Cleaning House

 

If leftover or defunct inventory is taking up too much room in your warehouse, a Chicago organization will gladly take it for you, and your company will receive a tax deduction to boot.

The National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources (NAEIR) is a nonprofit organization that warehouses charitable donations and distributes them to other qualified nonprofit organizations nationwide. Last year's ruling by the Internal Revenue Service, allowing companies to receive tax deductions of up to twice the cost of their donated inventory, has caused NAEIR's business to boom.

Dozens of preserved laboratory cats, 50,000,gallons of house paint, 1,000 books on Holland, and $300,000 worth of fragrant soap are among the items that NAEIR has received and later distributed to some of its more than 1,200 members. Because of its nonprofit status, NAEIR is not permitted to sell, trade, or barter any of the goods that it receives under the IRS ruling.

According to Gary C. Smith, assistant to the NAEIR president, items stored in the organization's 65,000-square-foot warehouse on Chicago's South Side are inventoried and listed in a NAEIR quarterly bulletin available only to members. The members, most of whom represent educational institutions, pay a $250 annual fee for access to the goods received. Corporations donating items pay for shipping costs, while members can pick up the items they want or pay freight charges. Items that have no takers move to the organization's "grab-bag section," open to members who visit the Chicago warehouse.

Organizations wishing to donate materials to the exchange can contact NAEIR's headquarters at Dept. C, 550 Frontage Rd., Northfield, IL 60093. Smith advises would-be donors not to worry about whether their donations will prove useful. "There is somebody who needs virtually everything we have," he says.