your donations, read below…

What happens to your donated items?

All items we receive are carefully checked and selected for sale by our team of volunteers in our sorting room at the North Lincolnshire centre. Once stock has been checked to make sure it is fit for purpose and safe to sell it makes its way to our shops in Brigg and Scunthorpe.

Can we sell all of the items donated to us?

As you can imagine, it takes a very long time to sort through all of the donations we receive. This process produces a lot of waste as our team have to dispose of the items we cannot sell.

These include:

• Large electronics (including TVs, computers, etc.)
• Any item not complying with current trading standards
• Roller skates/skateboards
• Child car seats
• Cycle helmets and crash helmets
• Toys and games without a CE mark
• Artificial Christmas trees
• Video players and tapes
• Various electrical kitchen/beauty items (Shavers etc.)
• Electric blankets
• Artificial Christmas items - e.g. Christmas lights/old wreaths and garlands
• Duvets
• Pillows
• Food
• Medical equipment
• Any items not of saleable quality including dirty or broken items

Sadly, it costs us to dispose of non-recyclable and non-saleable items. Please help us by disposing of these items at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre.

What kind of donations do we need?

We accept and sell a wide range of goods including:

• Ladies clothing
• Men’s clothing
• Children’s clothing
• Fashion accessories (including belts, bags, scarfs, hats, jewelry etc.)
• Shoes
• Crockery
• Ornaments
• Games
• DVDs and Blu-rays
• CDs
• Household linens and furnishings
• Paintings
• Books
• Toys with a CE mark

If you have something you would like to donate that is not listed above, then please get in touch with your local shop team and they will be able to let you know if they can accept your donation.

How do you know if your item is worth donating?

The key question to ask yourself is “would someone else want this?”

Broken items, or those missing vital pieces – like jigsaws – will not be sold and will cost the charity to dispose of.

However, all clothing – be it unfashionable, holey or torn – can still be donated as we can send them off to the ragman, who will buy these goods from us. The ragman will then recycle the items or sell them overseas. You can label a bag of donations that are not suitable for sale as ‘for rag’ if you so wish.

Are there any other ways you can help?

Yes – we are always looking for volunteers to help run and manage our charity shops. We have a wide range of positions available from store assistants to drivers, there is something for everyone. And, not all of the roles require you to come to a store or centre, like our eBay lister position.

To find out more visit our ‘Volunteer roles’ page or contact [email protected]