#donations

#donations

The new, bigger, better Goodwill store is just the latest sign of a booming thrift store business that amounts to a perfect storm for charities from the Salvation Army to Housing Works, collecting and selling clothing and other items. While companies are also fueling and feeding on a thrift boom, the nonprofits also offer tax benefits to donors and use sales to help support their missions.

Last month, we asked readers to donate to a couple of good causes in our 2025 Charity Drive sweepstakes. And boy, did you deliver. With the drive now complete and the donations all tallied, we can report that Ars Technica readers gave an incredible $42,936.83 to Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in this year's drive. That doesn't set a new record, but it beats last year's total and raises our lifetime Ars Charity Drive donation haul since 2007 to over $585,000.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Americans gave $4 billion to nonprofits on GivingTuesday in 2025, an increase from the $3.6 billion they gave in 2024, according to estimates from the nonprofit GivingTuesday. More people also volunteered their time on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving this year, which fell on Dec. 2 and has become a major fundraising day for nonprofits. This year, 11.1 million people in the U.S. volunteered, up from, 9.2 million last year.

"At our food bank, we do our best to stock items that fit the way our guests actually cook and eat," says Nadya Sanchez, family engagement coordinator at Segue Blackstone Valley Pantry. "People often think of canned goods first, and those help, but things like rice, corn flour, pasta, beans, lentils, and oil are what most families reach for right away."

It comes down to paying for my medications and my bills or buying food for myself and for my animals, a Missouri veteran told the Guardian. A California resident described being housebound because I need a couple of spinal cord surgeries so this is really gonna hurt me because I cannot work, and thereby earn money to put food on the table.

TikTok's super keen to highlight its value to Americans, as a means to ensure that it remains in President Trump's good books, which, hopefully, will allow it to keep operating in the U.S., its biggest usage region. In line with this, TikTok has announced that it's supporting a major U.S. concert event for Veterans Day, to honor American military veterans, with TikTok to host the exclusive live-stream of the celebration.

Donating money rather than food gives food banks far more flexibility, as these nonprofits are able to negotiate special deals for the food they buy in bulk - at much better prices than you can access as a private customer at a store. "We can really stretch people's dollars far," Bacho said. "And believe me, they are really needed in this moment."

Little Village, which represents a number of baby banks in the capital, told the BBC that supplies at their hubs were running low due to more families facing increased financial pressures. A survey by the charity found 81% of parents it currently helps felt they could not afford warm coats, boots or jumpers for their children. CEO Sophie Livingstone said increasing winter costs were "robbing parents of sleep and peace of mind," and she urged people to donate "before the cold sets in."