1. Organize your team. If you’re working with a green team in a church or community, or a group of teachers at school, you can split these 3 responsibilities – find your donation partner(s), promote the event, and coordinate the event’s logistics (see descriptions below).

2. Find your donation partners. Nail this down before you advertise your event. Find the local organization(s) you’ll partner with, that accept used sports gear and get it to underserved communities. Some work directly with schools and communities, others offer low-cost used equipment in their thrift stores. Be sure to call to find out restrictions on donations, and if they offer pickup. Ideas below will get you started.

Local groups that specialize in getting sports equipment to underserved communities. Don’t see your community? Search online to learn if your area has one.

• Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chantilly VA – Leveling the Playing Field
• Chicago – The Sports Shed
• New York State, various locations – Victory Sports
• Baltimore – All Kids Should Play

Groups that take donations of gear for a particular sport.

• Soccer, Atlanta – Atlanta Youth Soccer Foundation gets used soccer gear to kids in need.
• Baseball and softball, Philadelphia and Los Angeles – Pitch in for Baseball & Softball gives gear to underserved families.
• Bikes, Various locations – Bikes for the World has drop-off locations in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and also lists bike donation organizations in Chicago and Boston. (Bikes are repaired by youth and other volunteers trained onsite and then shipped out globally to needy areas.)
• Running shoes – One World Running accepts shipments of gently used running shoes and gives them to those in need in the U.S. and around the world.

National groups that accept a wide range of sports gear and sell it in thrift stores in underserved communities:

• The Salvation Army operates thrift stores nationwide and in some locations can pick up your donations.
• Goodwill has more than 3,300 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Contact your location store to learn if pickup is available.
• AMVETS operates thrift stores and offers pickup in Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Delaware, Texas, and Oklahoma.

National organizations that pick up your donations and get them to local thrift stores:

• Pickup Please operates in a number of states.
• PickUpMyDonation.com gets your donation to local thrift stores.

Organizations that buy your used gear, a great option if you want to run your event as a fundraiser for a particular cause:

• Multiple sports – Play It Again Sports has nearly 300 locations nationwide and will buy used sporting equipment.
• Golf clubs – 2nd Swing buys used golf clubs at their 6 stores (Columbia MD, Minneapolis MN, Minnetonka MN, Scottsdale AZ, Wilmington DE, and Dallas TX).

3. Decide on your drop-off location. Sports gear can take up a lot of space. If you’re accepting bikes, figure out where they will be stored. For multi-day events, can you leave the gear at the drop-off location or do you need a storage area, too?

4. Decide on the dates and plan for pickup. You’ll get more gear if you can run the donation drive for a week or at least multiple days, or if you span two weekends, especially in churches. For schools, this is a great event to run during parent-teacher conferences or other school-wide events.

5. Promote the event! Get the word out via social media, handouts, and flyers. Use our Facts to Share (below) and our Sports Gear Drive Flyer. Reach out to nearby organizations to see if they want to participate and can help promote (e.g., schools and churches).

6. Let the donations roll in. Send reminders to your community during the event if needed.

7. Make sure the donations are picked up. Be sure to get pictures of your crew with all the gear before it’s gone.

8. Give us feedback! Please share how your project went, what worked and what was challenging, and any ideas to make it better. We’re especially interested in knowing about your partner non-profits for accepting the gear, to help us guide other green team leaders.

The expense of youth sports keeps many families out of the game. Youth sports have become an estimated $17 billion industry that leaves behind families who can’t afford to keep up with the escalating arms race. Donations of gently used sports gear can make a big difference for these families.¹

Low-income kids are 6 times more likely to quit sports due to costs.¹

Parents try to find ways to keep their kids in sports, but it comes at a heavy price. 11% of families with kids in sports plan to take on debt to keep their kids playing. 1 in 5 families with kids in fall sports spend over $1,000 each year on equipment, travel, and uniforms.²

Kids from low-income families are far less likely to play sports, with cost being a driving factor. In 2021 only 28% of low-income kids ages 13-17 played a sport on a regular basis, versus 48% of kids from wealthier families. For children ages 6-12, those numbers are 24% versus 40%. (The annual household incomes for those 2 groups were under $25,000 and over $100,000.)³

Sports can improve kids’ lives. Physically active children are healthier. They are less likely to be obese, they miss miss fewer days of school, and they perform better academically. Benefits last into adulthood, with lower rates of obesity, higher workplace earnings, and lower health care costs.⁴

Click to expand for references.

Project description:

A church drive for used sports equipment prompted a flood of donations that grew to a few truckloads of kids’ bikes, tennis racquets and ice skates, hockey sticks and baseball bats, and more.

Feedback:

“What a great day – engaged the St. John’s and larger neighborhood community, reduced waste to our landfills, and made some kids very happy!”

The Income Gap Is Becoming a Physical-Activity Divide, New York Times, March 24, 2023.