#6 | The Problem with In-Kind Donations

The Problem with In-Kind Donations: Our Love-Hate Relationship

Listen as we barely keep it together discussing all of the outrageous in-kind donations we’ve been given, what to do with them and how to politely say NO.

Episode Highlights

• A Quick Definition: In-kind donations are a gift of goods (physical items) or services that are donated to a nonprofit.
• Why are in-kind donations important to nonprofit organizations?
• The problem with in-kind donations
  • Nonprofits don’t have the storage space for all of them.
  • People giving stuff the organization does not need.
  • People giving stuff that is so used it is not usable.
  • The staff time dealing with it all.
• The importance of having an in-kind donation acceptance process and setting boundaries.
  • Where should people drop stuff off?
  • Create a wishlist and only accept what is on it.
  • Ask for photos and dimensions of items before accepting.
  • Ensure that everyone internally knows the process.
• How do we say no to items we do not need or want without offending someone?

Resources

• More podcast episodes can be found here
• You can download a copy of the episode’s transcript here
• Marie Kondo, the tidying expert and star of the hit TV show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, developed the KonMari method to encourage tidying by category keeping only things that speak to the heart.