Where Your Thrift Store Purchase Goes: The Causes America's Charity Shops Fund

3,437 thrift stores state specific charitable beneficiaries

ThriftAtlas tracks 20,629 second-hand retail locations across 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among 7,562 stores checked for program information, 3,437 describe a specific charitable beneficiary on their public websites. General community aid represents the largest single cause with 1,099 stores, followed by job training and disability services with 872 locations, and addiction recovery programs with 373 locations.

Other stated causes include affordable housing with 190 locations, homeless shelters and services with 160, animal rescue and welfare with 120, hospice and health care with 106, churches and ministries with 101, schools and youth programs with 100, and veterans programs with 40 stores. Under federal regulations, section 501(c)(3) organizations must not operate for private interests, and no part of net earnings may benefit private individuals¹.

Cause	Stores	Share
general community aid	1,099	32.0%
job training and disability services	872	25.4%
addiction recovery	373	10.9%
women, children and families	245	7.1%
affordable housing	190	5.5%
homeless shelters and services	160	4.7%
animal rescue and welfare	120	3.5%
hospice and health care	106	3.1%
churches and ministries	101	2.9%
schools and youth programs	100	2.9%
veterans	40	1.2%
other causes	31	0.9%

Source: ThriftAtlas directory, data as of 2026-09-26.

Store	Town	State	Proceeds support
Bishop's Attic II	Palmer	AK	various local community organizations and charities in the Mat-Su Valley
256 Thrift Center	Tuscumbia	AL	Parkview Baptist Church’s missions outreach
4:13 Consignment	Rogers	AR	helping your neighbor and community
Boys & Girls Club Thrift Store	Fort Mohave	AZ	support our local kids
A Dream Shared	Bakersfield	CA	adults with special needs
ARC Thrift Store	Colorado Springs	CO	individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families
Allied's Attic	Enfield	CT	provides employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities
Curiosity Shop	Seaford	DE	improve the lives of women and girls
2 B Kind Thrift Store	Venice	FL	funds animal outreach programs and medical assistance for animals
4Heroes Thrift Store	Tyrone	GA	emotional and spiritual support to first responders and their families
Shared Blessings Thrift Shop	Kilauea	HI	Christ Memorial Episcopal Church and its community outreach programs
Animal Lifeline Thrift Shop	Des Moines	IA	special needs cats and dogs

Source: ThriftAtlas directory, data as of 2026-09-26.

Independent charity shops fund 120 animal rescues and 245 family missions

Independent operators represent 15,573 stores or 75.5% of the national directory. Within the verified charitable subset, 1,663 stores are run by independent charity organizations. These local retailers focus heavily on specialized community initiatives rather than broad national training programs.

Independent charity shops account for all 120 stores dedicated to animal rescue and welfare, and all 245 stores dedicated to women, children, and families. They also maintain 137 locations supporting homeless shelters and services, 105 supporting hospice and health care, 99 supporting addiction recovery, and 94 supporting schools and youth programs. Shoppers visiting local stores selling second-hand and pre-owned goods encounter operations directly tied to local civic infrastructure.

Three national chains account for 3,575 locations focused on employment and housing

Goodwill, The Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul together run 3,575 locations, 17.3% of all mapped stores: Goodwill lists 2,539, The Salvation Army 783 and St. Vincent de Paul 253. Habitat for Humanity ReStore adds 321. While independent charity shops account for 168 job training locations, national networks make up the remaining share of the 872 job training stores nationwide.

In housing support, independent shops run 5 of the 190 affordable housing stores, while Habitat ReStores operate the vast majority. Sales from donated items at ReStores help partner with local families to build, rehabilitate, and repair homes². St. Vincent de Paul's stores belong to a network whose members, called Vincentians, serve more than 5 million people annually across urban, suburban, and rural communities³. Shoppers browsing thrift stores with furniture sections or requesting thrift stores with furniture pickup frequently encounter these large networks.

Directory records exclude revenue shares and unverified tax filings

The catalog records only the cause a store explicitly names on its own website. The directory does not measure what percentage of retail revenue reaches the named beneficiary, as stores do not report financial disbursements on customer-facing pages. Furthermore, chain locations frequently share a single corporate website, meaning a stated cause applies to all retail branches in that network.

The directory counts store descriptions as published and does not verify federal tax-exempt standing or local 501(c)(3) compliance. Donors seeking tax deductions should verify the current status of an organization on official state or IRS databases before scheduling drop-offs at thrift stores accepting donations.

How we measured

We read the websites of the thrift stores in the ThriftAtlas directory that have one (7,562 store pages, saved on or before 2026-09-12) and recorded the cause each store says its proceeds support, in plain words, then sorted the causes into 12 groups. A store that names no cause on its site is not counted. For-profit resale shops that do not fund a cause are not part of this count.

Data: ThriftAtlas listings as published on 2026-09-26 · U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2024/cities/totals/sub-est2024.csv).

Sources

1. IRS — Exemption Requirements: 501(c)(3) Organizations — The organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests , and no part of a section 501(c)(3) organization's net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
2. Habitat for Humanity — ReStores — The sales from donated items help Habitat for Humanity partner with local families to build, rehabilitate and repair safe and affordable homes in your community and around the world — a good deal for you, your community and the environment.
3. Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA — About Us — Vincentians serve more than 5 million people annually in rural, suburban, and urban communities across the United States.

By the ThriftAtlas editorial team · data as of 2026-09-26 · published 2026-09-26. Spotted an error or a missing store? Tell us and we will correct it.