Donate items
Would you like to give your pre-loved possessions a new lease of life and help other families at the same time? Donating to the Hackney Children & Baby Bank is an easy way to do just that.
How to donate
1. Quality is key:
Imagine giving this item to a loved one. Is it clean, safe, and in good condition? Items we can’t use cost us valuable resources as we have to dispose of them, so we kindly ask for donations that are ready for a second life.
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2. Organisation is awesome:
Sorting your donations by age and gender (if applicable) and labelling the bags helps us distribute them efficiently.
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3. Check if it's on the no-no list:
There are some items we can't accept due to safety regulations or limited storage space. This includes car seats, cot bumpers, mattresses, sit-in walkers, and jumperoos. You can find a full list of restricted items on this page.
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Make an appointment to donate items
We take donations by appointment and on the first Saturday of the month between 10 am - 2 pm we have an open drop-off donation day. We put out a wishlist each month setting out what we are taking that month and highlighting those things that we need urgently.
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You can make an appointment by clicking the button below to go through to Calendly and find a time to suit you. If you have difficulty finding a suitable time or if you have a query about donations you can email us on hello@hackneybabybank.com.
Before you donate, please check the details on this page to make sure we accept what you'd like to donate. As you'll see there are some things like electrical items and car seats that we never take. Please also note the guidance that everything should be good quality, complete and clean.
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Please also check our wishlist for that month and note that we only take what is on the list for the month. Why? We have limited storage space and if we have of lot of items, we have to pause! We are a pretty small charity and we don't have a lot of space for spare equipment or clothes.
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You might also notice that we often don't put baby clothes (0-2yrs) on our wishlist. This is because we get donations of far more baby clothes than we can give out, as do many other baby banks. We do however take baby clothes on the drop-off day on the first Saturday of the month.
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Parking can be a little difficult; please contact us if you need advice. Please do not leave items outside if we are closed as things get wet and damaged.
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To donate:
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Check the detailed guidance on this page for items we don't accept and how to make sure things are in good enough condition
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Check the wishlist to check what we need that month
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Click the button below to make an appointment to drop off your donations
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174 Homerton High Street, London, E9 6AG.
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Items we cannot accept:
There are some items we cannot accept because of safety and hygiene regulations. Other items are too large for us to store or cannot be used by our families where they live.​
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Car seats
The official advice is not to provide second-hand car seats because they may have become damaged and may be dangerous for children.
So we don't accept car seats.
The same applies to bike helmets.​
Travel cots
We can't take travel cots or space-saver cots. ​​
Used mattresses
For safety reasons we do not take used mattresses for cots or Moses baskets.
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We provide new mattresses for the cots and Moses baskets we give to families.
Adult clothes or bedding
We don't take adult clothing, including maternity wear.
We don't accept bedding for adult beds, including single beds.
Stained clothing
We don't give out stained, ripped, marked clothing or clothes with missing buttons or broken zips.​​
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If these are donated we have to put them in rag bags and have them collected which costs us money. Please help us by sorting your items before you donate.
Electrical items
We can't accept any electrical items like bottle warmers, steam sterilisers, microwaves or any plug-in equipment.
Cot accessories
We don't accept cot bumpers or 'sleepy heads' for safety reasons.
Nappy bins
We can't accept nappy bins or reusable nappies.
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Though we love reusable nappies. many of our families do not have facilities to wash and manage them. ​​
Large toys
We don't take large toys like play kitchens or doll houses. Most families we work with don't have space for these.
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Scooters, bikes and ride-on toys.​
Again, space is an issue and we don't have capacity to make sure that items are safe to be given out. ​​
Damaged toys
Jigsaws with missing pieces, games without all their parts and broken toys all cause disappointment and we don't give them out.
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We don't give out dirty, marked or stained toys.
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Please sort your donations - and wash them if they need it - so that we don't have to simply throw things away when they come to us.
Baby walkers and jumperoos
Current safety advice discourages the use of these items and so we don't take them. This includes push along walkers.
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We don't take Bumbos either!
Used baby bottles
We don't accept used baby bottles, teats or dummies.​​
Large sleep pods/baby beds
We can't take Sleeping pods, such as Snuzpods, Next to Me cribs or free-standing cribs.
Most of our families do not have room for these items.
Furniture
We don't take any furniture, including changing tables and children's furniture.
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We simply don't have space to keep any furniture or the capacity to organise delivery to families.​​
Open toiletries
We love to give out toiletries to our families. Donations of everyday toiletry essentials are so important and extras of special toiletries are welcomed by parents and teens.
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Any unwanted gifts of toiletries are welcome as long as they are unopened.
We follow the advice of the Lullaby Trust about safe sleeping for babies. If you'd like to find out more about whether certain items are safe for babies, you can visit www.lullabytrust.org.uk.
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It really helps us if we don't receive donations we can't use. It takes time for us to sort and dispose of items we don't give out. If in doubt about whether we can accept any of the larger items you may have, please drop us an email at hello@hackneybabybank.com and we’ll be happy to advise.
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What we can accept:
Baby essentials:
Nappies, wipes, Moses baskets and bedding, buggies, highchairs, baby bouncer chairs and baby towels are always in high demand.
Clothing & footwear (0-12 years):
Good quality, clean clothes, coats and shoes. Sorting your donations and labelling the bags helps us distribute them efficiently. Backpacks for school are also very useful.
Please don’t donate anything with stains, rips or broken zips; we only have to dispose of clothes that can’t be used and that makes more work for us.
Toys & children's books:
Encourage learning and fun by donating toys, books, puzzles and games in excellent condition. Please make sure games and jigsaws have all their pieces and that everything is clean.
For safety reasons, we cannot accept broken toys.
Personal Hygiene Products (New & Unused):
Help meet the needs of babies, toddlers, and parents with new, unopened toiletries such as shampoo, body wash, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, sanitary towels, maternity pads and nappy cream.
Bigger items:
We always need buggies, especially suitable from newborn. Please check that brakes and harness are working and that the buggy folds down and is clean, ready and safe to use.
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We provide lots of cots and cotbeds. We take cots (size 140 x 60 c.m.)and cotbeds (size 160 x 70 c.m.) Please make sure that any cot is complete, with all fixings. If you have the instruction manual that’s really helpful.
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Please contact us about donating any of these larger items as we have limited storage space and need to make sure that it is something we can use.
Formula and feeding equipment:
Baby formula – please make sure it’s new, unopened and well within the use by date. We also need sippy cups, weaning plates and cutlery and new baby bottles and teats.
We don’t accept used bottles, teats or dummies.
Thank you
Passing on the things that your children no longer need helps us to support more children and families in Hackney.
