I don't know whether they were given receipts, but they believed their donations were to be distributed through a specific charity, the Orphan Foundation of America.

A friend collected hand-made scarves for the "Red Scarf Project" sponsored by the Orphan Foundation of America described at orphan.org/index.php?id=40
and promoted the Red Scarf Project on a blog that she wrote for a local newspaper, The Times Union.

The owner of a local yarn shop, where my friend gives knitting lessons, actually accepted the donated scarves and took physical possession of more than 40 scarves collected. My friend expected that she and the yarn shop owner would work together to package the scarves and ship them to the Orpha Foundation of America.

Yesterday the yarn shop owner said she had decided to send the scarves to needy children at two local schools, not to the Orphan Foundation, but the individuals who donated the scarves have not been contacted and did not -- and probably would not -- consent to this diversion of their handiwork.

Since researching this answer seems to be more complicated than I thought it would be, I'm willing to increase my payment to $30.

Thank you.

What do you think would be my friend's best strategy in trying to persuade the yarn shop owner to "do the right thing" and send the scarves to the Orphan Foundation since the scarves are still in the knit shop owner's possession?

(e.g., my friend might say that she also had a fiduciary obligation to the donors and the intended recipients and that my friend wanted to do everything she could not to breach that obligation,

or my friend might tell the knit shop owner that as part of her effort to mmet her own fiduciary obligation that she would notify the unintended recipients (local schools) of the knit shop owner's malfeasance,

or my friend might tell the knit shop owner that she intended to file a complaint about the knit shop owner with the State Attorney General's office

or my friend might call the police.) Your thoughts?

The individuals who knitted the scarves did so in reliance on representations that the scarves would be distributed to orphans through the OFA's Red Scarf project.

Any other thoughts about actions my friend could take that would help persuade the person with custody of the scarves to send them to their intended recipient?

Thanks.