Donating Overstock Clothes to Charity

Year after year, fashion changes, and clothes change their style, giving retail clothing storeowners headaches as to where to place the surplus from last year's clothing. Consumers usually get the advantages every time the year ends, because the prices of these clothes are slashed down to unbelievably low prices. Year-end sales happen because mall and store owners need to make room for new items. Mall owners who do not have any space left in their shelves for the old and new products may have to donate the overstock or clearance items to a charitable organization.

Making a donation to charitable organizations will benefit not only your store, but also the less fortunate. It will also help your business by allowing a tax write-off for your business whenever the year ends. But before making any assumptions, it is best to visit your tax advisor first to discuss how this may affect your taxes.

If you think donating is a good idea, it is good to start by researching for organizations that will benefit from your kindness. There are so many organizations out there that are willing to accept any kind of clothing you donate. Remember not to give out the surplus items to just anyone, you need proper research on which organization is the most deserving. You may also want to make sure that the organization is a non-profit so that you may be able to benefit from writing-off your taxes. It is smart to start looking for large national organizations, as they are very easy to locate and will save you plenty of time and effort. But it is wiser to look for small organizations, because these are usually the ones who are in need of the donations. To help you get started, the Internet is usually the best place to start your search. You may also look for organizations in your local telephone directory.

Once you have found the most deserving non-profit organization, obtain their contact information and person-in-charge. This is very important to maintain a communication with them, because you may need to arrange several meetings with the people in charge of the organization. Before giving out your donations, make sure that you have made an itemized list of what you are donating. Include every detail especially the wholesale value and the point-of-contact during the donation. This is essential for documenting your inventory so that your records are always complete. The charity will also benefit from this documentation, as it will serve as a helpful tool for references as they start to incorporate their newly received items into their product supply. Be sure that you have this documentation, because it is one of the requirements for getting a tax write-off. You also need to talk to the person in charge of the organization to discuss any more details. Once you have done all these, you may donate all the surplus items to charity that your store no longer needs.