130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
Baby items and layettes
The one category where the safety rule outranks every fundraising consideration.
Free for up to 20 items Unlimited bidders No credit card required
Baby goods arrive at a family support center constantly, offered generously, and a proportion of them cannot safely be given to anybody. Knowing the difference is a child safety obligation before it is a fundraising one.
Never, regardless of condition or who offers it
- A secondhand car seat. Expiry dates, unknown crash history, missing or substituted parts, superseded standards and unavailable manuals. "It looks fine" is not an assessment
- A drop-side crib, or any crib not meeting current standards
- Inclined sleepers and used sleep positioners
- Used crib mattresses, bumpers, pillows and soft bedding
- Any recalled product, which means actually checking the model and date rather than assuming
- A used breast pump that is not a designed multi-user model
- Used helmets, bicycle or otherwise
- Anything with a broken, missing or improvised part
The car seat rule is the one people argue with, because a good seat is expensive and a family needs one. The answer is to fund new ones — which is an excellent auction lot — rather than to distribute an unknown one.
Perfectly fine, and genuinely needed
- Clothing, laundered, in good condition and sorted by size
- New, unopened diapers, wipes and formula within date
- Books, which centers can never have enough of
- New toys, and clean hard-surface used toys that are not recalled
- Blankets, towels, muslins and cloth carriers in good condition
- New bottles, sterilisers and feeding equipment
- Strollers and high chairs in good condition, checked against recalls
Sorting is the hidden cost. A donation of six bin bags of unsorted clothing is several volunteer hours before it is useful, and a center should feel able to say what it can take.
The layette as an auction lot
A complete new-baby set is one of the strongest things this catalogue can offer, because it is tangible, photogenic and obviously useful.
- Sponsor a full layette — clothing, blankets, essentials, a book
- Sponsor a new car seat, professionally fitted, which is the item to build
- A safe sleep bundle: a compliant crib or bassinet with a new mattress
- A month of diapers, which is a real and continuous cost
- Formula for a month, for families who need it
- A breastfeeding support package with a consultation
- A first-year book collection
The professionally fitted car seat is the lot to feature. It resolves the safety problem, it is a specific and defensible amount, and installation checking is a service most families do not know they need.
Layettes are given, not auctioned
The distinction to keep clear. A donor sponsors a layette; a family receives one. The lot is the sponsorship, and the family is never part of the transaction.
- No family is identified as a recipient
- No photographs of a family receiving anything
- No sponsor is matched to a named family
- No count small enough to identify in a small community
- And distribution is unconnected to the auction's timing or donors
A sponsor who wants to know who received their layette is asking for something the center cannot give, and the answer is a warm aggregate report rather than an exception.
Handle declines well
A center will decline donations offered kindly, frequently from a grandmother with a car seat her family used. That conversation deserves preparation.
- Explain the reason plainly — expiry, unknown history, current standards — because people accept a reason
- Say what would be welcome instead, in the same breath
- Publish the accepted list, which prevents most declines
- Have a disposal route for unsafe items rather than handing them back to be passed on elsewhere
- And thank them properly; they were trying to help a family
The disposal point matters. Handing back an unsafe car seat means it goes to somebody else, and a center that has identified a hazard should not put it back into circulation.
Check recalls as a routine
Recalls are frequent in this category and a product safe last year may not be now. Make checking part of intake rather than something done when somebody remembers, and keep a note of what was checked and when.
General information, not legal or child safety advice. Product recalls, car seat standards and crib regulations change, and mandated reporting and client confidentiality obligations are specific — check current safety guidance and your own policies before accepting or distributing any child equipment.
Frequently asked questions
Why can we never take a secondhand car seat?
Expiry dates, unknown crash history, missing or substituted parts, superseded standards and unavailable manuals. "It looks fine" is not an assessment — and the answer is to fund new ones, which is an excellent auction lot.
What is the lot to build?
A professionally fitted new car seat. It resolves the safety problem, it is a specific defensible amount, and installation checking is a service most families do not know they need.
Can a sponsor know which family got their layette?
No. The lot is the sponsorship and the family is never part of the transaction — no identification, no photographs, no matching, and a warm aggregate report instead.
What do we do with an unsafe donated item?
Dispose of it rather than handing it back. Returning an unsafe car seat means it goes to somebody else, and a center that has identified a hazard should not put it back into circulation.
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Free for up to 20 items · Unlimited bidders · No credit card required