Threading Love: Where to Donate Quilts

Quilts of Valor

With thousands of quilts donated each month since its inception in 2003, the Quilts of Valor Foundation is one of the most popular organizations to donate quilts to those who have been “touched by war,” from veterans to service members. This nation-wide foundation seeks to award those who have selflessly given their valor, service, and courage with handmade and high-quality quilts. To learn how to make your own Quilt of Valor and join in on the giving spirit of patriotism, click here.

Freedom Quilts

This nonprofit organization strives to comfort, recognize, and honor the families of those who perished in 9/11 or during military service. Freedom Quilts is also known for its international participation and personalized quilt designs, which oftentimes incorporate images of fallen soldiers or hand-stitched well-wishes into donated pieces. Whether you’re looking to donate a quilt or simply give money to help others purchase quilting supplies, you can click here to learn more.

Quilts of Honor

If you want to commemorate those who have dedicated their lives to protect American freedom, then Quilts of Honor may be just the organization you’ve been looking for. Since 2005, this nonprofit organization has gifted thousands of healing quilts to those who have served our country and gained national recognition for pieces such as “The Warrior” quilt, which was installed in the “9/11 Memorial Display Case” after its presentation to the Pentagon in 2009. If you want to know more about quilt requirements for Quilts of Honor, click here.

American Hero Quilts

Established in 2004, American Hero Quilts has a mission to recognize the bravery, sacrifice, and generosity of those who were wounded while serving our country in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This organization successfully donated nearly 30,000 quilts during 2019 alone, and it takes great care to follow up on the heartwarming stories of quilt recipients and donators. For more information on how you can get in on the quilting love of American Hero Quilts, click here.

Ryan’s Case for Smiles

With chapters located across America, Ryan’s Case for Smiles donates hand-quilted pillowcases to bring solace, comfort, and love to children in hospitals across the globe. Having donated over 2,000,000 pillowcases to over 362 participating hospitals, this organization has generosity, dedication, and care woven into its DNA. If you want to join in the fight to reduce hospital trauma in children around the world, then you can click here to learn more about how you can help.

Quilts for Cure

Whether you’ve been personally affected by cancer in your life or simply recognize how harrowing the experience can be, Quilts for Cure may be the organization to which you donate your next quilt. This nonprofit organization donates quilts to children battling cancer to raise awareness, increase financial resources, give strength and comfort, and reduce PTSD among children and families affected by cancer across the U.S. If you want to help Quilts for Cure achieve its charitable mission, then you can click here to learn about how you can join the fight against childhood cancer.

Care Wear

This national, nonprofit organization has been working tirelessly since 1991 to give handmade items, including quilts, to babies and children at hospitals, as well as their families and other social service agencies. Care Wear’s website provides free sewing, crochet, and knitting patterns to prospective donors looking to assist in their compassionate mission as well as participating hospitals. This informational source is the perfect place to begin your journey in donating hand-crafted pieces to children in need of extra support.

Quilts That Care

We can all agree that cancer is an extremely difficult disease to come to terms with. Whether you’re suffering from cancer or you’re a friend/family member of someone suffering from cancer, you know just how much it means to have a little extra support throughout the treatment process. That’s why Quilts That Care began in 2012: to inspire, comfort, and care for those affected by cancer using the power of quilts! Now with over 200 active members, a dozen hospitals served, and 2000 quilts made, Quilts That Care is one of the nation’s leading quilt donation organizations, based in Connecticut. To find a chapter meeting or learn more about how you can help this heart-warming cause, click here.

Binky Patrol

Binky Patrol, a non-profit donation organization with chapters located across the U.S., has been one of the leading donation organizations for handmade blankets for children in need since 1996. What the group calls binkies are actually blankets that are knitted, quilted, crocheted, sewn, or made of fleece that are given to provide support and love to children who require extra care. If you’re looking for quilting inspiration, Binky Patrol even provides a charming collection of sample binkies and patterns to fire up your imagination and charge your philanthropic spirit. Find a chapter of this heartwarming organization near you, and then you can get into the donation spirit and help change the life of a child in need. Click here to find out more information on how to make your very own binky.

Bags of Love

With a mission to give children suffering from “abuse, neglect, poverty, or homelessness,” Bags of Love has been hand-crafting bags filled with everything from clothes to school supplies to toiletries since 2008. The most special element of these care bags, however, are the handmade quilts carefully packed in each one. These comfort items and necessities have made immeasurable differences in over 5,000 children’s lives, providing them with hope, support, and safety. If you’d like to change the course of a child’s life with your quilting skill, click here to learn about how to contribute.

Quilts for Kids

If you want to give a child in need a source of comfort, care, and kindness, then this nonprofit organization may be precisely where you should donate your quilts! Quilts for Kids has a mission to provide quilts to “children facing serious illness, trauma, abuse and natural disasters” across the globe. With so much benefit to so many children in need, who wouldn’t want to volunteer their crafting talents to this generous operation? This organization is even so helpful as to provide kits of pre-cut fabric for those who want a little more direction in their quilting project, though it is always open to receiving a whole host of quilt patterns. For more information about this organization’s quilting specifications and instructions, click here.

My Very Own Blanket

Being in foster care can be a new and scary time for young kids to go through. That’s why the My Very Own Blanket strives to donate thousands of blankets and quilts to children in foster care every year by connecting with individuals, philanthropic groups, and even businesses who want to make a difference. Whether you want to host your own blanket-making party or you just want to make a single quilt to donate, My Very Own Blanket makes it easy for you to do so! Just click here to find out how you can make a blanket to give love, comfort, and warmth to children in foster care today.

Project Linus

If you’ve ever considered helping children in need, then chances are, the name “Project Linus” has come up on your radar as an organization that can make your dream a reality! This organization strives to bring compassion, comfort, and kindness to children facing hardships such as illness and trauma. 80,000 volunteers—known as “blanketeers”—across the nation work tirelessly to achieve Project Linus’s heartening mission, often coalescing into larger community groups and sponsored events. If you want to make one of the over 350 blankets donated through Project Linus every month, then you can click here and find donation guidelines to get you started.

Project Night Night

With nearly 1 out of every 30 American children facing homelessness each year, it comes as no surprise that Project Night Night is dedicated to giving security items and literacy materials to children in need. Each Night Night package comes with a stuffed animal, book, and cuddle-friendly blanket or quilt so that homeless children can feel safe and comforted even when their families face hardship. If you’d like the help the 30,000 children helped by Project Night Night every year, then you can click here to learn more about what you can do to make a positive difference in a child’s life.

Quilts Without Borders

One of the best things about charity is that you don’t have to limit who you help based on where you live; with inspiring international charity organizations like Quilts Without Borders, you can help underserved children across the globe! This large organization currently serves children in need, mainly orphans, from over 25 countries, including Haiti, Uganda, Peru, Mexico, Russia, and Greece. Now you can make the whole world a better place by spreading your love to all children in want of comfort with just a few hours at the sewing machine. Stipulations on how to make your very own charity quilt can be found by clicking here.

The Sleeping Bag Project

For someone without a home, one of the greatest gifts that can be received is one that offers comfort, warmth, and shelter. That’s why The Sleeping Bag Project is such an important donation source for quilters across the U.S. and beyond. This project, led by the group My Brother’s Keeper, has a mission to give free quilts to homeless people using clean used fabrics or brand-new materials; all skill levels are welcome here! Dedicated to providing true warmth to those without shelter, The Sleeping Bag Project also encourages donations to include anything from hats and gloves to hopeful inscriptions. Further instructions for how to make your own quilt for donation can be found here.

The Giving Quilt

The Giving Quilt is one of the largest, most comprehensive donation sources out there. If you want to spread love through quilting but can’t decide where you’d like your kindness to go, then The Giving Quilt can help! This nonprofit umbrella organization gives quilts to other smaller charities that serve a wide range of populations in need, from children who are wards of the state to military service members to women in neonatal units at hospitals. If you want to begin your journey with quilt donation that touches lives across the U.S. and across causes, then you can click here to find out how!

Quilt Outreach

A volunteer-led organization that makes and distributes scrap quilts to charitable organizations and homeless shelters around Cincinnati, Quilt Outreach is one of Ohio’s most active quilt charities. Quilt Outreach has donated over 9,000 quilts to homeless shelters since its inception in 1993. This philanthropic group even provides free quilt patterns to help spark your creative flame as you work to help your community, making it a simple way for even beginner quilters to use their talents for good. If you’d like to find out how you can have your quilting make a difference, click here.

Loose Ends

When a crafter dies mid-project, or is no longer able to do handwork due to disability or illness, they will likely have unfinished items they were making for friends and family. These tangible, handmade expressions of love could get lost, donated away, or thrown out.

Loose Ends will match unfinished projects to volunteer finishers who then complete and return the garments, blankets, & accessories, to their loved ones.

Need a project finished? Have some time to give? Download the informational flyer here.