Donate Magazines - 12 Ways To Donate Used Magazines Instead Of Recycling Them

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Want to donate magazines instead of just recycling them?

You see them lurking in the corner...a pile of perfectly good magazines in great shape but never opened.

You think to yourself that you'll get to them this weekend, but then the weekend comes and goes. The magazines are still there, but the only thing that has changed is the added layer of dust that has accumulated on them.

Ugh!

You decide that you're not going to get to them since new ones just came in, and who knows when you'll even get to those. It's time to let the old ones go, but throwing them in the recycling bin just seems wrong.

I got ya. Here are 12 ways to give your magazines new life without recycling them, and I threw in a personal story as well. Enjoy!

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Did you ever own a Nat Geo magazine?

I had an incredible National Geographic magazine collection as a kid.

Despite what you may think, I was a collector of sorts when I was young. I was organized yes, but I did like to "curate" things. There was my un-sharpened pencil collection, my sticker collection, my rock collection and my Nat Geo magazine collection, among other things.

To be honest, I don't even remember flipping through them. I just remember the shelf that was occupied by the NAT GEO yellow covers.

Yes, they were stored together all on one shelf by date. C'mon, you wouldn't expect anything else would you? If this is you're first time here, then you can get acquainted with my inherent neatness here. Simply put, I was born organized.

Anyhow, I thought about that National Geographic magazine collection and can't recall what happened to them. They would probably be some sort of collector's item now, but my guess is that they ended up in a recycling bin. That got me thinking about ways to donate magazines and so this blog post was created.

Without further ado, below are 12 different ways to give your magazines new life without recycling them.

12 Ways To Donate Magazines

Before we go into the ways you can donate your magazines, let me throw in here that it is also helpful if you unsubscribe from any subscriptions that you are simply not reading. This is a preventative measure that will stop the magazine build up from occurring the first place.

Think about it like this: if there are any magazines that you haven't gotten to in the last 6-9 months, then it's probably safe to say that you can unsubscribe without missing anything.

Online Resources

Magazine Harvest recycles your clean, gently read magazines and comics to new readers – feeding kids and families hungry to read. Bundles of recycled magazines and comics prepared by local volunteer teams are posted to our online MagPower Marketplace for selection by literacy programs.
Kosair Charities Child Advocacy Center will take gently used magazines for their observation and waiting rooms.
Savers accepts donations on behalf of local nonprofits including used magazines.
Vietnam Veterans Of America takes used magazines, and you can schedule a pick up through their online form.
Prison Pen Pals gives details on how to send used magazines and books to prison libraries.

Local Resources

Pass them on to neighbors, family and friends.
Give them to any practitioner of yours that has a waiting room (e.g. hospital, doctor, dentist, massage therapist, spa).
Donate them to local education facilities (e.g. day cares, schools and libraries).
Pass them on to local nursing homes and retirement communities.
Give them to local shelters (e.g. homeless shelters, women and children centers).
Donate them to military troops.
To locate any of the above resources in your area, Google "donate magazines" along with your city and state or county.