Second Chance Toys

What Second Chance Toys does

Second Chance Toys is a U.S. nonprofit organization founded in 2006 that operates a circular-economy toy recirculation program, collecting gently-used plastic, wooden, and diecast toys from donors and redistributing them to children in need through a network of vetted recipient organizations. The organization has facilitated the donation of 487,771 toys and diverted 1,951,084 pounds of plastic from landfills cumulatively. Its core product is a donation-matching platform that connects toy donors with recipient organizations (schools, community development corporations, and nonprofits) during two annual seasonal drives — Earth Month in April and Holiday Season in December — supplemented by year-round drop-off locations at New Jersey municipal facilities and corporate collection events. Supplementary services include the SCT x TerraCycle partnership for free recycling of broken/unrehomable toys, corporate sponsorship programs, and the Village of Moms grassroots community network.

The organization is funded through a combination of individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and volunteer-driven collection drives. Corporate partners include 1-800-GOT-JUNK? (national franchise integration across 9+ states), Payoneer, Erewhon Market (via Round UP point-of-sale fundraising), Paramount (10-year partnership), Citi (annual Global Community Day), and TerraCycle (recycling logistics). Operations are lean with 1-10 employees and rely heavily on volunteer labor from corporate partners, school environmental clubs, and community organizations. The organization does not operate a commercial product platform; its primary interactions are toy donation (physical good flow) and financial contribution via the website. Geographic footprint is U.S.-domestic with concentrated operational infrastructure in New Jersey and donor/recipient networks spanning the Northeast, Midwest, West Coast, Southeast, and Mountain regions.

Name

Second Chance Toys

Legal name

Second Chance Toys

Website

https://www.secondchancetoys.org/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Second Chance Toys is a U.S. nonprofit founded in 2006 that recirculates gently-used toys from donors to children in need via seasonal drives, corporate partnerships, and a New Jersey drop-off network, diverting plastic from landfills.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Toy Donation Services

NAICS

Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (459120)

SIC

Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)

akta.pro primary industry

Toy Repair, Customization & Restoration Services (CRALAFAM)

Keywords

• Toy donation programs
• Plastic recycling services
• Nonprofit circular economy
• Corporate social responsibility
• Environmental waste diversion

Headquarters

HQ city

Springfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Donations: As a nonprofit organization, Second Chance Toys operates primarily through financial contributions from donors and corporate sponsors to support toy collection, screening, refurbishment, and distribution operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Second Chance Toys is a nonprofit organization that collects gently-used plastic, wooden, and diecast toys from individual donors and corporate sponsors, screens and refurbishes the donations, and redistributes them to verified recipient organizations serving children in need. The organization also operates a free recycling program through TerraCycle for broken toys that cannot be rehomed, diverting plastic waste from landfills.

Product overview

Second Chance Toys is a nonprofit toy donation and recycling organization that operates as a single, unified program focused on recirculating gently-used plastic toys to children in need while diverting waste from landfills. The core offering is the Gently-Used Toy Donation Program, which manages toy collection through drop-off locations and corporate drives, screens and refurbishes donations, and matches them with verified recipient organizations via an online platform. Additional services include the SCT x TerraCycle Broken Toy Recycling program for non-reusable items, a Corporate Sponsorship Program for business partnerships, the Village of Moms grassroots network, and a Drop-off Location Network across New Jersey. The organization does not operate a commercial product platform but rather serves as an intermediary connecting donors with families in need.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gently-Used Toy Donation Program Core program that collects, refurbishes, and donates plastic, wooden, and diecast toys to children in need through a network of recipient organizations, keeping toys out of landfills. The program serves individual families donating toys and nonprofit recipient organizations serving disadvantaged children.
• SCT x TerraCycle Broken Toy Recycling A free recycling program for broken, incomplete, or damaged toys that cannot be rehomed, enabling responsible disposal of plastic toys that would otherwise end up in landfills. Operated in partnership with TerraCycle with free shipping labels.
• Corporate Sponsorship Program Partnership program where corporations support Second Chance Toys through funding, volunteer activities, and collection drives, including the Round UP initiative with Erewhon Market. Designed for businesses seeking CSR and sustainability engagement.
• Village of Moms A community network of mothers who support Second Chance Toys' mission through grassroots toy drives and community engagement.
• Drop-off Location Network A network of year-round toy drop-off locations at New Jersey recycling centers and public works facilities, enabling convenient local toy donations. Includes locations at Westfield Conservation Center, West Orange Environmental Center, Fair Lawn DPW, Paramus DPW, Montgomery Township DPW, and Eatontown DPW.
• Toy Recipient Organization Matching Online platform connecting toy donors with verified recipient organizations in their area during Earth Month (April) and Holiday Season (December), facilitating direct toy handoffs.

Quantifiable outcome

• 487,771 toys donated to children in need
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• PayoneerminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 December 2024Payoneer joined the Toy Recirculation Network as a Valued Supporter. The Payoneer team of Manhattan, NY conducted their first gently-used toy drive in collaboration with SCT in December 2024. All toys were donated to SCT recipient organization, P231 school sites of Brooklyn, NY.
• Erewhon MarketminorGTM or Marketing PartnerErewhon Market joined the Toy Recirculation Network as a Valued Supporter. Through a Round UP initiative during the Season of Giving, guests could donate funds by rounding up their totals at the register. The weeklong campaign raised $12,091 for Second Chance Toys, equivalent to 20,000 toys diverted from landfills and 40,000 children impacted.
• 1-800-GOT-JUNK?coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSecond Annual Toy Diversion and Donation initiative with multiple franchise locations across the US (NJ, GA, CA, OR, WA, MD, NY, CO, MN). Over the course of December 2024, Truck Teams collected over 3,000 pre-loved toys and kids' items, diverting over 12,000 pounds of plastic from landfills and positively impacting at least 6,000 children.
• Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner10-year partnership celebrated in June 2023. Paramount has been a Valued Supporter providing immense support behind the scenes as well as on the front lines, saving thousands of toys from landfills. On Paramount Community Day 2023, volunteers screened 500 toys and diverted approximately 2,000 pounds of unnecessary plastic waste from landfills.
• Citi Global Community DaycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual Global Community Day partnership. In June 2023, Citi volunteers screened 400 cleaned toys at Paramus, NJ Recycling and Public Works, diverting at least 2,000 pounds of unnecessary plastic waste and positively benefiting at least 1,000 children with recirculated toys.
• TerraCyclecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCT x TerraCycle partnership provides free shipping labels for recycling broken, incomplete, or damaged toys that cannot be rehomed through the donation program. This closes the gap on plastic toy waste for items that do not meet donation quality standards.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Toys for Tots: The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is a national nonprofit that collects and distributes new toys to children in need across the U.S. It is the most direct comparable to Second Chance Toys in mission and donor base, though it focuses on new toys rather than recirculated gently-used.
• Baby2Baby: Baby2Baby is a national nonprofit that provides children in need with diapers, clothing, and other essentials including toys. It shares a similar child-focused mission and corporate partnership-driven model, though it operates at a much larger scale.
• Kids in Need Foundation: Kids in Need Foundation provides school supplies and learning resources to under-resourced students, with a similar mission of supporting children in need through corporate donations and partnerships.

Broad incumbents

• Goodwill Industries International: Goodwill operates a massive donation-based recirculation network for clothing and household goods with retail stores across the U.S. It is a comparable model for recirculating donated goods to communities in need, but at vastly greater scale and breadth.
• The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army operates nationwide donation and thrift operations and runs annual holiday toy drives for children in need. It is a broader-scope incumbent with overlapping donation/redistribution activities.
• Habitat for Humanity ReStores: ReStores are Habitat for Humanity's home-goods donation and retail arm, a well-established nonprofit recirculation model. While not toy-focused, it represents a comparable operating approach to donation-driven recirculation.

Emerging players

• TerraCycle: TerraCycle is a recycling company that partners with brands and consumers to recycle hard-to-recycle waste streams, including the SCT x TerraCycle broken toy program. It is a direct partner and operations-counterpart in the toy recycling sub-process.
• Diapers & Toiletries (varies): Peer note: see Baby2Baby as the comparable children's-needs nonprofit for both toys and broader essentials.

Others

• 1-800-GOT-JUNK?: 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is a key corporate partner and contributes to SCT's intake through its junk-hauling franchise network. It is operationally complementary (logistics provider) rather than a competitor, with a commercial franchise model.

Regional players

• Matthew 25: Ministries: Matthew 25: Ministries is a Cincinnati-based nonprofit that distributes donated goods including toys, clothing, and household items to underserved communities domestically and internationally. It shares a similar product mix and donation-driven distribution model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/SecondChanceToy
• Facebookfacebook.com/SecondChanceToys
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/2349400?trk=tyah
• Instagraminstagram.com/secondchancetoys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Second Chance Toys