# Do you donate items for charity



## Gixxerjoe04 (Jan 31, 2014)

Since everyone on here makes stuff, do you get asked by people to donate items for auctions or raffles? Got a random message the other day on etsy asking if I would donate something to some random charity/organization but didn't provide a link or anything about their organization or event. I usually help out with some stuff locally so I didn't respond, just wondering if you all donate stuff to charities or anything.


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## RHolcomb (Mar 23, 2010)

I donate items to local charities that I choose. If asked by someone who I don't know or I don't know anything about their charity, I don't donate. The reason being that I have no idea who they are or if the items are really going where they're intended. At least with local charities, I know where things went and who is enjoying them.


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## mmax (Dec 9, 2008)

I also donate to local charities and only local charities that I am familiar with


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

I donate to almost any LOCAL charity that is reputable. I am of the "pay it forward" school of woodworking.


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## Ghidrah (Jan 20, 2015)

I don't but my wife makes me build things then gives them to a couple local for whatever you call it, raffle auction, benefit thing. Last winter she gave away a bentwood clock and some scroll work.


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## rustfever (May 3, 2009)

Everything I build/make is given away. I am very partial to a couple of special churches and schools. Each of these have some type of activity to benefit a special group/s.

Friends frequently find a special Thank-You gift from me.


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## WoodNSawdust (Mar 7, 2015)

I used to but then the local charity stopped wanting home made items. I never got a meaningful explanation but I suspect it is a liability issue.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

I donate few items a year and give away things to people here and there. It is a selfish act on my part.


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## Bundoman (Jan 18, 2014)

Although I have not donated any items that I have made, I have donated a couple dozen Stanley and Craftsman planes to organizations for fundraising garage sales etc.


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## johnstoneb (Jun 14, 2012)

I have a couple of nonprofits I belong to that I will donate to.


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## upinflames (Jun 24, 2012)

I have twenty or so picture frames hanging in banks in a six county area. High school football, baseball, basketball team pics. Donate those all day long, cheap advertisement.


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## hhhopks (Nov 22, 2011)

My wife does most of the giving.
I usually give stuff to Habitat for Humanity and occasionally buys stuff from them as well.


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## greg48 (Nov 7, 2010)

I find my joy in building, not owning or selling so everything I make (except shop equipment) is for others;; family, friends, church, and school


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

I tried to donate my wife but they wouldst take her. Does that count?


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

I also receive many calls to donate to organizations around the country. It feels that once one of them get your name, they put it on a list for everyone else to solicit you as well. It is amazing that people will ask for donations and have no idea of what kind of work that I do. I only do personalized items and they will ask for that item with no personalization. That is not what I do.

I only give to local organizations that I feel good about and know about.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I am the president of our local woodworkers club whose main activity is making toddlers toys for local children's hospitals and charitable organizations like The Salvation Army and The Ronald McDonald House. We have about six members that make these toys and last year we gave away just over five thousand of them. I personally made nine hundred for this purpose. Mostly little cars, with one inch wheels (we buy the wheels). I make little critters with wheels like turtles, rabbits, whales, and ducks. I also make a lot of toy airplanes.


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## kepy (Mar 5, 2012)

Most of what I do goes to someone that I want to have it. Have donated to AmVets for their fundraiser for the honor flights, church but only locally. Good friends get something to remember me by or to say thank you. Have recently created some items for Relay for Life and have gifted some cancer survivor plaques to people I know. Relay for Life wanted plaques by the 100 but I said I didn't do production work so have offered to sell the guy one of my scroll saws and provide the pattern.


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

I donate a few per year to charities, but only those in which I have a particular interest. I try to keep a few cutting boards on hand so that when they ask it is not a fire drill for me. I've donated other things as well, but it seems that cutting boards are consistently the most popular.


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

I donated a mantle clock to a local hospice organization for a benefit auction one time. They asked me for an estimated value and, not wanting to be boastful, I lowballed the value and expected it would go for more. Well, as it turned out, they posted the values on the items to be bid on and, that's exactly what it sold for. If I would have assigned a more realistic value, the charity would have gotten more and I would have gotten a letter of donation with a higher amount for my taxes. ..So, my advice is, assign a realistic value, if asked.


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