Chester / Central Montco - Info for Donors

This page is designed to offer information for people who may be seeking information on how to donate to Toys for Tots

It is important to understand that this is relevant for the Chester / Central Montgomery PA campaigns  only. Each Toys for Tots campaign is run independently, and have their own processes and procedures. Just like our campaign cannot be expected to offer something another campaign does that we cannot, applicants outside our area should not expect their local campaign to work this way. Your local campaign is solely responsible for how their campaign is organized

Q: Where can I find a place to drop off a gift?

A: The 2025 Toys for Tots campaign will be collecting gifts from Oct 1st until Dec 12th, 2025. The goal is to have at least some sites ready to accept donations on Oct 1st, but that will depend on how quickly we receive supplies from the Toys for Tots Foundation.  We will put up the appropriate link during the campaign season

Q: Why can't I find a place to drop toys in December?

A: In order to distribute donated gifts to our families, we must sort and pack them beforehand. In 2025, our major distribution will take place the weekend  of Dec 20 / 21. As most of our volunteers are not available on weekdays, that means most sorting and packing takes place on the previous weekend, Dec 13 / 14. To get our gifts consolidated for pickup, we ask out sites to stop collecting on Wednesday, Dec 10, or earlier

Q: Can I drop off gifts before October?

A: Toys for Tots has a handful of drop sites that serve us year round. Those sites will be published in late January on the Toys for Tots webpage

Q: Do you have Virtual Toy Drive options? 

A: There will be two options. Gifts selected will be equally split between the two campaigns, and shipped directly to us:

• Individual Gifts: We are once again partnering with  You Give Goods.

https://yougivegoods.com/campaign-landing/qq7bbawmnrdrvkcm1va8cj5dn

If your business or organization would like a subpage link just for your organization, reach out and we can get that set up. Please visit this page for details: You Give Goods Virtual Drive 

• Bulk Gifts: One of our wholesale partners, HDI, will offer bulk pricing on gifts, and either ship directly or add them to the orders we're already placing. If you are seeking a tax letter for this donation, please reach out to me first to discuss so I can get the paperwork set up correctly

https://www.catalogmachine.com/hdi-wholesale/showroom/s/tftpachst2025 

Q: What kind of gifts do you not accept?

A: Toys for Tots will not offer the following items to our applicants 

• Used items. Toys for Tots offers new, unwrapped gifts to our applicants. 

• Food, including holiday items such as gingerbread house kits

• Holiday themed items. While Toys for Tots is based around holiday gift giving, the goal is to offer gifts that are useful to the children year round

• Summer / nonseasonal items. We cannot offer gifts to children that can't be used for months. Items like squirt guns and beach toys are not appropriate for Toys for Tots.

• Old Collectables. Items that are obviously old are not considered "new" for our purposes, even if they are unopened. They are bundled as stocking stuffers or offered to other parties as appropriate.

• Homemade Toys. Toys that have not gone through a testing process can theoretically be donated to Toys for Tots, but our volunteers do not have time to vet them, and they are almost always geared for an age range where we have ample supplies. These are offered to an appropriate nonprofit organization 

• Clothing. We are unable to determine which applicants would be appropriate for clothing, and that is not the type of gift we are trying to offer

• Realistic looking weapons. These are forbidden by the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Nerf guns are fine. 

• Gift cards. Gift cards which can be used to purchase toys are used to purchase toys. Other gift cards can be problematic to find an appropriate organization to donate to. Please do not donate gift cards

Q: What kind of gifts do you accept?

A: Toys for Tots seeks gifts that are appropriate for children between the age of 0-18. For younger children, those are usually toys. For older children, items such as Bluetooth headsets, body care items, or sports items are useful. Items with a value less than $5 are considered "stocking stuffers" and are bundled for our agency partners. Most gifts we receive are between $10 and $20

Q: Do you accept video game consoles or other expensive gifts?

A: Expensive items can be a challenge to distribute, as one child in a family can get something amazing, while others are likely to receive something more in line with the items we usually receive, in the $10 - $20 range. It can also generate questions from other applicants why their neighbor received something extravagant and they did not. We typically offer expensive items to our nonprofit partners who have a deeper relationship with the families they serve, as they are more likely to be able to find an appropriate home for them .

That being said, all donated 'acceptable' gifts will be offered to our applicants. We will do our best to honor the intention of those who donate to our program when we receive large value items

Q: What if I wanted to support a single family?

A: Toys for Tots is not set up in a way to allow for the sponsorship of specific families. We offer our applicants two gifts per child, and these gifts tend to be in the $10- $20 range. There are multiple charities that sponsor families in our area of responsibility; please work through them.

Q: What kind of gifts do you have the greatest need for?

A: The majority of donors supply toys to Toys for Tots. This may seem self explanatory, but the toys sold in most stored are geared for children between three and seven years old. We tend to receive a lot of them, but not as many for our older children

To give an example, these are picture from our 2023 campaign. The first set is our 3-5 section

 And this is our 11+ range. Note that we have considerably more requests for this age range on average than the 3-5 range

As you can see, the donations of gifts for younger children is often much greater than those for older gifts - so much so that we end up storing many of the 3-5 gifts between seasons. 

For those who are more interested in the numbers, this is approximately what we collected in 2023:

0 to 2: 3,200

3 to 5: 11,500

6 to 7: 8,200

8 to 10: 5,000

11+: 4,000

We collected more than we needed for the 3-5 and 6-7 range - some were transferred to other Toys for Tots campaigns - and needed to supplement our collections with purchases for the others. 

Appropriate and requested gifts for older applicants include:

• STEM kits - highly requested

• Board games geared for older audiences

• Sports equipment such as balls

• Personal hygiene and cosmetic sets

• Electronics such as Bluetooth headsets or LED string lights

• Book sets geared for older readers

• Journal Kits 

• Art Kits / Supplies

Please do not donate items such as video game console gift cards or items that depend on a child having something they may not already have, such as game controllers or keyboards. We do not know what children have access to which console or computer system. Many of our applicants have none.

Q: Besides gifts, are there other types of support Toys for Tots needs?

A: Toys for Tots is dependent on the support of our community in many ways. We try to spend all our donated funds on toys, so any of the following we can get donated allows us to preserve our funds for those uses:

• Space: One of the largest challenges each year is finding warehouse space, where we can collect and sort gifts for 16,000+ children. Each year we need to find a space that we can utilize from October until mid January - and then we (ideally) need to find another space we can utilize for storage for low or no cost. Generally speaking, at least one square foot per child served is the metric we seek - but at the end of the day, we will work with what we are able to find

• Trucks: During December we need to rent trucks during our Consolidation period. Every vehicle we can have donated is an expense foregone.

• Supplies: Along with Volunteer sweat and generosity, Toys for Tots needs 'stuff' to execute our mission. The types of supplies we use annually include:

  • Large contractor bags for our family and agency orders

  • Boxes and packing tape for agency orders and post-campaign packing

  • Printer paper and toner for printing applications

  • Duct tape. You can never have enough duct tape

• Help: Toys for Tots is fully dependent on volunteers. We are happy to partner with businesses seeking service hours. Please see the Volunteers page for more details

Q: Is my donation tax deductible?

A: Generally, yes. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity. Our Tax ID is 20-3021444 . 

Credit card donations taken on the website will generate an immediate confirmation. Go to the following sites to donate via credit card

Chester County: Chester County Credit Card Donation Link or click the 'Donate' in the upper right hand corner of the main webpage at https://chester-county-pa.toysfortots.org/

Montgomery County: Montgomery County Credit Card Donation Link or click the 'Donate' in the upper right hand corner of the main webpage at https://montgomery-county-pa.toysfortots.org/

Checks will have a tax letter sent from the Toys for Tots Foundation in the January / February timeframe. Please make out checks to Chester or Montgomery County Toys for Tots and mail them to 2428 Copper Creek Road, Chester Springs, PA 19425

Cash requires a special process to ensure you receive credit, contact the Coordinator at chester.county.pa@toysfortots.org or montgomery.county.pa@toysfortots.org to discuss. 

Gift donations in bulk require a separate process; please contact the Coordinator at chester.county.pa@toysfortots.org or montgomery.county.pa@toysfortots.org*before* dropping them off. Note that is applies to gifts that are donated by a specific individual or organization; gifts left in a drop box a site is hosting for Toys for Tots are not eligible because those gifts are donated by the individuals dropping them, not the organization hosting the box.

Service support such as campaign supplies, truck rental, or similar non-gift items used to allow us to complete the campaign may also be eligible. It is important to verify deductibility with your accountant