Facts About Us

  • The Giving Tree Foundation, Inc. is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are tax deductible.
  • Our Foundation and Donations for Education Program was founded in August of 2013. It is a women-owned business started by four local moms with various business backgrounds.
  • We are run by our founding board members, two staff members and volunteers.
  • We support Wake Forest (in 27587 zip code) K-12 schools – public, private and charter.

Wake Forest Elementary, Middle and High

Jones Dairy Elementary

Franklin Academy

Richland Creek Elementary

Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic School

Heritage Elementary, Middle and High

Endeavor Charter

Envision Science Academy

Thales Academy

Wake Forest Charter Academy

  • The community participate to earn credit for their school of choice by donating, volunteering and shopping. At the end of the year these credits are totaled for each school. Our annual proceeds are then divided and donated back to each school based on their total credits.
  • We have donated over $50,000 back to our local schools in less than 5 years!
  • Our retail store is located at 839 South Main Street in Wake Forest. We are open Monday through Friday from 9:30am-5:30pm and 10am-5pm on Saturdays.
  • Our specialty and differentiator is showcasing gently used home décor items in a non-traditional thrift shop boutique.
  • We are proud to provide positive social impact through our volunteer opportunities for the local community. We focus on giving local high school students opportunities to learn the value of community service and to develop leadership skills through volunteering with The Giving Tree.
  • We provide a business model that encourages our community to be good stewards of the environment by diverting useable items to our store.

FAQ’s

  • Do you negotiate pricing? No, we try our best to ensure our prices are very reasonable upon initial pricing. We do have daily sales that provide discounts on most of our store items on a regular basis. Please ask a sales representative for a copy of our monthly sales calendar or review it on our website: givingtreefoundation.org.
  • Do you accept clothing? No, we do not accept clothing to resell at The Giving Tree. However, we have recently begun working with The Children’s Closet of Wake and Franklin Counties. The Children’s Closet provides clothing for local in-crisis children and families. The Giving Tree is acting as a drop off location for The Children’s Closet. Clothing may be dropped off at The Giving Tree on MONDAYS and FRIDAYS, and we will pass them on to The Children’s Closet.
  • Do you take items on consignment? Currently we are only consigning refinished furniture by two local craftsmen. We are not accepting new consignors at this time.
  • Do you pickup donation items? Unfortunately, we do not have the (wo)man power and transportation to offer pickup services.
  • Can anyone come and volunteer? We love to have volunteers come and help us at the store! We ask that volunteers be at least 16 years of age. Generally, we ask that volunteers are able to commit to volunteering for a minimum of two hours a week for at least one month. This allows us to provide training for our volunteers and have consistency in scheduling for at least a month at a time. If you, a friend or a family member is interested in volunteering, please ask a sales associate for our volunteer application. We ask that this be completed and returned to the store. We will then review the application and setup an appointment to discuss current opportunities.
  • How do you determine how much money each school gets at the end of the year? We utilize a credit system to determine our annual school donation payouts.
    • Each time a someone makes a PURCHASE, makes a DONATION or VOLUNTEERS with us, they get 1 credit towards the participating school of their choice.
    • At the end of the year we add up all these credits for each school. This then gives us a total participation credit for each school for the year.
    • We then divide our profits for the year based on the number of credits each school has earned. This allows the school that participates more in our program to earn more money each year.