Gifts in Kind Organization Helps Parsons State Hospital

Like many other non profit organizations, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Parsons State Hospital and Training Center needed to secure PPE with their already limited resources. Fortunately for them, they were able to turn to a gifts-in-kind organization that has helped them again and again.

Located in Parsons, Kansas, Parsons State Hospital and Training Center is one of two residential treatment, training and care facilities operated by the State of Kansas to serve individuals with intellectual disabilities. Originally founded in 1903 as the Parsons Sate Hospital for Epileptics, the hospital changed its name and focus in 1957. The center now has 160 residents who live within 10 “cottages” on its campus. Eighty percent of the residents present significant psychiatric disorders or symptoms of emotional disturbance in addition to their intellectual diagnosis.

When Parsons needed PPE and other items to provide training and assist with treatment services for their residents, Parsons turned to NAEIR (www.NAEIR.org), a gifts-in-kind organization based in Galesburg, Illinois.

Gifts-in-Kind organizations are non profits that receive donations from companies and redistribute them to schools, churches, government agencies and other non profits. Large and small companies donate a range of excess inventory, from computer equipment to hand sanitizer, and the gifts-in-kind organization makes it available to its members. Some of the most well known corporations are regular contributors and the variety of products is impressive.

Over the years, NAEIR has supplied Parsons with a wide range of items, including cots, kitchen supplies and tools. Marlys Shomber-Jones, Parsons’s Director of Volunteer Services, explains that NAEIR has also helped them to provide Christmas gifts for the Operation Santa program sponsored by a local radio station. “Over the past few years, donations have decreased, while the prices of desired Christmas presents have increased,” she notes. By using NAEIR, Shomber-Jones has been able to supplement the drive so all of Parson’s residents could receive three presents on Christmas morning.

To belong to a gifts-in-kind organization, groups pay a small annual membership fee. In return, they can browse through the gifts-in-kind organization’s catalog or online listing of available items and request whatever they want, paying nominal handling and processing fees. For most items, shipping is free. Members of gifts-in-kind organizations may request as many items as they want as many times a year as they wish. They may either donate the items or use them within their organization. The only stipulation is that they must follow IRS guidelines outlined in IRC section 170(e)(3), which states that the merchandise must go to care for the ill, needy or minors. Beyond that, organizations may not barter, trade or sell the donated items.

By donating unsold merchandise to gifts-in-kind organizations, companies avoid liquidating or discounting items. Instead, they earn a tax credit for their donation, while putting their products into the hands of people who truly need them. And by using a gifts-in-kind network, their products end up benefiting a wider variety of organizations well beyond their own communities.
That wide reach not only benefits donors, but recipients like Parsons, as well.

By using a gifts-in-kind organization, Shomber-Jones explained, she is able to find items that she usually doesn’t have access to in their small community. “I remember ordering name brand shoes and hats one year, and the people who live here loved them. Cologne was another item they loved. Expensive cologne is definitely not a budget item here, and all my people here love to smell nice.”

Because contributions to gifts-in-kind organizations come from large corporations as well as small businesses, donations may range from a few boxes of items to a few truckloads. Products may include electronics, office supplies, tools, clothing, beauty products, art supplies and more.
Besides being a money-saver, gifts-in-kind organizations are time-savers as well. For companies, it means they don’t have to spend time vetting organizations when they have items to donate. And for non profits, it means spending less time sourcing the items their organization and the people they serve need.

“It makes my life easier,” says Shomber-Jones. “I can shop from the comfort of my office and everything is delivered to us.” For organizations on a tight budget, that’s not just a convenience, it’s a life-line.