Planet Aid: Aid for Africa Collaboration

This is a charitable organization dedicated to bettering the environment and the lives of others through providing recycled clothing and shoes to communities in the developing world. Through these and other actions, Planet Aid also helps to improve health, increase economic opportunity, assist at-risk children, train educators, and strengthen communities through the reduction of poverty, want, and illness. Since beginning its work in 1997, the organization has supported sustainable development around the world and currently helps to recycle millions of pounds of used clothing every year. Planet Aid is registered with the US Agency for International Development, the agency responsible for oversight and administration for civilian foreign aid.

Organization, Funding, and Programs

According to Planet Aid, the organization spent 84% of its funds on programs in 2012, maintaining low overhead and high efficiency in its operational structure. In other words, the resources they brought in last year, whether clothing or other donations, went primarily toward their mission goals as stated above and on their website.

They have clothes donation bins located in twenty-one states in the US with an online tool to help donors find the most convenient bin locations in their area. These bins are available for use 24/7 with donated items collected every week. 

Through their Host a Bin program, local businesses can have one of the organizations attention-getting yellow bins on their property, free of charge. More than 16,000 of these donation bins are currently in use. Through them, more than 100 million pounds of donations are collected per year.

All donations made at these bins or online are tax deductible with a tax receipt, easily available by request. Donations can be made online to the organization in general or to specific causes or programs supported by Planet Aid.

Aid for Africa Collaboration

One program supported by these donations is the collaboration with Aid for Africa. They have partnered together to provide assistance in the following countries in Africa: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their focus in these areas is on HIV/AIDS prevention programs, education, hunger-prevention, and economic growth in poverty-stricken rural regions of these countries.

Aid for Africa is not a singular organization or charity. It is a groundbreaking partnership among eighty-five charities, all of which share the mission of solving the complicated and highly interrelated challenges that are currently facing Africa. All partners in this coalition must meet stringent tests regarding their fiscal accountability, organizational standards, and program impact in order to participate. Planet Aid is a welcome member in this partnership.

Together with Aid for Africa, Planet Aid hopes to create Teacher Training Colleges that will give local would-be teachers training for primary school education that is capable of fulfilling their needs in the classroom and community at large. These teachers will also learn to have a voice for leadership in the development of their communities.

Other programming includes: Vocational Schools, Child Aid, Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE) participation, HOPE projects, Children’s Towns, and Farmers Clubs. Together, it is hoped that these initiatives will bring about lasting change for the good in struggling communities in rural Africa. Each one represents the potential for revitalization for individuals, families, and every level of their larger society.

With assistance from generous donors, whether of clothing or direct funding, these organizations hope to make a difference in some of the most desperate communities in Africa and in the world entire.