Thank you for your interest in holding a One Warm Coat drive.

The need for coats is great, but thanks to thousands of volunteers like you (One Warm Coat Ambassadors) who hold coat drives each year, more than half a million children and adults receive free coats each winter!

When you register to become a Coat Drive Ambassador, you receive:

  • A custom coat drive webpage to help promote your drive, track your coat goals, and accept financial donations
  • A link to helpful tools and resources to ensure a successful drive
  • Access to more than 1,500 nonprofit partners across the United States, so you can find a local agency that will distribute the coats you collect to people in your community

Three Easy Steps To Success!

Follow the 3 easy steps below to make planning and holding your coat drive a breeze! Already know where you’re headed? Jump to Step 1, Step 2, or Step 3

Step 1 – Plan & Register

Choose the dates of your coat drive and the location (or locations) of your collection sites.

A coat drive can last for any amount of time and can be held anytime of year. Most coat drives are held in the fall and winter months. However, our nonprofit partners love to receive coats BEFORE the cold weather sets in, so holding a drive in the summer and early fall months is also great!

Many people organize coat drives around special events/milestones, some even ask for coat donations in lieu of gifts. Here are just some of the reasons our Ambassadors have held a drive:

Anniversary

Back to School

Bar Mitzvah

Bat Mitzvah

Birthday

Block Party

Book Club

Casual Friday

Corporate Event

Conferences

Confirmation

Corporate Challenge

Holidays

Graduation

Grand Opening

In Memory of

In Honor of

In-Store Sale

Local Event

MLK Day of Service

Mother’s Day Fathers Day

Scout Activity

Service Project

Spring Cleaning

Choose where your coat drive will take place and how many drop-off locations you will have. Many Ambassadors have coats dropped off at their homes, at their school or at their place of employment.  Some local businesses or local government offices may also allow you to set up a drop-off location. During registration, you can add up to 5 locations to be added to the map. If you want to register more than five locations, please click here to connect with OWC staff.

If you are planning an employee coat drive, visit the Employee Engagement page first to learn how you can work with One Warm Coat to achieve ESG & CSR goals.

Step 2: Promote & Collect

When you register, you will receive a custom coat drive webpage. You can use it to track coat and dollar donations. Share your webpage URL with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to spread the word about your drive.

Use the many free tools and resources to help you promote and collect!

Like/Follow One Warm Coat on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and tag us (@onewarmcoat) in your posts using #sharewarmth or #sharingwarmth

Step 3: Sort & Deliver

You’ve collected lots of coats! Now what?

Sort

Sort the coats to make sure they are clean and wearable. Please take any coats that are torn, stained, or generally unwearable to a textile recycling location in your community or to our partners at Retold Recycling. Use the Delivery Tags provided to help you organize the coats. Consider adding pocket notes to spread extra love.

Track

Update the coat tracker on your coat drive webpage! From the top bar of your coat drive webpage, click “Coat Totals” to track your coats!

(Note to returning Ambassadors: You no longer need to submit coat total reports. Now you can track your coat totals as the coats come in on your custom coat drive webpage.) 

Deliver

It’s time to decide where you will deliver the coats you collected!

  • Use the Nonprofit Locator Map to find a One Warm Coat partner agency near you and contact them to ensure they can accept your coats.
  • If you cannot find a nonprofit partner near you on the Nonprofit Locator Map, we suggest contacting a local nonprofit such as a food bank or a homeless shelter or a local school.
  • If you would prefer to donate your coats to a local nonprofit that is not on One Warm Coat’s Nonprofit Locator Map, that’s fine as long as the coats will be given away for free and without discrimination. Also, please encourage the nonprofit to register to become a member of One Warm Coat’s nonprofit network. (They can access the free registration form here)!