WELCOME TO WISHLIST NEW YORK CITY, a clearinghouse for nonprofit organizations to find what they need

What is WISHLIST NEW YORK CITY?

It's an organization in its earliest stages that I hope will help nonprofits in the five boroughs get materials, expertise, and donations in-kind from business and organizational partners and individuals in this city we all love. It grew out of my passion for and interest in getting "stuff" for my former agency, the East Harlem Tutorial Program. I love what I call "scrounging"--finding whatever someone needs as inexpensively as possible (preferably free!) and getting it to that person, that program, that organization. It's based on my belief that: 

People want to help others, but they can't always find people who need what they have to offer--and people need help, but they may not know how and where to get what they need. And, sometimes, they may have no idea what might be available to them...

I want to give credit for inspiring this site to my experiences with some organizations I admire very much--DONORS CHOOSE, created to help teachers fund classroom materials and activities their schools could not afford; MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS, which provides fantastic recycled materials to nonprofits offering art programs (and also gives them access to DIRECT DONATIONS, which provides them with links to organizations who want to donate furniture, office supplies, instruments, scenery, and a lot of miscellaneous!); FREECYCLE NewYorkCity, which helps individuals offer their unwanted/unneeded items to city neighbors by email, and PENCIL, the "Principal for a Day" organization that links leaders in many fields with schools that benefit from their expertise, funding, and leadership.


So what do I hope to do with this blog/website? I'm hoping that nonprofit staffs will contact us to request what they need; that businesses will contact us when they have materials to offer; and that we'll develop a database of people willing to offer expertise, donations, and support.


Here's an example of what I mean: I met someone who works for a Brooklyn homeless shelter, and she mentioned she needed outdoor furniture for the shelter's backyard area. They have no funds for this purpose, so they need donations. I gave her my card and asked her to get in touch, and said I'd do what I could. Alas, she never emailed--but in the meantime, I found what she needed on craigslist and from an organizer friend cleaning out an apartment. In an ideal situation, I'd have done the research, set up an appointment for her to pick up items with the shelter's van, and both parties would have been happy--the shelter would have an attractive outdoor space, and the donors would get a tax donation receipt plus the satisfaction of knowing they had helped people who really needed it.


I also hope this site will be able to help nonprofits acquire items they can use to raise funds for their organization's use. By building a network of companies and individuals who have assets of various kinds they don't always use, I hope to help nonprofit staffs find items for silent and online auctions as well as for the use of their program participants and staffs. These might include luxury items, tickets, events, and more.


I envision this project as a kind of matchmaking--and to do so we'll keep wish lists from nonprofits on file as we seek the items nonprofits need. We can't promise we'll find them all, but we will try.


Thanks for reading this, and there will be more to come soon.