October 5, 2000 | Read Time: 2 minutes
By NICOLE WALLACE
ExcessAccess.com is an online service that matches individuals and businesses that have items to give away — anything from furniture to building materials — with charities that can put them to good use.
Businesses and individuals who join the for-profit service post on the Web site descriptions of the items they would like to donate, while member charities post a “wish list” of items they would like to receive. Staff members at ExcessAccess.com review all postings and sort them into categories. The service’s database then processes the postings to find donations and requests that are in the same geographic area, and alerts charities of potential matches via e-mail.
Charities are responsible for contacting the donor and picking up the items. After a match has been made, ExcessAccess.com sends donors a thank-you letter and a receipt they can use to document their contributions for tax purposes.
ExcessAccess.com, located in San Francisco, was founded by Lisa Gautier, who sees her business as the “missing link” between businesses with items to donate and the nonprofit world.
“They’d like to see [the item] go to a good home, but they can’t possibly call every nonprofit in their area to see who wants it and who doesn’t,” she says of the businesses that use ExcessAccess.com.
The service charges membership fees of $60 a year for nonprofit organizations and businesses and $10 a year for households.
ExcessAccess.com matches donations and charities nationwide, but right now is most active in San Francisco and New York. In each of those cities, the service matches charities with more than 100 tons of donated items per quarter. Ms. Gautier hopes to have six cities matching that volume of goods by the end of 2001.
To get there: Go to http://www.excessaccess.com.
