The thrift and consignment nonprofit benefits mental health organizations
By RACHEL SHEY — city@theaggie.org
All Things Right & Relevant, a Davis thrift and consignment nonprofit on Spafford Street, donated to suicide prevention for the month of December, with contributions of up to $300 matched by the organization’s board of directors, according to the general manager Lynne Okamuro.
The nonprofit has benefited mental health organizations since its inception. It currently works with nine charities.
“We’re a nonprofit consignment store and we work with mental health organizations and charities in Yolo County,” Okamuro said. “When somebody either wants to donate or consign, we take in most clothing and household goods as long as they are in good quality condition.”
The consignment portion of the nonprofit operates with a staggered pricing system, where prices drop over time. Profits are distributed to charities at the end of the year.
“With consignment, the consigner gets 40% of the money from the sale, and the nonprofit gets 60%. The consignment period is 30 days,” Okamuro said. “Prices go down over time; it will spend 10 days at full price, 10 days at 20% off and 10 days at 40% off, which incentivizes people to buy it a little quicker. If we do end up making profit in a year, we distribute the amount to charities. Last year was a little rough so we didn’t do the distribution. I was hoping that this year we will be able to distribute some money.”
In the 1990s, the founders of the nonprofit wanted to help mental health organizations with fundraising, according to their website. They decided that the best way to do this was to open a thrift store, therefore also reducing their environmental impact by recycling unwanted goods and finding them new homes.
“Fundraising has been a long-standing dilemma for nonprofits in Yolo County and elsewhere,” the website reads. “The need for additional revenue sources had become increasingly apparent in the late 1980s as California slipped into the deepest recession in recent memory and traditional funding sources dried up.”
All Things Right & Relevant started as thrift and eventually added consignment. Okamuro briefly broke down the difference between thrift and consignment.
“Consignment is where we sell an item for you, so you still own the item, and if it sells, you get a portion and we get a portion,” Okamuro said. “Thrift is that you are donating the item and not getting any money. If a consigned item does not sell within 30 days, it becomes a donation.”
All Things Right & Relevant sees more consignment than donation, among other interesting trends that Okamuro noticed. Most of the store’s revenue comes from jewelry, but the largest volume of goods is in clothing.
“I would say about 85-90% of what you see in our main store is a consignment item,” Okamuro said. “I would say that we are about 65-70% women’s clothing. We have a lot of female consigners, and the rest are non-clothing or men’s clothing. I don’t know why that is; we just have fewer male consigners, but if you do bring in men’s clothing, your item is one of the few options available, so it’s more likely to be bought. Our best sellers vary from season to season. Most of the year, it’s women’s blouses. This time of the year, it’s usually outerwear and women’s dresses.”
Okamuro also added that another mission of All Things Right & Relevant is to employ those with mental health diagnoses. All employees at the nonprofit are mental health clients from local agencies.
“We rely on our 9 mental health agencies to refer mental health clients to work in our Thrift Store,” Okamuro said via email. “Most of our clients have come from Yolo County Department of Mental Health, Yolo Community Care Continuum (YCCC), Communicare, and Pine Tree Gardens.”
Written by: Rachel Shey — city@theaggie.org
