Grants for Thrift Stores 2026: 173 Funders, $4,000 Median

Thrift store source review, Grantsights, November 12, 2026: Grantsights checked IRS Publication 598 (opens in a new tab) on unrelated business income, IRS Publication 561 (opens in a new tab) on valuing donated property, the IRS page About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab) and the Department of Labor's WIOA page (opens in a new tab) against the foundation filings. Where official sources stop: none of them says which foundation in your county paid for another store's roof last year. The filings do.

Grants for Thrift Stores: What 990-PF Filings Show

One gift skews the national total: the Alvin Goldfarb Foundation gave $2,592,529 in 2025 to the National Council of Jewish Women's St. Louis section for a capital campaign for its resale shop and endowment. Leave out that section's 2 grants and the other 257 total $3,435,257, with a median of $3,797, according to Grantsights analysis of the November 12, 2026 snapshot.

A roof grant to a small-town thrift shop is public record: according to IRS guidance on Form 990-PF, private foundations list their charitable payouts on that return. Of the 259 grants, 89 carried a human services cause tag, 15 a faith tag and 13 a health tag, while 134 (52%) carried no cause tag. Funders file thrift store gifts under whatever the store pays for: a food pantry, a hospice, a ministry or a job program.

What Thrift Stores Get Funded For

Building grants are the biggest single use by dollars. Grants naming roofs, heating and air conditioning, sprinklers, windows, doors, parking lots, expansions or capital campaigns came to 25 filings worth $3,668,723, with a median of $25,000, according to Grantsights analysis of the November 12, 2026 snapshot. That total includes the St. Louis campaign; the median shows the normal size.

Vehicles are the second clear category: 6 filings with a median of $19,000, according to the same snapshot. The Village Learning Center in Texas drew a second box truck gift, $20,000 from the Elkins Foundation in 2022, for the thrift shop that employs adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Fred V. and Dorothy H. Heinkel Charitable Foundation gave Como Mobile Aid Collective in Columbia, Missouri $18,000 in 2024 for a trailer the filing calls the "Thrift Store Thursday Trailer."

Job programs make up a third. Grants naming employment, job training or work programs came to 9 filings worth $198,250. The Daniels Fund gave Arc Thrift Stores in Lakewood, Colorado $100,000 in 2024 for its Working for a Purpose employment program, and the Wilson Sheehan Foundation gave the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Center in Springfield, Ohio $25,000 for an employment navigator.

Capital Campaigns and New Stores

Eight thrift store grants reached $100,000 or more in the November 12, 2026 snapshot. The 5 below named a thrift store project; the other 3 were broader gifts to a church's outreach ministries, a Salvation Army rehabilitation center and a job program. A charity planning to buy or build should study the 5.

Smaller campaigns follow the same pattern. The Treacy Foundation gave Good Samaritan Thrift Store in Helena, Montana $50,000 in 2021 toward a capital campaign, and the Floyd A. and Kathleen C. Cailloux Foundation gave Hill Country Youth Ranch in Ingram, Texas $50,000 in 2024 for a thrift shop expansion.

Startup grants are rare. The clearest one is $7,000 from the Wiregrass Foundation to Lifted Higher Ministries in Alabama in 2025, filed as "LHM thrift store start." A new store should plan to open on donated goods, volunteer labor and a lease it can cover from sales, then ask foundations for the second truck or the bigger building once it has a year of sales numbers.

Thrift Store Funders by State

Florida had the most foundations giving to thrift stores in the November 12, 2026 snapshot, 13, but the state counts are small everywhere, according to Grantsights analysis of the filings. The table counts by where the store's charity sits.

North Carolina shows how one active funder changes a state. The Cannon Foundation made 4 thrift store grants worth $128,634 to 3 recipients, including the Goldsboro ReStore and The Church Mouse, and its filings list how to apply. Virginia's total includes the Cecil and Irene Hylton Foundation's $80,000 in 2024 and $75,000 in 2023 to House of Mercy in Manassas for general operating funds for its food pantry and thrift store.

Hospice, Church and ReStore Thrift Shops

Habitat ReStores drew 22 grants from 14 foundations worth $192,458, according to Grantsights analysis of the November 12, 2026 snapshot. Besides the Cannon gifts, Caldwell County Habitat for Humanity received $18,000 from the Cannon Foundation in 2024 to replace the ReStore's heating and air conditioning, and the Carpenter Foundation gave Habitat for Humanity Rogue Valley $10,000 in 2023 toward renovating and expanding its ReStore building. A ReStore asks through its Habitat affiliate, and the nonprofit vehicles guide covers more truck funders.

Hospital and hospice shops have loyal local funders. The Daniel M. Tabas Family Foundation gave Jefferson Hospital Thrift Store in Pennsylvania $22,599 in 2024 and $33,345 in 2025 for general support, and the Burns Family Foundation gave Miles Memorial Hospital League Thrift Store in Maine $20,000 in 2025. Hospice organizations should also read grants for hospices.

Church and ministry stores usually pair the shop with a pantry. Society of St. Vincent de Paul conferences and councils drew 11 grants from 8 foundations worth $137,392, including $40,000 from the Sunderland Foundation in 2023 for updates at a Monroe, Washington resource center and thrift store. Christian Social Ministries in Georgia received $5,000 a year in 2024 and 2025 from the William Warren Ball Family Foundation for its food pantry and thrift store. Stores that share a building with a pantry should read grants for food pantries as well.

What the IRS and DOL Don't Tell You About Funding a Thrift Store

The IRS publications and the WIOA page cover taxes and workforce law, not fundraising. Grantsights checked them against the filings, and 4 gaps stand out.

1. Donated-goods sales are usually not taxable, and funders know it. According to IRS Publication 598, a business selling merchandise substantially all of which the organization received as gifts is excluded from unrelated business, and the IRS uses a thrift shop selling donated clothes and books as its example. The same publication says Form 990-T is required when gross income from all unrelated businesses is $1,000 or more. A store that also sells bought inventory or runs a café should ask a tax adviser before a funder asks.
2. Donor receipts aren't your valuation. According to IRS Publication 561, used clothing and other personal items are usually worth far less than the price paid, and donors generally can't deduct used clothing or household items unless they're in good used condition or better. A store that writes values onto receipts is taking a risk; give donors a receipt and let them value the goods.
3. Job training is a separate funding stream. Per the DOL WIOA page, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is designed to strengthen the public workforce system. A store that trains people for jobs can talk to its local workforce board about a training partnership, and the 9 job program grants above show private funders will pay for the training side too.
4. Profit isn't a reason to say no, but it changes the ask. A common mistake is asking a foundation to cover operating losses at a store that should break even. Foundations in this snapshot paid for things sales can't easily cover: a roof, a sprinkler system, a truck, a job coach. Lead with how the store's profit funds the mission and what the grant unlocks.

Common Mistakes in Thrift Store Grant Requests

These 6 mistakes are the ones the filings make easiest to avoid.

• Asking for inventory money. Donated goods are the model. Funders paid for equipment, buildings and staff, not merchandise.
• Hiding the mission. A red flag for funders is a store pitched as retail. Say how many meals, hospice visits or job placements the store's profit paid for last year.
• Skipping the capital ask. Roof, HVAC and sprinkler grants ran $10,000 to $75,000 in the examples above. If the building is failing, ask for the building.
• Underestimating vehicle costs. A box truck for donation pickups drew $20,000 and $30,000 gifts in Texas. Price the truck, insurance and driver in the request.
• Forgetting operating partners. House of Mercy's general operating grants covered a pantry and a store together. Bundle them when the store funds the pantry.
• Treating employee matching gifts as prospects. Corporate gifts that follow an employee's donation can't be applied for. Read a funder's full list with how to read a 990-PF before you ask.

One organization in Minnesota shows what a steady local relationship looks like: Stone Soup Thrift Shop, run by Basic Needs Inc. of South Washington County, drew 4 grants worth $145,000 from the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation, including $45,000 for general operating support in 2025.

Related Guides for Thrift Store Charities

Thrift stores sit inside many other kinds of charities, and their funders overlap. Stores that buy trucks or equipment should compare grants for nonprofit vehicles and grants for nonprofit equipment. Stores that train workers with disabilities will find more funders in grants for disability services, and church stores in grants for ministries.

Ministries often run more than one outreach: see grants for prison ministries and grants for crisis pregnancy centers. Operating money is covered in grants for nonprofit operating costs. For public programs with deadlines, search the Grantsights grant database, and the human services funder list groups foundations by state.

FAQ: Common Questions

Are there grants for thrift stores? Yes. 173 foundations made 259 grants to nonprofit thrift stores in the November 12, 2026 snapshot.

Can I get a grant to start a thrift store? Only as a nonprofit, and startup grants are rare. One Alabama ministry got $7,000.

What do foundations pay for at a thrift store? Buildings, trucks and job programs, more than daily costs.

Is thrift store income taxable for a nonprofit? Usually not if the goods were donated, per IRS Publication 598.

Do Habitat for Humanity ReStores get grants? Yes. 22 grants from 14 foundations named a ReStore.

Which funders take requests from thrift store nonprofits? 89 of 172 funders, about half, filed application details.

Sources

• IRS: Publication 598, Tax on Unrelated Business Income of Exempt Organizations (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: Publication 561, Determining the Value of Donated Property (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
• U.S. Department of Labor: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (opens in a new tab)