Office Furniture and Equipment Reuse Community Resource Bank (CRB) in Baltimore is an agency of the United Way of Central
Maryland that has served local non-profit organizations since 1990. CRB links corporate goodwill with community needs. CRB solicits, matches and distributes surplus goods, such as office furniture, equipment, supplies, and
computers, and limits their operations to bulk donations. All the items handled by CRB have been donated by businesses, government, universities or other organizations. CRB does very little refurbishing, but has occasionally
worked with the prison industries to do repair or refurbishing of select items. CRB charges a handling fee for items to help cover the cost of transportation and warehousing. CRB reports that it costs between $75 and $400 to
pick up just a single load. Major corporations donate to CRB, including Black & Decker, Proctor & Gamble and First Source Bank. When companies downsize, refurbish or otherwise change its operations, often it leaves
perfectly usable items available for donation. CRB has also found solutions for some unusual donations. Recently they received 186 boxes of women's shoes which were in great demand by local organizations. CRB also recently
received a large shipment of sofa and seat covers and are working with the Association for Retarded Citizens to find creative new uses for these items. CRB serves 6,000 non-profit organizations in Maryland that pay a nominal
annual membership fee based on their organization's annual budget. |
