Host a Donation Drive

Anyone! Workplaces, schools, faith communities, book clubs, neighborhood groups, and friends celebrating a birthday have all brought people together through Neighbors Who Care. In fact, there’s no minimum group size or collection goal, and every contribution counts.

Most groups collect from one of our current wishlists, which reflect what Way to Grow families need most right now. However, if your group has a different idea in mind, email Ann Frances Gregg at afgregg@mplswaytogrow.org and we can talk through building a wishlist of your own.

Yes! Gift cards are especially helpful because they let families choose what they need most. Our Neighbors Who Care page has our gift card guidelines, including suggested stores, amounts, and where to mail them.

Neighbors Who Care focuses on collecting items for families, so it doesn’t include fundraising. If your group would like to raise money, you can invite others to give to Way to Grow’s year-round home visits and programs at waytogrow.org/give by selecting General Operations from the designation menu. Adding your group’s name in the notes field helps us know where each gift came from.

We recommend starting to plan about two weeks before you launch and running your drive for about two weeks. For a step-by-step planning guide, check out the sample timelines in our Organizer Toolkit.

Not at all. Your drive can be fully online, fully in person, or a mix of both. A workplace might hang flyers in the break room, while extended family might run the whole thing over email and group texts during the holidays.

We’re only able to accept new items. This ensures every family receives safe, high-quality supplies and lets us match items to specific needs with care.

Anything ordered from our Amazon wishlists ships directly to us, so there’s nothing more to do. However, if your group runs its own collection, email Ann Frances Gregg at afgregg@mplswaytogrow.org to schedule a time to drop off. Deliveries usually happen during our regular office hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at our office at 201 Irving Ave. N, Suite 100, in Minneapolis. Reaching out ahead of time helps us get ready to receive everything your group collected.

Way to Grow sends receipts for monetary gifts to every donor whose contact information we have. For donated items, in-kind receipts are also available upon request for you to fill out yourself.

Because our work happens in family homes and other private settings, activations don’t include meeting or connecting with families directly. Instead, donated items reach families through their Family Educators, who know each family well and can match supplies to what they need. We do our best to share personalized thank-yous when we can, though that isn’t always possible.