Where you donate clothes in Toronto changes what happens to them. New Circles Community Services gives the clothing to a family who needs it, free of charge. Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Diabetes Canada sell what you hand over and spend the proceeds on their programs. Both kinds are registered charities. Your choice sets the address you drive to, the condition your clothes have to be in, and whether anyone will come and collect them.
The donation bins are a separate question. When the City last counted, in its 2020 report on textile waste, Toronto had over 600 permitted clothing drop boxes and about a third of them belonged to businesses rather than charities. Read the permit sticker on the door before you post a bag through the slot.
- Charities that give your clothes to the person who needs them
- Charities that sell your clothes to pay for the work
- Opening hours, appointments and home collection
- How to tell a charity donation bin from a business one
- What charities refuse, and why worn-out clothing can't go in the blue bin
- Common questions about donating clothes in Toronto
Charities that give your clothes to the person who needs them
New Circles Community Services in North York runs a free clothing program laid out like a shop, so clients walk the racks and choose for themselves rather than taking a bag someone else packed. Donations go to the loading dock at the rear of 44 Mobile Drive on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 3pm. The New Circles donation page asks for clean, gently used clothing that is current in style, in sizes for the whole family and right for the season. It also takes reusable shopping bags, wheeled suitcases, bundle buggies and duffel bags in very good condition. New Circles will not take soiled, torn or damaged clothing, used undergarments or socks, sports equipment, toys, household items, linens, furniture or electronics.
Evangel Hall Mission at 552 Adelaide Street West, second building east of Bathurst, gives clothing straight to the people who come through its drop-in and dental clinic. Its in-kind donations page lists three items as urgently needed, two of them clothing: men's shoes in size 10 and above, and women's underwear. Past that it asks for adult clothing in L, XL and XXL, winter jackets, hoodies, t-shirts, sweatpants, backpacks or suitcases, and walking shoes in size 9 and up. Read those sizes before you pack. A bag of small womenswear is not what the drop-in is short of. Drop-offs run by appointment on 416.504.3563, Monday to Friday between 9:00am and 3:00pm and Sundays between 2:30pm and 4:00pm. In November and December, when its schedule is busiest, it accepts nothing unscheduled after noon. Furniture, baby equipment, assistive devices and home health equipment all get turned away, as does any donation earmarked for one named person or family.
Dress for Success Toronto takes one category only: work clothing for women who are job hunting. Its clothing donations page lists blazers, cardigans, tops, trousers, dresses and shoes, all ready to wear, clean, undamaged and needing no repair. Anything outside that list goes unused in its programs, so leggings and t-shirts are a wasted trip. Clothing that suits the boutique goes to a client at no cost during her Boutique Experience appointment. The rest goes into a fundraising sale or to community partners, and the charity is direct about why: the money from that sale is what keeps its programs free. On 13 October 2026 the page named three drop-off routes: the boutique at 5150 Yonge Street, Unit C29, on Thursdays between 1pm and 2pm by appointment; JCares at 750 Spadina Avenue, the street-level space next to the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre; and three Gibson's Cleaners branches on Dundas Street West, Beresford Avenue and La Rose Avenue. On the same date the Gibson's block on that page still read "PAUSED Until July 6", so book or phone before you travel. Donations of more than 20 items are booked at the Dundas Street branch. Dress for Success Toronto is a registered charity, number 889786216 RR0001, but its CRA registration sits outside our Toronto directory, so there's no profile page here to link.
Sistering on Bloor Street West takes no used clothing. Its in-kind donations page gives the reason: the building has limited storage, so every gift has to be pre-approved and matched to that week's needs. It asks for new underwear in larger sizes, new warm socks, sealed hygiene products and new bedding, dropped off by appointment at 962 Bloor Street West between 10:00am and 4:00pm, Monday to Friday, booked on (416) 926-9762, extension 276.
Charities that sell your clothes to pay for the work
Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes runs three open donation centres in Toronto: 2837 Dufferin Street in North York, 1795 St Clair Avenue West, and 1950 The Queensway in Etobicoke. A fourth, at 5454 Dundas Street West, is listed on Goodwill's site as opening in fall 2026. Posted hours at the three are 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 6pm on Sunday. No other charity on this page keeps hours that long. An attendant meets you at the drop-off and will help unload. The Goodwill donation page sets one condition on everything: it must be clean and in resale condition. Attendants refuse mattresses and boxsprings, large furniture, anything over 50 lbs, and anything hazardous, recalled or banned. What you give is sold in Goodwill's stores, and that revenue pays for the jobs and training the charity runs. Goodwill employs more than 1,400 people across its donation centres, stores, sorting and recycling, manufacturing and hospitality work. Goodwill's registered charity number is 119023810 RR0002 and its head office is in London, Ontario, so it has no profile page in this Toronto directory.
The Salvation Army takes clothing and linens, footwear, accessories, books and media, housewares, small appliances, electronics and toys at its thrift stores and Donor Welcome Centres. In Toronto that means three addresses. The St. Clair Thrift Store at 665 St. Clair Avenue West opens 10:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Saturday and closes on Sunday. The Etobicoke Donor Welcome Centre at 2291 Kipling Avenue and the Scarborough Eglinton Donor Welcome Centre at 7-1921 Eglinton Avenue East both open 9:00am to 9:00pm Monday to Saturday and 10:00am to 6:00pm on Sunday. The Salvation Army donations page says it cannot offer any pick-up service. Furniture, beds, large appliances, construction material, infant equipment and pianos are all refused. Donate clothing or household goods at either Donor Welcome Centre and you get a coupon for 20% off your next purchase.
The Yonge Street Mission has been running Double Take at 310 Gerrard Street East since 1999, and every dollar it makes goes back into YSM's community programs. Donations are taken seven days a week, 10am to 5pm, through the gates behind the customer parking lot, and the Double Take donation page asks you to ring the bell and hand everything to a warehouse staff member rather than leaving it. Clean, wearable clothing for men, women and children is what they want, along with shoes, linens and accessories. Stained, torn or heavily worn clothing, damaged shoes, used underwear and socks are refused.
Diabetes Canada runs no shop of its own. Since 1985 it has had a partnership with Value Village, a for-profit chain: Diabetes Canada collects the goods, delivers them to Value Village, and is paid by the volume delivered. Its Declutter FAQ puts the average at four million dollars net a year from clothing collection, with 100% of the net going to diabetes research, education, programs, services and advocacy. The shirt you donate is sold in a commercial thrift store at a price Diabetes Canada doesn't set.
Opening hours, appointments and home collection
Diabetes Canada is the only charity on this page that will come to a Toronto house for clothing. Pickups are booked on 1-800-505-5525 or at declutterfordiabetes.ca, and the crew takes only sealed bags or boxes, each one under 40 lbs, left on the doorstep. Loose items are left behind. The crews won't take furniture, large appliances, televisions, monitors, exercise equipment, beds, infant products, construction material or anything flammable.
Every other charity here expects you to bring the bags to them. Goodwill and the Salvation Army welcome centres keep the longest hours and need no warning. New Circles runs three days a week in office hours. Evangel Hall Mission and Sistering both work by appointment only, and turning up unannounced at either wastes your trip. Double Take takes donations every day of the week.
If you're clearing a whole apartment rather than a wardrobe, two other routes are open to you. Furniture Bank collects furniture and housewares from Toronto homes with a paid, full-service crew and issues a tax receipt, though it runs no clothing program, so the sofa and the sweaters need separate plans. The City's Community Environment Days run from April to the end of September in each ward and take clothing, footwear, accessories and linens for reuse. In 2019 they collected over 18.5 tonnes of textiles.
How to tell a charity donation bin from a business one
A clothing drop box in a Toronto parking lot is not proof that a charity gets the clothes. Every box needs a City permit, for-profit operators included, and the permit costs $138.64 a year per box. The City's permit page requires the sticker to be clearly displayed on the box, along with a schedule saying when it gets emptied, and the box has to stand somewhere lit.
The sticker colour is the fastest answer you'll get standing in a parking lot. Since October 2019, boxes run by charities and non-profits carry a yellow permit sticker and boxes run by businesses carry an orange one. The City's 2020 report on textile waste counted over 600 permitted boxes across Toronto, about two thirds non-profit and one third for-profit. If you want to check before you leave the house, the City publishes the permitted drop box locations as open data, naming each operator and whether it's a non-profit or a business.
Boxes are banned from City streets, boulevards and sidewalks, and an unpermitted box gets removed at the operator's or the property owner's expense. The City's by-law enforcement page on clothing drop boxes tells residents to report one to 311. A conviction under Chapter 395 carries a fine of no less than $500 and no more than $100,000. The amended by-law came into effect on 1 October 2019. One more rule, from the charity rather than the City: never leave bags on the ground beside a full bin. Diabetes Canada spends around $200,000 a year clearing what gets dumped around its bins, money that would otherwise go to the research.
What charities refuse, and why worn-out clothing can't go in the blue bin
Every charity on this page refuses stained, torn and worn-out clothing. Sorting a bag of unwearable textiles costs a charity staff time and then a disposal fee, so a donation in poor condition takes money out of the work you were trying to support.
The blue bin isn't the answer either. The City is explicit in its guidance on what goes in the Blue Bin: old clothes, shoes, blankets and curtains don't belong there, because they tangle in the sorting machines, damage the equipment and injure the people working the line. Its instruction: donate what's in good condition to a not-for-profit or bring it to a Community Environment Day, and put what can't be donated in the garbage.
Much of what goes in the garbage didn't need to. The City's 2018 single-family waste audits found nearly 70 per cent of the textiles people had already thrown out were reusable, and the City's waste reduction page puts the average Toronto household at 17 kg of clothing and textiles thrown out a year. Most of what feels too shabby to donate isn't. Before you bin a sweater, look at it the way a thrift store buyer would: clean, no holes, nothing missing, no smell. If it passes, somebody will wear it.
Common questions about donating clothes in Toronto
Which Toronto charities give donated clothes away free instead of selling them?
New Circles Community Services, Evangel Hall Mission and Dress for Success Toronto all put donated clothing directly into the hands of the person who needs it, with no sale in between. New Circles at 44 Mobile Drive runs the largest of the three, a free clothing program set up to work like a shop so clients choose their own clothes rather than receiving a bag someone else packed. Evangel Hall Mission at 552 Adelaide Street West distributes clothing through its drop-in to people who are homeless or precariously housed, and publishes exactly what it's short of, currently men's shoes in size 10 and up and women's underwear. Dress for Success Toronto covers one specific need, work clothing for women who are job hunting, and gives it to clients during a boutique appointment at no cost, selling only what doesn't fit the boutique's current needs. The trade-off with all three is that free distribution charities are fussier than thrift stores, because they have less space, fewer staff and no way to sell what they can't use. New Circles wants clothing that's current in style and right for the season. Dress for Success wants six categories of garment and nothing else. Evangel Hall needs an appointment. If you want your clothes worn rather than sold, expect to sort your bag properly and make a phone call first.
Do Toronto clothing donation bins actually go to a charity?
Most do, and the colour of the permit sticker tells you which. Since October 2019 the City has issued yellow permit stickers to boxes operated by charities and non-profit organizations, and orange stickers to boxes operated by for-profit businesses. The City's 2020 report on textile waste counted over 600 permitted clothing drop boxes across Toronto, with about two thirds run by non-profit operators and one third by businesses. A for-profit box isn't illegal, but the money from what's inside goes to a company, not a program. If a box carries no permit sticker at all, nobody has checked who runs it, whether it's safe, or how often it gets emptied, and you should report it to 311 rather than use it. Boxes are not permitted on City streets, boulevards or sidewalks under any circumstances, so one standing on a public sidewalk is already in breach. You can check any location before you set out: the City publishes the permitted drop box locations as an open data set that names the operator of each box and whether that operator is a non-profit or a business. Whichever box you use, don't leave bags on the ground next to it when it's full. Diabetes Canada alone spends about $200,000 a year clearing garbage from around its bins.
Will a Toronto charity pick up clothes from my house?
Diabetes Canada will, free, and it's the only clothing charity on this page that offers it. You book a collection on 1-800-505-5525 or through declutterfordiabetes.ca, and the crew takes clothing, shoes, accessories, curtains, sleeping bags, books, small appliances and working electronics. The conditions are worth getting right, because a crew that arrives to a doorstep that doesn't meet them leaves empty-handed. Everything has to be in sealed bags or boxes, each one under 40 lbs, placed on the doorstep before the collection window. Loose items are not collected. The crews won't take furniture, large appliances, televisions, computer monitors, exercise equipment, beds, construction material, infant products, car parts or anything flammable. The Salvation Army states on its own donations page that it cannot offer a pick-up service at all. No Salvation Army truck will come for your clothes. Goodwill, New Circles, Evangel Hall Mission and Double Take all expect you to bring donations to them. For a large clothing drive rather than a household clear-out, New Circles will discuss a collection by prior arrangement, and Evangel Hall Mission publishes posters for anyone organizing one. If what you're moving is furniture rather than clothing, Furniture Bank runs a paid full-service collection in Toronto and gives a tax receipt for the fair market value.
What should I do with clothes that are too worn out to donate?
Put them in the garbage, which is what the City of Toronto tells residents to do, after you've checked more carefully than you probably want to. Textiles must not go in the Blue Bin: old clothes, shoes, blankets and curtains tangle in the sorting machinery at the recycling facility, damage the equipment and cause injuries to the people working there. The City's guidance names no textile recycling route, only donation or the garbage, and no charity on this page wants unwearable clothing, because sorting and then disposing of it costs them money that would otherwise go to their programs. Before you write a garment off, though, apply the standard a thrift store uses rather than the one you'd apply to your own wardrobe. Clean, no holes, nothing missing, no odour, zips and buttons working. The City's own 2018 waste audits found that nearly 70 per cent of the textiles already in household garbage were reusable, which suggests most people throw clothes out well before they're finished. Take anything borderline to a Community Environment Day between April and September, where clothing, footwear, accessories and linens are collected for reuse and somebody else makes the call. Shoes go in the bin too early: Evangel Hall Mission lists men's shoes in size 10 and above as one of its two most urgent needs, and worn soles under an intact upper are not a reason to throw a pair away.
Can I get a tax receipt for donating clothes in Toronto?
Usually not, and the reason is the Canada Revenue Agency rather than the charity. A registered charity issuing a receipt for a non-cash gift has to determine the fair market value of that gift, and Diabetes Canada says plainly on its FAQ that doing so for used clothing is very difficult, so it issues no receipts for clothing donations. A bag of mixed second-hand clothes has no value a charity can put its registration number behind, so most clothing intakes do not offer a receipt. Where receipting does happen, it usually happens by arrangement in advance rather than at the door. Evangel Hall Mission issues receipts for gifts in kind only with prior confirmation from its staff and requires proof of value, such as a sales receipt, and it receipts gift cards at face value. Furniture Bank issues a tax receipt for the fair market value of donated furniture, because a sofa has a resale value a charity can defend and a bag of mixed clothing does not. If a receipt matters to you, ask the charity before you donate rather than after, and expect to be asked for a purchase receipt on anything new or nearly new. For most people giving away a wardrobe, the practical answer is that the donation is worth more to the charity than the receipt would be worth to you.
This directory sorts charities by cause. New Circles, Sistering and Furniture Bank sit under social services, and Evangel Hall Mission and the Yonge Street Mission under community services. The fundraisers and open days we have a date for are listed on our page of charity events in Toronto. Before you set out with the bags, do what the City advises and check the charity's own page for its hours and its current list, since the needs on this page change with the season.