How to Run a Successful Jean Donation Drive

Running a Teens for Jeans drive sounds easy enough, right? You know what you’re doing (Teens for Jeans), what you’re collecting (jeans), and who they’re for (teens). That’s it. You’ve got it. We can all go home now -- wrap it up, folks.

...As it turns out, there’s actually a lot more to it -- from planning to prepping to actually doing your drive. We spoke with DoSomething members who’ve collected hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of pairs of jeans through their Teens for Jeans drives. Here’s their advice for running the best drive ever.

Teens for Jeans drive by Farmington High School in Michigan.

PLAN IT

Build a team.

If movies have taught us anything, it’s that teams 👏 make 👏 it 👏 happen. In the same way Nick Fury needed the Avengers to take on Loki (and Ultron and Thanos and...each other?), you’ll need a solid group of friends and family to help make your drive successful. According to DoSomething member Jasmine, 22, “So much more can happen when you have more hands and minds.”

If you’re not sure where to start, consider working with a school club, sports team, faith-based community, or other local group. DoSomething member Caitlynn, 18, held a drive four years ago, and she even got her city’s police and firefighters involved. When asking for help, make sure you have at least a general idea of what you’re doing and what you’ll need from them.

Pro Tip: Assign roles early so everyone knows what they’re responsible for.

Here are some roles you’ll probably want to fill:

• Team leader (you, duh.)
• Someone in charge of promotions
• Someone to oversee bin making and set-up
• Someone to manage incentives
• Someone to design posters/social media posts
• A point-person for folks outside your team to get in touch with you
• Someone who bakes really good cookies (for morale purposes)
• Cookie taste-tester (you?) (optional)

Establish a goal and timeline.

What’s a team without a plan? Figure out what the goal is for your drive -- like how many total jeans you want to collect, or how many donation bins you want to fill. Once you know where you’re going, you can plan how to get there.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither should your drive, so put together a timeline for prepping and executing (you should probably allow for at least a few weeks). DoSomething member Chelsea, 19, got some help on this part from her teacher and principal when she ran her drive.

Pro Tip: Work backwards from the Teens for Jeans hard deadlines.

The earliest you can drop off your jeans at a local Aéropostale store is January 22, but you can definitely start collecting before then. Keep in mind, Teens for Jeans ends February 29, so be sure to get them to an Aero before then.

DoSomething member Tyler’s drive at his high school in Louisiana.

Find a location.

DoSomething members have held successful drives at schools, local businesses, places of worship, and beyond. The two big things to consider are your location’s traffic and audience (because you’re probably not going to get a lot of donations when you’re posted up outside of, say, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or that weird abandoned lot behind the Whole Foods). We’d recommend your school’s cafeteria, library, sports games, or even at the building’s entrance.

Pro Tip: Your school will probably be the easiest place to run your drive.

Finding your location is half the battle. Your next step will be organizing with whoever’s in charge to make sure you have permission to collect there. If it's your school, that’ll probably be a principal or activities director, and if it’s a business, a manager or owner.

A good start for reaching folks you don’t know is to look up contact info online and shoot them an email or a quick call. Don’t worry though, people are usually really eager to work with you when you’re doing something that helps out the community. In fact, what surprised DoSomething member Caitlynn the most about her drive was just how willing people are to help others.

PREP IT

Gather your supplies.

Here’s what you’ll need -- we’ll go over what to do with them next!

• Donation boxes
• Art supplies
• Posters
• Tape

From December 1 to December 20, DoSomething will help you out with this if enough folks sign up for Teens for Jeans at your school! If 10 people sign up during this period, you’ll get a digital kit with posters you can print, and if 20 people sign up, you’ll get a physical kit with a banner, posters, and flyers to help promote your drive.

Make donation bins.

Now, this is crucial. Your donations need a place to go, and short of just dumping them all on the ground in little jean piles, you’re gonna want to figure it out beforehand. Large cardboard boxes work just fine, and you can ask around if folks have any to spare (because we all have that one friend who loves Amazon shopping a little too much). A lot of grocery stores also typically have leftover boxes from deliveries, and if you ask nicely, they’ll probably help you out.

Pro Tip: Decorate your donation boxes.

Once you’ve got your boxes, you need to make it clear what they’re for. DoSomething member Zenayda, 22, says that the one thing she would have done differently during her drive is getting more creative with her donation boxes. A well-decorated box not only explains the drive, but it also draws more attention to what you’re doing. So bust out the puffy paint and glitter glue, channel your inner Pinterest mom, and make that cardboard shine (at least, as much as cardboard can).

Donations boxes that DoSomething member Beth made for her drive.

Get the word out.

You’ll want to promote your drive even before it starts to give folks as much time as possible to get their donations to you. Posters are a pretty classic way to get the word out (and you’ll have already proved your artistic know-how with the boxes), but don’t be afraid to try some other methods.

DoSomething member Sheba, 22, talked about her drive during her school’s morning announcements, and DoSomething member Zenayda and her friends shared posts on social media promoting the drive. Just be sure to outline what the drive is, where it’s happening, and for how long.

Pro Tip: Encourage folks to post on social media when they donate (even if it’s just on their stories).

Think about incentives.

We’d like to believe that our classmates/coworkers/community members will be motivated to donate by good will alone, but folks are awfully busy, and sometimes it takes a little more to remind them to pitch in.

DoSomething member Sheba arranged with her school so that each pair of jeans donated counted towards students’ required community service hours (you might even try to work out something similar for folks who volunteer to help you).

Pro Tip: Make donations count towards community service requirements.

DoSomething member Lisa introduced The Jean Trophy to her school, which was awarded to the class with the most donations each week. DoSomething member Jasmine worked with local dance instructors to allow jeans as admission to their performances.

Whatever you do, make sure it’s something folks want and, more importantly, something you can follow-through on. So maybe don’t promise your classmates that Chance the Rapper is gonna show up if they donate enough jeans...unless you can arrange that, in which case...call us.

DoSomething member Shaun and the 541 pairs of jeans he helped collect.

DO IT

Keep up with donations.

Your beautiful bins, in all their puffy-painted glory, will (hopefully) be overflowing with denim, and you should make sure you have someone checking in on them regularly to collect donations, free up space, and repair or replace damaged boxes. It’ll also be a lot easier to collect the jeans a few at a time over the course of the drive, as opposed to hauling a hundred pounds of them all at once at the very end.

Pro Tip: Jeans are HEAVY. Be prepared.

Don’t forget to lean on your team here! Assign certain days or weeks to different folks so that it’s not all left to one person.

Let us know how you did.

Once your drive is over, it’s time to round up all the donations and figure out your final jean count (according to some DoSomething members, this is the best part!). Not that we don’t trust your counting skills, but it might be worth it to have a few different people double-check your numbers.

And don’t forget to let us know! Head back to the Teens for Jeans campaign page and upload a photo of your haul to be eligible for a scholarship. Plus, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be here at the office doing happy dances over the hundreds (thousands? MILLIONS?) of pairs of jeans you collected.

Make the final drop-off.

Get those jeans to your local Aéropostale store! If you have a really huge amount of donations, you may want to contact the store beforehand just to give them a heads up that you’re about to flood them with jeans. They’ll handle it from there and make sure the jeans go to a shelter that needs them.

Pro Tip: Figure out transportation arrangements with your team ahead of time.

We cannot stress enough that the final date to drop off jeans at Aéropostale is February 29. Set a calendar reminder, write it down in your planner, tattoo it on your pinky finger -- just make sure you don’t miss it!

DoSomething member Carissa making her final donation drop-off.

Report back to your community.

Woo-hoo, you did it!! (Well, you probably haven’t done it yet...but we know you will!) At this point, with your jeans donated and your drive complete, it’s time to let your community know what you did together and the impact that you had.

Let everyone know how much was collected and where their donations are going, and follow up on any outstanding rewards or prizes from the drive. It’s important to do this because it helps folks feel like they were a part of something meaningful (which they were!), and your obvious success makes it easier for the next person who wants to run a drive to get the help they need. And hey, maybe that person will be YOU, doing it all over again next year! #TeensForJeans2021?

If you have questions about the Teens for Jeans campaign or running your own jean drive, you can contact Sahara at sahara@dosomething.org.