How to Have a Charity Rummage Sale

Charity rummage sales are a fantastic way to generate revenue for a good cause. There is little overhead and the labor is usually all volunteer. Leftovers can be shared among the volunteers or given away at the end without regret. A successful charity rummage sale will require a lot of planning and elbow grease, but the results will be more than worth the effort.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Storage location
• Sale location
• Lots of volunteers
• Boxes
• Used grocery bags

1. Set a date, time and location for the sale. Also determine where items are to be stored until the day(s) of the sale.
2. Get lots of volunteers. Volunteers will be needed for preparation, setup, selling, take down and cleanup. Aim for volunteers who can be counted on to help with two or more aspects of the sale.
3. Seek donations for the sale. Advertise on internet message boards (where permitted) and recycling email lists. It is perfectly acceptable to request donations in blocks. For example, request clothes one week, household goods the next, etc.
4. Inspect, clean, price and pack up items into boxes for storage. Used clothing should be run through a washing machine at least once. Dishes should be run through a dishwasher. Broken or unsafe items should be discarded. Toys and children’s furniture should be checked against recall lists.
5. Advertise the sale through press releases, signs, bulletins and electronic mailing lists beginning about three weeks before the sale.
6. Set up the sale. Arrange goods neatly with plenty of aisle space. Hang clothes whenever possible. Assign responsible volunteers to cashier duties in shifts and have a handful of people working the floor to keep everything tidy. Have volunteers at the exit to thank people for shopping the rummage sale and benefiting the charity.
7. Close down the sale. Pack up remaining goods for distribution to other charitable organizations or disaster relief. Call for pickup or have a volunteer drop them off. Count the cash twice, turn over to the president or treasurer of the organization for deposit and write up a report on the sale.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider allowing donors and volunteers the opportunity to shop early, before the sale opens to the public.
• Have a pricing guide so volunteers can consistently and objectively price objects.
• Collect used grocery bags for reuse as shopping bags during the sale.
• Be clear when posting want ads for donations that these goods will be resold at a charity rummage sale. Keep a list of those who donated so they can be reminded to shop and thanked in advance of the sale.