Blankets are one of the easiest donations to place, because two very different kinds of organizations want them and between them they take almost every condition. Homeless shelters want clean blankets in good shape. Animal shelters want the worn, stained, and mismatched ones that no person would choose. Add a program for brand-new handmade blankets and one large organization that will not take blankets at all, and you have the whole map.
Shelters need blankets year-round and run short every winter. They want clean blankets free of tears, stains, and odor, the standard being what you would hand to a guest. Sleeping bags are often wanted more than blankets by outreach teams serving people who sleep outside, because a bag is warmth that can be carried. Call before a large drop-off; storage is tight, and most shelters list current needs online. Many also take new pillows and clean sheets, and domestic violence shelters take children's blankets for families arriving with nothing.
This is where the faded, pilled, slightly stained blanket goes, and it is genuinely needed. Shelters line kennels, dry wet dogs, bed pregnant cats, and clean up with donated blankets and towels, and they go through them fast. Humane society wish lists across the country ask for gently used blankets, towels, and flat sheets, with two common restrictions: no fitted sheets, which tangle in washers, and at some shelters no comforters with loose stuffing or batting, which come apart when chewed. Electric blankets are declined everywhere. Wash before you bring them, drop off during open hours, and check the wish list first, since a few shelters are at capacity for linens.
Project Linus gives blankets to children in hospitals, shelters, and foster care, and it accepts only new, handmade, washable blankets: quilts, tied comforters, fleece blankets, and crocheted or knitted afghans in child-friendly colors. Materials must be new and free of smoke, mold, and mildew, and every blanket is checked for pins and for embellishments a child could swallow. Used blankets and store-bought blankets are not accepted, however nice. If you sew or knit, its local chapter map shows where to deliver; the organization has always defined its mission as new handmade blankets only.
Warm Up America has distributed knit and crocheted blankets, accessories, and clothing to people in need since 1991, and it accepts finished afghans as well as 7-by-9-inch knitted or crocheted sections that volunteers join into blankets. It is the outlet for handmade items that are not aimed at children. Local knitting guilds and churches often run similar programs for shelters and nursing homes.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army take clean blankets, comforters, and bedding in sellable condition and price them for the floor. This is the right route for a good blanket you want to move quickly with a receipt, and the wrong one for anything worn, which goes to the textile grade. Comforters and duvets sell; single flat sheets often do not. See what Goodwill accepts.
After a hurricane or a fire the instinct is to send blankets to the Red Cross. It will not take them. The organization states that it does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items, because the cost to sort, package, and distribute them is almost always greater than buying locally, and used items must be sorted, cleaned, and repackaged, which drains time and staff from the response. It accepts only bulk, palletized product from manufacturers and distributors. For disaster response, money does what blankets cannot; your blankets belong at a local shelter.
Last updated September 2026. Errors: [email protected]
Most donation advice stops at "clean and in good condition," which leaves the donor holding the blanket that failed the test. Animal shelters remove that dead end. A kennel floor does not care about a coffee stain, and a dog being dried after a bath does not care about pilling. The result is that blankets are one of the very few household items with a genuinely good destination at every condition level, from new to threadbare, as long as they are washed.
Project Linus's insistence on new handmade blankets can look fussy next to a shelter that will take anything clean. The difference is the recipient. A blanket given to a child in a hospital bed or a foster placement is meant to be that child's own, kept for years, and made for them. Used does not fit that purpose, and store-bought misses the point. If you make blankets, Linus and Warm Up America are the right homes for them. If you are clearing a closet, the shelters are.