Reuse and resale
Check whether a donation service accepts your items
A charity's mission says little about what it takes at the door. Read the recipient's own acceptance rules, compare them item by item, and write down what the page leaves open. Ask those questions before you pack or travel.
A text to start with
I want to donate these items: [list with brief condition notes]. The recipient is [organization name]. Its published acceptance page is [pasted text]. Match each item to a listed category and mark it as listed as accepted, listed as refused, or not addressed. Quote the line that supports each mark. Then list the questions I should ask the organization. Do not guess about items the page does not mention.
Example request. Change the details to fit your situation.Donation acceptance worksheet
Recipient: [ ] Page or document checked: [ ] Date the rules were read: [ ] Item: [ ] Condition as observed: [ ] Accepted category named by recipient: [ ] Status: [accepted / refused / not addressed] Exact line supporting the status: [ ] Official source: [ ] Question to ask the recipient: [ ] Answer received and date: [ ] Recall search done for items needing one: [date and where / not needed] Repeat the item block as needed.
Where acceptance gets assumed
The usual error is reading a general mission, such as helping families, as permission to bring anything related. Acceptance rules are narrower and can change. Check that each mark points to a quoted line and that the page date or version is noted. Watch for condition limits, size limits, and categories that sound close but differ, such as small appliances versus electronics. Children's products and electrical goods may carry extra limits. CPSC directs resellers to check recalled and unsafe products and notes that absence from a recall search does not establish safety, so a clean search does not replace the recipient's own rule.
Ask another agent to check the result
Check each acceptance mark against its quoted line. Flag any item marked accepted because of the organization's general mission instead of a listed category. Flag rules with no date or that may be out of date. List the items the page does not address, and any item whose condition conflicts with a stated limit.
Ask the open questions
Send the open questions through the organization's published contact method and keep its reply with the item list. Set aside items marked refused and decide separately what to do with them. Before any item goes out, check it against the recipient's condition rules and the CPSC recall pages. Update the worksheet as answers arrive.