Chester / Central Montco - Info for Drop Sites / Gift Donation Locations

This page is designed to offer information for people who may be seeking information on becoming a Toy Drop Location for our campaign

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 the processing of your application and the conditions they choose to set. 

Important information that you need to know in order to work with our campaign

• Some email providers such as Yahoo seem to send toysfortots.org emails to spam. It is recommended you apply from a different email provider. If it is in your spam folder, flag the message are Not Spam so you see the follow up messages you will need to respond to

  • You *must* have access to an email account to apply to our campaign. Important information will be sent at several times during the process, including information on our consolidation process

Q: When can we become a drop site

A: Toys for Tots kicks off on October 1st of each year. The Drop Site form will typically open in September, with a brief email sent to the drop Sites who applied in the previous year

Q: How do we apply?

A: Two methods. 

1 - If you've worked with us in the past, a survey will be sent in September. Enter your business name, the email address we have associated with it, and any changes such as updated business hours. I will clone the information from last year, updating as needed.  

2 - Fill out the application online

Chester County: Please go to http://chester-county-pa.toysfortots.org/  - select "Get Involved", then "Become a Toy Drop Site"

Montgomery County: Please go to https://montgomery-county-pa.toysfortots.org/  - select "Get Involved", then "Become a Toy Drop Site"

Sites are not listed as public by default. Less than half of our Toy Drop Sites are listed as open to the public. Even if your site is private, and even if your collection is planned for a single day, please follow the same process. It's too hard for us to keep track of locations any other way.

If you have multiple locations for your business, please email the coordinator at chester.county.pa@toysfortots.org  or montgomery.county.pa@toysfortots.org - there is a bulk update method we can use in that case to prevent you from entering the same information multiple times

It is the applicant's responsibility use an email address they have ready access to. We communicate almost exclusively via email with our drop sites.

Q: How do I get supplies such as toy drop boxes and posters.

A: Our campaign does not have enough volunteers to deliver supplies to all our drop sites; the majority of them have commitments such as jobs during the standard work week. We set up "Supply Sites" early in the campaign where registered drop sites are welcome to grab what they need at their convenience. The emphasis on "registered" is to reiterate how important it is that our campaign know you are collecting. Not only can we list you on our list of drop sites, without having your email you won't know where the Consolidation sites are, and may miss the opportunity to bring in your donations in time for them to be used for this year's campaign. Items brought in too late have to be stored, and we often have to pay for storage.

Supply Site locations will be sent when your info is entered on the sign up page above

Posters are not available. Digital copies of posters, including historic versions, can be found here: https://www.toysfortots.org/news/marketing-promotional-materials/toys-for-tots-digital-media-library/toys-for-tots-digital-media-library-posters/ 

Q: How do I get listed as a Toy Drop Site?

A: Once you have picked up your box, email the relevant campaign, and we will set your site as visible on the list and the map

Q: Can we get boxes even if we're not open to the public?

A: Absolutely. We simply flag you as 'nonpublic' in our records and don't publish your location. Past that, your business would be treated like any other drop site

Q: Can we participate in other ways? Most of our employees don't go to the office any longer?

A: We will be offering virtual toy drive options. Details will be published in September / October

Q: How are the gifts picked up?

A: For the same reason we can't drop off supplies to all our drop sites, we can't offer to pick them up either. We ask our sites to cease collections on or around the first or second Wednesday in December. On Thursday and Friday of that week, we have Consolidation Sites - local sites where other drop sites can bring their donations without having to travel to the warehouse. 

Please look here for more details:  Consolidation Process 

Q: What are you looking for in a Consolidation Site?

Every year we need to recruit Consolidation Sites. If you have the following, please reach out:

• A large publicly accessible area where other Toy Drop Sites can leave their gifts during business hours

• Some means for Toys for Tots to get access to the gifts on the Saturday of Consolidation, either because you're already open or because one of your team can set a time for us to meet them

• A willingness to help Toys for Tots

Q: Can I get a pick up at my site rather than dropping at a Consolidation Site?

A: As we only have limited volunteer availability, we can only offer pickups to companies that have the equivalent of ten or more full Toys for Tots boxes. These must be scheduled at least a week in advance, and will be picked up either the Thursday or the Friday of the Consolidation period. This opportunity ends on the Friday of the Consolidation period - we no longer have the ability to pick up gifts in bulk after that time

Q: Can I drop off gifts after the Consolidation Period?

A: Yes, but.

Yes, we will accept gifts until the close of our campaign, and as a courtesy for a limited period after that, but gifts dropped off past the Consolidation Period are probably going to arrive too late to be used during the current year's campaign. We will store them for the following year's campaign, but there are costs to us associated with that - we often have to pay for storage, and the more we have to store, the more we have to pay - and the more funds we're spending on storage rather than gifts the following year. It is strongly desired that we have all donations collected during our consolidation period