Many of your questions can be quickly answered by visiting the Hold a Coat Drive menu and the Online Guide. Some of the most common questions/requests are answered below. If your question/request is not answered in the FAQ section, please visit the Contact Us page.
Coat Drive Ambassador Frequently Asked Questions
All coat drives will display on the Donate Coats map, unless the Ambassador chooses not to display the drive publicly during the registration process.
If you have already registered and would like your coat drive removed from the Donate Coats map, please email us for assistance.
One Warm Coat does not provide collection boxes. We encourage you to be creative and reduce/reuse/recycle old boxes, clean garbage cans – a container of any kind will work! Putting a collection bin together is super easy – we’ve provided step-by-step instructions for our registered Ambassadors.
One Warm Coat drives accept most types of outerwear: coats, sweaters, jackets, sweatshirts, scarves, hats and gloves.
There is a button on the left side of your personal coat drive page that says “Report My Coat Totals”. Click that button to report your totals at any time during your coat drive. That report tallies your total, so you can report all at once, or at different times.
Remember to update your followers on how many coats have been donated by editing your coat drive page text box.
If you receive coats that are not clean and wearable, meaning they have holes and stains, please do not donate them to a nonprofit partner, rather please recycle them! Google “textile recycling near me” or contact a Goodwill in your area. Many Goodwill locations will accept items that are stained or ripped and recycle the textiles to keep items out of local landfills.
Time for Step 6 – Deliver Your Coats! You will decide where you will deliver the coats you collected. Please use the Nonprofit Locator Map to find a nonprofit partner near you. (One Warm Coat does not pick up coats).
This is not a complete list of organizations that support those in need — it is just the beginning! If you cannot find a nonprofit partner close by, search Google for homeless assistance, food pantries, churches in your area that serve those in need. Or call 211 for a listing of organizations.
One Warm Coat has one rule for coat donations, coats must be GIVEN away for free, and without discrimination.
Please contact your selected nonprofit partner before you deliver your coats to ensure they will be able to accept the coats, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, all coats should be clean and ready to be worn!
During the coat drive registration process, you are able to create an account using Facebook. By linking your Facebook account to your personal coat drive page during registration, it allows you to comment on your personal coat drive page using your Facebook name. You may also share your coat drive page on Facebook, copy the URL and post it as your status on Facebook. Your followers will be able to then click on that link and go right to your personal coat drive page.
Facebook Fundraisers do not integrate directly with your coat drive page, and donations will not display on the Coat Drive page in real time. One Warm Coat receives disbursements of Facebook donations on a monthly basis.
At this time, you cannot link a Facebook Business or Managed Page with your personal coat drive page, you are only able to connect with a personal account.
Thank you for your donation! You can download a tax receipt, here. Please fill out the receipt with the number of coats or dollars donated and provide the receipt and value of coats donated (when applicable) to your tax professional.
No, we no longer mail printed Coat Drive Kits to our Ambassadors.
To ensure that we are using funds in the best way possible and providing as many coats to our neighbors as we can, we’ve gone digital! Registered Ambassadors receive a digital Welcome Packet once their registration is complete and are able to order several items from our new online store. Additionally, registered Ambassadors have access to many free tools and resources on our website.
No, One Warm Coat is not a grant-making organization. Any funds raised for One Warm Coat as part of a coat drive through One Warm Coat’s website or a third party fundraising platform, stay with One Warm Coat and support the Coat Drive Program.