If you have decided to downsize and find that expensive designer handbag you bought years ago stuck in the back of your closet, it may be time to get rid of it.
You could sell it to a fellow handbag enthusiast or donate it to a worthy cause. There are advantages to donating your designer handbag, other than knowing you are helping others.
Donating that designer handbag means you are eligible for a tax deduction for the value of your item if you qualify under IRS rules. You will also make space in your closet for other items that you may have more use for or just enjoy the open space.
You also can make a big difference with your donation, offering a nonprofit support to pursue a worthy cause and giving someone else a chance to enjoy that beautiful handbag.
There are a number of groups and places where you can donate your designer handbags. Here are a few of them.
Kars4Kids
This charity is a nonprofit Jewish organization that is best known for seeking donations of cars and boats to raise money for its children’s programs. Kars4Kids programs include educational services, youth mentorship and development, community and family outreach and cultural events.
Kars4Kids, a recognized 501c3 charity, sells items that are donated to fund their programs. You can donate your designer handbags to help the nonprofit make a difference in a child’s life.
Goodwill
Perhaps one of the best known nonprofits that receives donations, Goodwill is a leading workforce provider of job training and placement services throughout North America. For more than 120 years, Goodwill has empowered individuals with the skills and job support services they need to thrive.
Goodwill not only sells clothing and household items that are donated to raise money for its programs, but it also has helped tens of thousands of people each year get back to work. You can donate your designer handbag as one of those items that Goodwill can sell to help fund its job training and other programs.
Savers
Unlike Goodwill and Kars4Kids, Savers is not a nonprofit. It is a private thrift store chain that partners with local nonprofits in communities to support their causes. Savers accepts donations of clothing and household items on behalf of local nonprofits, paying them for the items and helping fund programs in the community.
You can check for Savers in your area to determine what nonprofits and causes they have partnered with to find out if you want to support them. Savers will accept your designer handback donation and sell it to support those local causes.
Big Brother Big Sister
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a recognized 501c3 nonprofit that focuses on providing mentors to disadvantaged youth. The group matches adult volunteers with children from age 5 to young adulthood to serve as mentors who can help support the children.
Big Brother Big Sister Foundation turns your donations into cash and then uses all of the proceeds for the programs designed to mentor underprivileged kids. You can donate your designer handbag to Big Brother Big Sister to help support their programs, and even schedule a pickup of your item at your front door.
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army, an international nonprofit with an emphasis on Christian ministry, provides food and housing assistance for the homeless and needy.
The Salvation Army is active in virtually every corner of the world and serves 131 countries with a wide range of programs geared toward rehabilitating and supporting people and families in need.
The Salvation Army collects donations, including designer handbags, that can be used to help people the group serves and to pay for programs provided in local communities.
Women’s Federation for World Peace
The Women’s Federation for World Peace developed The Purse Project: Women Helping Women as an initiative to help people in need. The organization collects gently used designer handbags filled with essential items to give to the people they serve.
The project was initiated in January 2016 as a way to help homeless women with the resources they for work and housing.
While a beautiful designer handbag may be considered a luxury accessory for many women, to women who are homeless or otherwise in need the handbag can be empowering for women who are homeless and unemployed.
The donated handbag can offer a needed boost in confidence to a disadvantaged woman on a job interview.
One Purse
One Purse is a nonprofit organization that focuses on empowering survivors of sex trafficking to build healthy and sustainable lives.
The organization collects used designer handbags to sell as a way to support its programs and to provide to women who have survived sex trafficking. Through the collection and resale of designer handbags, One Purse is able to raise money for programs that provide employment, mentorship and scholarships.
One Purse promotes donating the high-end designer handbags that you no longer use to its cause instead of dropping them off at thrift stores. Your gently-used designer bag can find a new home while benefiting survivors of sex trafficking.
Dress for Success
Dress for Success is a global nonprofit organization that offers low-income women the professional attire they need to support their job-search and interview process.
The organization operates in communities all over the world and can help start new programs in communities where it is not located.
The donations of designer handbags help women pursue employment opportunities as part of its effort to provide career support for the needy. The organization can also use the donations to fund other programs provided by the organization.
Becca’s Closet
Becca’s Closet is a nonprofit created in the memory of a teen killed in an automobile accident to help young disadvantaged women find formal dress.
The group operates all over the United States, now offering young women opportunities to find dresses and other accessories like designer handbags needed to pursue employment and for other purposes.
