In short: In case your issues are on the curb, otherwise you’re freely giving home equipment, a kitchen or constructing supplies, Habitat ReStore is probably going your finest match. In case your furnishings is upstairs, in your apartment unit or half of a complete dwelling to clear, Furnishings Financial institution is, and drop-off is free when you can drive it to us your self.
Each are charities that choose up within the GTA and provide you with a tax receipt. The distinction is what occurs subsequent: Habitat sells what it collects to fund dwelling constructing, and Furnishings Financial institution offers good furnishings free to households organising a house, clear mattresses included.
Under: the one query that decides it, a side-by-side comparability utilizing every charity’s personal printed guidelines (as of November 2026), and when to decide on every one.
Will it promote, or will it furnish a house?
That’s the query that kinds your furnishings.
Habitat ReStore wants furnishings that may promote. Its pickup FAQ says objects have to be in “saleable situation”, and that it prioritizes “objects which can be in new / good situation and have a excessive demand”. ReStores are shops, and the cash they elevate helps Habitat GTA construct reasonably priced houses for lower-income households. A retailer wants issues individuals will purchase.
Furnishings Financial institution wants furnishings a household can use. Good furnishings that works in a Toronto dwelling goes free to a household shifting out of homelessness, away from violence or into Canada. The take a look at is easy: is it ok that you just’d give it to a pal or relative who had nothing? If sure, it might probably furnish somebody’s first house.
So a plain, sturdy flat-pack dresser is probably not what a resale retailer is searching for. It might probably nonetheless be the one dresser in a household’s new dwelling.
Both means, your furnishings finally ends up serving to a household with a house. The one query is which charity can use what you have got.
Habitat ReStore vs Furnishings Financial institution, facet by facet
From every charity’s personal web site, learn on 8 November 2026. Guidelines change, so verify Habitat’s donate web page, Habitat’s pickup FAQ and Furnishings Financial institution’s What We Settle for web page earlier than you guide.
| Habitat ReStore GTA | Furnishings Financial institution | |
|---|---|---|
| What occurs to it | Offered in a ReStore; proceeds assist Habitat’s dwelling constructing | Good furnishings goes free to a household organising a house |
| Pickup value | Free on the curb or your apartment’s loading bay. Inside, most important ground: $150 for as much as 3 objects, $300 for 4 to 7, $450 for 8 or extra | Begins at $150, no HST. See your precise worth within the Worth Estimator |
| The place they gather from | Curb, storage, porch or loading bay. For in-home pickup, you carry every part to the primary ground first. Drivers don’t take issues aside | Anyplace in your house: basement, third ground or your apartment unit. The crew does the lifting |
| Mattresses and field springs | Not accepted (couch beds aren’t both) | Accepted in the event that they’re freed from stains. Couch beds too, after they’re protected to maneuver: name to verify |
| Home equipment, kitchens, fixtures, constructing supplies | Accepted | Not accepted (no massive home equipment, no cabinetry) |
| Broken, stained or damaged objects | Not accepted | Not accepted (no pests, mould or deep stains). Minor put on is okay |
| The way you guide | On-line type with photographs; employees determine from the photographs. Drivers can nonetheless flip objects down | On-line Worth Estimator or by telephone. Verify the “No” listing earlier than you guide |
| How far forward | Habitat recommends reserving at the least 10 days forward; your day isn’t assured | Furnishings Financial institution’s pickup web page says reserving to pickup is usually 1 to 2 days |
| Tax receipt | For the assessed worth; issued inside 60 days | For the honest market worth of the furnishings; emailed the following enterprise day |
| Free choice | Curbside pickup, or drop off at a ReStore throughout retailer hours | Drop off at 25 Connell Court docket, Etobicoke, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
When Habitat ReStore is the higher alternative
Select Habitat when:
- your objects are already on the curb, within the storage or in your constructing’s loading bay. Pickup is free.
- you’re freely giving home equipment, a kitchen, lighting fixtures, doorways, flooring or constructing supplies. Habitat takes them; Furnishings Financial institution doesn’t.
- your furnishings is newer or in excessive demand, and also you’d prefer it to boost cash for reasonably priced dwelling possession.
- you’re renovating. Habitat runs a deconstruction service for kitchens and fixtures.
If any of those match, Habitat is the fitting name. You don’t must verify with us first.
When Furnishings Financial institution is the higher alternative
Select Furnishings Financial institution when:
- your furnishings is upstairs, within the basement or in your apartment unit, and no one can carry it down. The crew is available in and does the lifting, so that you don’t should.
- you’re freely giving a mattress or field spring in clear situation.
- it’s good, on a regular basis furnishings (a mattress body, a kitchen desk, a dresser) that may furnish a house, even when it wouldn’t promote quick in a retailer.
- you have got a complete room or a complete dwelling to clear, akin to a mum or dad’s home earlier than a cut-off date, in a single go to.
- you need your furnishings to go straight to a household organising a house. Donated furnishings reaches a household’s dwelling in 72 hours, on common.
One buyer clearing a mum or dad’s dwelling wrote: “Promoting our mother’s home (with 50 years of stuff) is overwhelming. It’s good to satisfy individuals throughout this course of who make you are feeling comfortable.” (Daybreak Murphy, Google evaluate, 2026)
And when you can drive it your self, it’s free. Carry it to the Furnishings Financial institution warehouse in Etobicoke on a weekday morning. Drop-off particulars
Isn’t Habitat free?
On the curb, sure. Habitat picks up free of charge in case your objects are outdoors or in your constructing’s loading bay.
Inside your house, no. Habitat’s in-home pickup prices $150 to $450, relying on what number of objects you have got, and it’s most important ground solely.
Furnishings Financial institution’s pickup begins at $150, with no HST, from any ground. You see your worth within the Worth Estimator earlier than you guide.
Why does a charity cost for pickup in any respect?
Vans, crews, gasoline and a warehouse value cash. Habitat says its in-home payment “covers a number of important prices” of pickup. Ours works the identical means: pickup charges pay for the vans, the crews and the warehouse, and so they’re what hold drop-off free for everybody else. We’ve charged for pickup since 2007.
Your tax receipt is for the furnishings you give, not for the payment. It helps offset what you pay.
Can I take advantage of each?
Sure, and while you’re clearing a complete dwelling, it usually is smart.
Ship the fridge, the kitchen cupboards and the sunshine fixtures to Habitat. Ship the beds, dressers, couch and kitchen desk to Furnishings Financial institution. Every charity will get what it might probably use, and fewer finally ends up on the curb.
Undecided the place one thing goes? Our What We Settle for web page sends individuals to ReStore for the issues we are able to’t take.
What if neither one will take it?
Each charities flip down furnishings with deep stains, mould or critical injury, as a result of somebody has to sit down on it or sleep on it subsequent.
In case your piece is previous re-use, a junk elimination firm or the Metropolis’s curbside assortment is the higher route.
Questions individuals ask
Does Habitat for Humanity choose up furnishings free of charge?
Sure, if it’s outdoors: on the curb, within the storage or in your apartment’s loading bay. Pickup from inside your house prices $150 to $450, most important ground solely, as of November 2026.
Does Furnishings Financial institution promote my furnishings?
Good furnishings that works in a Toronto dwelling goes free to a household. Occasionally, a bit can’t go to a household: it’s too massive for the houses we furnish, or it’s a designer piece value extra as funding for our Sleep Nicely Kids’s Mattress Program. Then we could promote it, and the cash goes again into furnishing houses.
Which one offers a much bigger tax receipt?
Neither one can promise that. Each base your receipt on what the furnishings is value: Habitat on the assessed worth of your donation, Furnishings Financial institution on honest market worth. The clear distinction is timing. Habitat points receipts inside 60 days; Furnishings Financial institution emails yours the following enterprise day.
Will both one take my mattress?
Furnishings Financial institution takes mattresses and field springs which can be freed from stains, and couch beds after they’re protected to maneuver (name 416-934-1229 to verify yours). Habitat ReStore doesn’t take mattresses, field springs or couch beds.
Which one comes sooner?
Every publishes its personal information. Habitat recommends reserving at the least 10 days forward and may’t assure your day. Furnishings Financial institution’s pickup web page says reserving to pickup is usually 1 to 2 days. Furnishings Financial institution pickups run on weekdays solely. In case you have a deadline, inform whichever charity you guide with.
Do I have to be dwelling?
For Furnishings Financial institution, sure: somebody must be there at your pickup time to let the crew in and reply fast questions. For Habitat, your objects have to be prepared and straightforward to succeed in. Drivers name about half-hour earlier than they arrive, and if they’ll’t get to the objects, they wait quarter-hour and transfer on.
The next move
