10 most bizarre donations to charity shops

Howard Lake | 1 October 2010 | Blogs

• Tagged with:
• fundraising humour
• Trading

This list is a year old, but still raises a smile. Last year PDSA published a list of the ten most bizarre donated goods it had received at its network of charity shops.

They were:

• Freeze dried astronaut ice cream, vacuum packed (Leeds)
  
• Canoe, including paddles (Morriston, Wales)
  
• Emergency distress flare (Newton Abbot, Devon)
  
• Shower cubicle (Merthyr Tydfil, Wales)
  
• 34-year-old condom, still in its original wrapper (Kilburn, London)
  
• False teeth (Barkingside, London and Elgin, Scotland)
  
• Live rifle ammunition (Glenrothes, Scotland)
  
• Mobility scooter (Shirley, West Midlands)
  
• Samurai sword (Shanklin, IOW and Poole, Dorset)
  
• A musical organ (Huyton, Liverpool)

Yes, the dangerous donations of the sword, live rifle rounds, replica handguns and an emergency distress flare were all handed into police.

What about your charity shops? Can you beat the above for quirkyness?

More unusual donations to charities

• 10 weird items donated to Mind charity shops (14 February 2020)
• 10 unusual donations to British Heart Foundation charity shops (3 July 2014)
• Unusual legacies at Oxfam (16 June 2010)
• Ancient Egyptian figurine wins most unusual donated item awards (2 May 2018)
• Nipple tassels and a live hand grenade amongst the weirdest items donated to charities (16 November 2017)

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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.