We try to make donating clothes the The Clothes Exchange convenient and easy, so well-dressed women can't find an excuse for not donating. Our Community Collections are held a easily accessible, well-know public venues like 1 Main Street in Burlington or the Shelburne Town Hall, where people can easily swing by and drop-off. Community Collections are broadly promoted and are the venues where we collect most of our gently used merchandise. If you're thinking about hosting a Community Collection, here are some tips to help you get great clothes.

Where to Collect
If you are hosting a Community Collection, you'll want to pick a centrally located, easily accessible well-known location. Please contact us to discuss options.

When to Collect
Community Collections can happen any time. We suggest hosting your collection in March or April, preferably after the Bring Back Promotion in mid March. Pick dates and times that are convienent for potential donors. Collections can happen on week-ends and weekdays. Although there is not magic number, we think three hours is a good amount of time to collect. Consider a Sunday morning form 10 - 1 or a weekday evening form 5- 7.

What to Collect
Click here  for a full list of what we want and don't want. Remember, unless a donation clearly does not fall within the criteria of items we want, (ie. men's or children's clothing)  we take them. Even if you have a feeling that the contents of a bag won't make our cut, please happily accept the donation.

Promoting your Collection Efforts
Once your collection dates are set, be sure to let us know so we can help you promote the collection. We have designed posters and fliers for promoting clothes collection efforts. Hang and distribute marketing materials in places where you think people will have the kind of clothes we want.

We don't generally advertise our collections in newspapers, because we have found that the audience is not targeted enough. In otherwords broadly promoted collections will get quantity, but not necessarily quality donations.

When promoting your collection (via email, on The Front Proch Forum, in your school newsletter etc.), be sure to stress our interest in high, quality, gently worn, in perfect condition women's clothing and accessories.

We will use our Facebook and Twitter accounts and website to let people know about your collection, so be sure to let us know your plan.

We generally advise that promotion begins about 3 - 4 weeks prior to your collection.

Staff Appropriately
You'll want at least three people to staff your Community Collection. This way someone is always available to greet and interact with donors, help people unload their cars and collect and sort clothes. We aim to provide excellent customer service at all our collection sites so be sure to have enough volunteers on hand to provide outstanding service.

If you plan to sort on site, you'll want more volunteers, so some can sort and others can interact with donors. Also, remember to ask your volutneers to show up before the collection time starts to make sure the site is set-up and ready to receive donors and donations.

Collect Clothes +
While the primary goal of the Community Collection is to collect merchandise, these events also provide an opportunity to:

• Introduce donors to the beneficiary organization
  
• Promote the Clothes Exchange event
  
• Sell raffle tickets
• Sell Shop First! tickets
• Collect donor contact information
  
• Recruit new volunteers

Be Organized and Professional
A well-organized Community Collection will increase your efficiency and provide donors a pleasant experience. We suggest that you set up areas to:

• greet donors
• collect their information and accept donations
• sort donations (if you choose to sort)  and
• price donations (only if you are pricing*).
• You'll also want to set up an area where donors can pick-up literature about The Clothes Exchange and our beneficiary and purchase event and raffle tickets
  

Provide volunteers with Clothes Exchange t-shirts so your team looks great and donors know who to approach with questions.

Sorting
If it's not condusive to sort at the site where you collect, or if you do not have skilled sorters on your volunteer team, simply bag / box up the items you collect and contact The Clothes Exchange to make arrangements to bring your merchandise to our storage area.

If you do sort on site, the sorting area should be out of the flow of traffic and not easily accessed by your donors. Be sure not to sort donations where donors can see or hear what does and does not make the cut.

Distribution
If you have skilled sorters on-hand and it works for you to sort at your collection site, please be sure to follow our sorting and distribution plan which lays out what we want and where we plan to donate garments that we don't want.

In addition to the items we want to keep, our DO NOT KEEP merchandise should be sorted into the following categories: 

• Dresses, prom, cocktail, formal
  
• Business / interview attire
• Outterwear - coats etc.
• Teen casual - jeans
• Men's (yes, we always get some mens stuff)
• General - all the other stuff
  

After your collection is over, contact inf@theclothesexchange.org for help distributing.

* Pricers are volunteers who set the prices for garments. These folks should have an eye for fashion, an understanding of retail and be able to tell the difference between a skirt from Neiman Marcus and one from Target. If you are interested in joining our team of pricers, let us know.

Checklist of things to have with you when hosting a Community Collection.

• Receipts
• Raffle Tickets
• Raffle posters
  
• Early Shopping Tickets
• Petty cash
• Sign-in sheet or lap top to record donor contact info
• Material (brochures) to promote our beneficiary
• Clean Closet, Good Karma stickers
• Clothes Exchange tote bags (for decoration or to sell)
• Tape, Scissors, clothes line and clothes pins
• Coat racks if you can hang and sort on site and transport racks to storage with ease
• Table and chairs
• Sturdy garbage bags (preferably clear)
• Boxes and bins to sort in
• Permanent markers
• Clip boards
  
• Event posters and fliers
• Thank you gift for donor (this could be chocolate, a coupon form one of our sponsors)
• The Clothes Exchange's clothes distribution plan, outlining our sorting categories and distribution points
• Water / food for volunteers
• Gifts for donors (optional)

A box of these materials is available to volunteers. Contact is at info@theclothesexchange.org to make arrangements to pick up your supplies.

To my well dressed friends-

I hope you've had a great winter and are looking forward to warmer days.

I'm writing to help spread the word about The Clean Closet, Good Karma™ clothes drive in Williston on April 10th at The Farmers Market.

Please bring your gently worn, stylish clothing to the Farmers Market in the Williston Central School cafeteria between 10 am - 12 pm and help support The Burlington Clothes Exchange and their 2010 Beneficiary, King Street Center. King Street Center is a nonprofit providing essential services and support to Burlington children, youth and families.

Clothes Exchange volunteers will be there to collect your fabulous clothes and accessories that you just never wear, but you know someone else will love.  No shoes please!

By donating your clothes, you help to make a difference to women and families in our community and do your part to recycle and help spare the landfills of perfectly good clothing.

Please limit your donations to 10 fabulous items. For a full list of what they want and don’t want, visit http://www.theclothesexchange.org/faqs/

If you have any questions, please contact info@theclothesexchange.org

On behalf of The Clothes Exchange and King Street Center, thanks for your support.