Frequently Asked Questions

Your donation of money goes directly to the cause or specific request you choose. When you donate to GIVIT, you have the power to give in your own way—whether by purchasing a particular good, supporting a current appeal, or contributing directly to GIVIT to help us continue assisting thousands of Australians in urgent need.

GIVIT ensures 100% of your public donation received by GIVIT will be used to purchase essential goods and services for a person in need. GIVIT’s staffing and operational costs are covered by government contracts, corporate supporters and donors who choose to “Give it to GIVIT”.

Spending donated money within communities is a cornerstone of GIVIT’s model, particularly for those recovering from disaster. Donated funds have an even greater impact because they also support local retailers who employ local people, providing opportunity and vital support to small towns or disaster-affected regions.

GIVIT supports local communities by helping them in the way they want to be helped. After disaster strikes, GIVIT understands that communities in need can be overwhelmed by well-meaning donations that may not be necessary or immediately useful. This often requires significant effort to sort, store, and ultimately discard goods that donors believed would be helpful.

GIVIT exists to ensure giving is coordinated and that donations do not cause harm to individuals, communities, or the environment—especially in times of disaster.

Any quality good that you would be comfortable giving to a friend can be donated through GIVIT to someone in need. Everything from cutlery to baby items, washing machines to hardware tools can help someone set up a new home. You can also donate school equipment, sporting goods, larger items such as a shipping container, and much more.

You can find the types of goods and items that we can’t accept in our Prohibited Items list.

There are a few things GIVIT needs to say no to. To protect the safety, dignity and privacy of both donor and recipient, the following items cannot be offered or sourced through GIVIT:

• Any items requiring exchange of registration, identity documents, or legal transfer of ownership, including but not limited to: motor vehicles, caravans, trailers, mobility scooters (in states and territories where registration is required), real estate and accommodation in private properties;
• Items that are illegal or hazardous, including but not limited to: alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, tobacco, smoking implements and products, drugs, drug-like substances and drug paraphernalia, human parts, recalled items and items that do not comply with Australian mandatory standards;
• Medications, including both prescription and over-the-counter, however vouchers to purchase such products from local retailers are permitted;
• Perishable food and animal fodder, however vouchers to purchase such products from local retailers are permitted;
• Payment of debts and/or recurring bills;
• Illicit, inappropriate or pornographic material;
• Lost or stolen property;
• Animals;
• Raffle and/or auction prizes, or lottery tickets;
• Items intended to address need outside of Australian borders;
• Items that are on loan or involve an ongoing fee or agreement – e.g. rental of whitegoods, storage.

You can be sure that when you donate through GIVIT, your offer is being seen only by GIVIT partner charities that have been through GIVIT’s registration process and vetted by GIVIT as genuinely working with vulnerable people and communities in Australia. Your donation will support genuine need, and you will help change the life of someone doing it tough right now.

Public donation offers submitted through GIVIT cannot be sold by any support organisation. Your donation is to support a service’s work or a person in genuine need. Support organisations are obligated to only use your donation for that purpose.

The list of goods needed right now on givit.org.au is a dynamic live list. As soon as a partner charity submits a request on behalf of someone in need, it’s listed on our What’s Needed list. As soon as you offer a donation, support organisations registered with GIVIT can view your offer on a private, protected portal.

GIVIT encourages people to offer any high-quality good you’d give to a friend through our online warehouse.

Once your donation is listed in the online warehouse, any registered charity can reserve your good or service for a person they support. To list your offer on our secure website, simply visit our Donate Items donation form and include a description and photo of each item. Listing each type of good separately is important so you know exactly which donation offer has been matched. A support organisation that needs a couple of your items may not need the whole lot.

Only support organisations that have successfully registered with GIVIT will be able to view your donation offer.

By donating goods to GIVIT you are essentially helping to build a free circular economy of goods or services for support organisations across Australia. They love how easy GIVIT makes their job when they are looking for essential items for their charity or a person they are supporting.

Submitting a photo with your donation offer is essential in helping the charity if the good will be right for the person in need. For example, the good may need to match the person’s small living space or they require clothing like a work shirt with long sleeves for sun protection.

Including a good-quality photo with your donation offer helps our partner charities assess whether the good is what they need, and reduces the risk of yours and the charity’s time being wasted.

If you offer to donate an item already requested on the website, once you put in your contact details, you will receive the details of the support organisation which needs that item. Connect with them and work out drop off, pick up, post or purchase options.

If there is no existing request for what you are giving away, you can list the donation on our website. As soon as you do this, support organisations registered with GIVIT can see your offer on a private login protected page. We then ask you to commit to hanging onto your donation for a minimum of two weeks. This allows support organisations time to see your listing, and then get in touch if what you are offering is exactly what they need right now.

If you donate towards a request on our What's Needed list, check the delivery options specified by the organisation to ensure it suits you too. For example, if the organisation listed only Drop off, you will need to arrange delivery of the item to the charity. If the organisation has listed several options (Pick up, Drop off, Post/courier, Voucher) you can discuss with them the preference which suits you best.

If you offer an item and indicate you can deliver, you must then deliver the item (or arrange delivery) within the specified area. If you indicate the item needs to be collected, the organisation which accepts your offer will pick it up. If you offer to post the item, you will need to cover this cost.

Under no circumstances are you to deliver your donation directly to the person in need. If you are asked to do this, please let us know.

GIVIT is an online donation platform we do not directly receive, collect, or transport donations of items. All donation offers are listed via our website.  

To access donated support through GIVIT, you must first connect with a support organisation that can assess your needs. To find support organisations in your area that are already registered with GIVIT, please search for organisations near you.

If you are a support organisation—charity, social service, school, community group, government or non-government organisation—register here to use GIVIT.

To avoid any real or perceived conflicts of interest and to promote transparency, we are unable to accept requests for items and/or services for the personal use of staff members or volunteers under their employer's organisation profile. 

If in need, staff or volunteers can seek the assistance of an independent GIVIT-registered organisation (provided that they are not a volunteer or staff member of said organisation) to place the request for the item or service on their behalf. The list of registered organisations can be found here.

Yes! Cash donations over $2 are tax deductible as GIVIT is registered with Deductible Gift Recipient status. A tax receipt will be automatically emailed to you if you donate online. If you donate via direct deposit or cheque, please send us an email at info@givit.org.au and we will email you a tax receipt.

Unfortunately donations of items are not tax deductible and we cannot issue tax receipts for item donations.

If you are a GIVIT registered partner charity and this is the first time logging into our website, you will need to set a new password to be able to get started. You’ll also need to enable two-factor authentication.

Training manuals and videos are available once you log in, and remember we are always around. You can always contact us here.

If you are donating, you do not need to log in, simply click here to offer your donation.

You can share GIVIT with your community. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn to see the impact of your donation and keep up to date with urgent need in Australia. You can find GIVIT’s impact in our stories.

To keep up to date with new appeals, updates about the GIVIT team and more subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of any page. If you’re interested in helping people in your local area, sign up to our weekly alerts for new requests listed near you. 

Before you start your collection, check the "What’s Needed" list to see if there is a need for the goods you wish to collect. If you are wanting to support a community devastated by an emergency or disaster, donate your goods through GIVIT. Unrequested donations dropped off or sent into disaster areas will hamper the recovery efforts of emergency and frontline services. When you offer your goods through GIVIT, frontline organisations can reserve your donation offer when it’s needed. Dropping off unrequested goods at organisations means they must sort, store, and distribute the goods. When they reserve a donation via GIVIT, the organisation only needs to give the item to the person they support, reducing the time spent on solving resource and storage problems.

By offering your donation through GIVIT, you can ensure your donation does no harm to a community that is already under strain after an emergency or natural disaster. Only what is needed right now will be reserved by support organisations assisting affected residents.

Your donation offer will stay listed for the time period you choose (we recommend allowing a minimum of two weeks for your donation to be reserved by a charity), ensuring support organisations can keep going back to the list to find the exact items they need as people find somewhere new to live and have a safe location to put the bed, fridge, or washing machine they need.

GIVIT can’t directly receive, collect, or transport donations of items. Donated items will help affected communities through an emergency or disaster, please however also consider donating money. Being able to spend donated funds in an affected community means an impacted resident gets exactly what they need when they need it most. Local businesses are also supported. Please don't buy bottles of water or nappies and put them on a truck when you could spend the same money buying a voucher from a local store. How people give to support affected communities does have a big impact on their recovery.

100% of public funds received by GIVIT are spent purchasing essential items in affected areas, wherever possible. This supports the recovery of the whole community.

GIVIT Alerts are sent to your inbox once a week to let you know what is needed near you right now. You set how far from your postcode you want to know about, you can even choose to highlight requests from certain support areas.

You can donate money to GIVIT via direct deposit! Please email  info@givit.org.au to request GIVIT's bank details.

If you donate using direct deposit, please include information in the reference field should you wish your money to go towards a specific appeal or disaster region, and your email if you would like a tax deductible receipt.

In Australia, your donation of $2 or more is tax deductible.

You can donate here using Visa, MasterCard or PayPal. Please enter your donation amount in Australian dollars. The payment will be processed through payment portal eway and you will be charged the relevant amount in your own currency. This may be more or less than the value you have entered, depending on exchange rates.

Alternatively, you can email info@givit.org.au to request GIVIT's bank details.

If you donate using direct deposit, please include information in the reference field should you wish your money to go towards a specific appeal or disaster region.

Organisations request what they need to best help the people they support, whether that’s new or preloved items or vouchers for groceries, household items, etc. Our registered ACNC charities request vouchers for the people they help so charity workers can purchase exactly what’s needed.

A $100 grocery voucher means they can buy the exact food required, catering to dietary needs and preferences, whether for non-perishables or fresh produce. Kmart or Big W vouchers are typically used for household essentials such as toasters, kettles, clothing (vouchers are especially helpful for purchasing the right size), back-to-school items, etc.

People trying to get back on their feet will receive the dignity and support they need, tailored to their specific circumstances. Providing personalised assistance makes donations more impactful than items that may only partially meet a person’s needs.

GIVIT is an online donation platform. We do not directly receive, collect, transport, or store donated items. All donation offers are listed on our website.

When submitting a request, charities may offer to collect the item from a location provided by the donor. However, not all charities have the resources to pick up items. To find charities that can collect, head to our What’s Needed page and filter by the delivery option "Collect" and your location.

You can also offer your donation on our Donate Items page by submitting the relevant details, including specifying that the item needs to be collected. Registered charities that can collect will reserve the offer if it’s suitable. Please note there’s no guarantee the item your offering for donation will definitely be needed. GIVIT’s priority is to ensure people who are struggling get exactly what they need.

Please note that collection-only donation offers may take longer to be reserved, as many charities are under-resourced and may not be able to collect items immediately. We ask that you hold onto your donation for at least two weeks to allow support organisations time to view your listing and contact you.

If you need to urgently an item or multiple items quickly, for example if you’re moving house in a couple of days, it may be more suitable to find another way to give away your items.