Donation of Items

UGM gratefully accepts weather appropriate clothing, personal hygiene items and other essentials. Please only donate new and unopened personal hygiene items, socks and underwear.

Personal Hygiene Items

• shampoo & conditioner
• soap
• toothbrush & toothpaste
• razors & shaving cream
• anti-perspirant and deodorant
• period products pads, tampons
• hand sanitizer
• lip balm
• sunscreen
• travel-sized first aid kits
• travel-sized packages of disinfecting wipes
• hand warmers

Clothing: Larger sizes preferred

• socks
• underwear
• hats (baseball hats, summer hats, winter hats and toques)
• warm gloves
• shoes (sandals, sneakers, boots, work boots)
• long underwear
• men’s & women’s short-sleeve and long sleeved shirts
• men's & women's sweatshirts and fleece
• men’s & women's shorts
• men's & women's pants and jeans
• men's & women's jackets and coats

Other Essentials

• emergency blankets
• sleeping bags
• rain ponchos
• reusable water bottles & bottled water
• reusable coffee mugs with lids

Have household items you want to donate?

UGM gratefully accepts the following items for our Thrift Stores:

• men's & women's clothing
• men's & women's shoes and accessories
• linens (i.e. bedding, towels, curtains)
• jewelry
• books (no textbooks or encyclopedias)
• CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray, records
• small household items and small appliances
• antiques and collectibles, knick-knacks and seasonal decorations
• small musical instruments
• bicycles and sporting goods
• coffee tables, side tables and dressers
• chairs, recliners and love seats

We do not accept:

• baby & children’s items
• bed frames & mattresses 
• large furniture (i.e. grandfather clocks, china cabinets)
• large appliances (ie. refrigerators, stoves, laundry machines, BBQs)
• fitness equipment (i.e. treadmills, benches, weights) 
• bicycles, ski, snowboard and golf equipment
• large musical instruments (i.e pianos and organs)
• outdated technology (i.e. electronics 10 years or older, including computers, cell phones, printers, fax machines, VCRs and televisions) 

UGM gratefully accepts the following items:

• $25 grocery gift cards (Loblaws, London Drugs, Safeway, Walmart) so community members can purchase produce and other perishable items. 
• canned soup or chili with 10g or more of protein
• canned black or kidney beans, chickpeas, meat, fish or vegetables
• jasmine or white rice, pasta and sauces
• hot & cold cereal and oatmeal
• peanut butter or other nut butters
• snacks (nuts, dried or canned fruit, meat jerky, pretzels, popcorn, crackers)
• shelf-stable juice & milk (dairy or milk alternatives)
• tea, instant coffee, hot chocolate

Please do not donate:

• perishable food items that require refrigeration or freezing. 
• expired items
• items with damaged or open packaging (i.e. dented cans)
• highly processed items (particularly high sugar or sodium items)
• homemade items
• products containing alcohol

To donate produce or other perishable items, contact our Kitchen Manager at 604.253.3323 ext 335. 

To donate non-perishable food and gift card donations, contact annualgiving@ugm.ca or 778.731.1611

Yes, please get in touch with us to make arrangements for a location and time. 

• Excess inventory or donations from a business, please contact corporategiving@ugm.ca or 604.215.5441 ext 462 to coordinate your donation.
• Large donations of food or produce, please contact our Kitchen Manager at 604.253.3323 ext 335.
• Moving and have a lot of furniture to donate? Contact our Thrift Store at 604.254.8721 or schedule a drop-off time online.

Not sure who to contact, please email annualgiving@ugm.ca or call 604.215.5443 and our Donor Relations team can help direct your inquiry.

We ask that you donate new and gently used items to ensure that all community members are treated with dignity and care. For safety, we also cannot distribute used hygiene items or opened food items. 

As a guideline, only donate items that you personally would use or wear. Opened or worn out items cannot be used and must be disposed at a cost to UGM. Thank you for your thoughtfulness!

In instances where emergency items are received and distributed, yet a surplus of goods remains, items are often shared with other organizations. Some items that are not suitable for distribution, will be allocated to the UGM Thrift Store to be sold at low cost.

The UGM Thrift store provides a low cost retail shopping experience in the Downtown Eastside. Community members are able to choose and purchase items they want for themselves. Staff often provide Thrift store vouchers for community members needing more assistance, so they can still choose their own items and have a dignifying shopping experience. 100% of the proceeds of the UGM Thrift Store go back into supporting UGM’s life-changing programs and services.

Yes, unfortunately we can’t take everything.

We do not accept:

• baby & children’s items
• bed frames & mattresses
• large furniture (i.e. grandfather clocks, china cabinets)
• large appliances (ie. refrigerators, stoves, laundry machines, BBQs)
• fitness equipment (i.e. treadmills, benches, weights)
• ski, snowboard and golf equipment
• large musical instruments (i.e pianos and organs)
• outdated technology (i.e. electronics 10 years or older, including computers, cell phones, printers, fax machines, VCRs and televisions)

We provide over 700 meals daily to our community, which takes a lot of food to make happen! UGM budgets for all our meal programs and doesn’t rely solely on donated food items. If you are interested in making large donations of food or produce, please contact our Kitchen Manager at 604.253.3323 ext 335. 

For food hamper and pantry items, please keep the following health guidelines in mind:

• Higher fiber options (4+ grams/serving)
• Less than 35% of total calories from fat (zero trans-fat)
• Little or no added sugar (Less than 35% of calories from total sugars)
• Moderate sodium (less than 200 mg or 15% daily value/serving)
• Snacks that are less than 200 calories Items with shorter ingredient lists (fewer preservatives & additives)

UGM partners with the Charity Car Program and Donate-a-Car Canada to accept donations of vehicles. Donors will receive a tax receipt issued by UGM. Contact one of our car donation partners to arrange a free towing or drop off of your vehicle.

You will be provided free towing, or you can drop off your vehicle to maximize your donation. When you donate your car, truck, RV, boat, or motorcycle to UGM through Donate A Car Canada, it will either be recycled or re-sold (depending on its condition, age and location). Donate a Car Canada will look after all the details to make it easy for UGM to benefit. You will receive a tax receipt after your car donation has been processed.

If you would like to donate a vehicle to one of our programs, please contact our Donor Relations team.

It depends! UGM follows Canada Revenue Agency guidelines and regulations around issuing tax receipts, which require the charity to determine the fair market value of an item. Due to the difficultly of determining a fair market value for used goods, UGM generally does not provide tax receipts for used items. 

New items may be eligible for a tax receipt.

To check if your donation is eligible for a tax receipt, please contact our Donor Relations team. 

Yes, the UGM Thrift Store is grateful to accept donations of household items, clothing and furniture from production companies and film sets. We can provide a letter of receipt. Please contact our Thrift Store at 604.202.4201 to arrange details.