Celebrating Women Philanthropy
Meet furniture curator and philanthropist - Angie Janssen
Every few months I clean out my closet. A creature of habit, I have a tendency to wear the same clothes over and over. Then I get tired of them and decide to donate my gently used items to an organization that can give them new life by selling them to someone or giving them away. This is a win win win.
It's a win for the environment because the clothes don't end up in a landfill. It's a win for me because I now get to go buy new clothes (sometimes new to me clothes that I get from a thrift or consignment shop). And it's a win for the person who gets the items either for free or at a low price. Win, win, win!
Over the last 16 days, we have been reading stories about people who love wins too. They love to give money, time, and talent. Today I want to introduce you to a woman who is giving money, time, talent, and furniture to people in need.
Angie Janssen's inability to quickly give away her gently used furniture to a family in need moved her to start Donii in 2015 as an organization whose focus is on connecting donated household items, clothes, and furniture to people who need them most. And this connection is not through your typical nonprofit thrift store. Instead, the organization works with organizations that put the items directly into the hands of those who need them most.
Janssens's goal is to disrupt the business-as-usual behavior of big box thrift stores that often sell our donated goods to third-party wholesalers that in turn resell those clothes in under-resourced countries at a premium. The process she created to do this is pretty amazing. I could write about it in detail here but the video is better.
The aspect that I really like is that she partners with corporations to have drop boxes in their space. This allows employees to bring their items to work and place them in the pickup location; thus, making giving hassle-free. A staff member from Donii picks up the items and delivers them to a nonprofit partner who will put them directly into the hands of those who need them.
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I encourage you to read more about this amazing woman and the work she is doing.