Goodwill Industries

Goodwill Industries International Inc., simply known as Goodwill, is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who face barriers in their employment.

According to its annual report, Goodwill Industries also hires veterans and individuals who lack job experience, an education, or face employment challenges. The nonprofit is funded by a network of 3,200+ retail thrift stores that operate as independent nonprofits. Goodwill Industries operates as a network of independent, community-based organizations in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Finland, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, with 165 local Goodwill retail stores in the United States and Canada. It slowly expanded from its founding in 1902 and was first called Goodwill in 1915. In their 2018 fiscal year, Goodwill organizations generated $6.1 billion in revenue, of which $5.27 billion was spent on charitable services, and $646 million was spent on salaries and other operating expenses. Services constituted 89 percent of expenses. In 2015, the group served more than 37 million people, with more than 312,000 people placed into employment. Goodwill Industries' logo is a stylized letter g, resembling a smiling face, designed by Joseph Selame in 1968.

Retail history


In 1902, the Reverend Edgar J. Helms of Morgan Methodist Chapel in Boston started Goodwill as part of his ministry. Helms and his congregation collected used or discarded household goods and clothing from wealthier areas of the city, then trained and hired the unemployed or impoverished to mend and repair them. The products were then redistributed to those in need or kept by those who helped repair them. In 1915, Helms hosted a visit to Morgan Memorial by representatives of a workshop mission in Brooklyn, NY so they could learn the innovative programs and operating techniques of the "Morgan Memorial Cooperative Industries and Stores, Inc." Helms was subsequently invited to visit New York. Out of these exchanges came Brooklyn's willingness to adopt and adapt the Morgan Memorial's way of doing things, while Helms was persuaded that "Goodwill Industries”, the name for Brooklyn’s workshop, was preferable to the Morgan Memorial name. Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries was created. Along with Brooklyn's interest and ties, this became the foundation on which Goodwill Industries was to be built as an international movement. Goodwill has become an international nonprofit organization that, as of 2016, takes in more than $4.8 billion in annual revenue and provides more than 300,000 people with job training and community services each year. In 1999, George Kessinger, the head of Goodwill of Orange County during this time, started shopgoodwill.org. It is the first e-commerce auction platform created, owned, and operated by a nonprofit organization.

Operations
In 1999, Goodwill launched the first nonprofit internet auction site in the United States. By 2006, Goodwill Industries International had a network of 207 member organizations in the United States, Canada, and 23 other countries. As of July 2011, there are 164 full Goodwill members in the United States and Canada. These are each independent social enterprises that operate their own regional Goodwill retail stores and job training programs. Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, Boston, is the enterprise operated in Boston, where Goodwill was founded.

The clothing and household goods donated to Goodwill are sold in more than 3,200 Goodwill retail stores, on its Internet auction site shopgoodwill.com, and eBay by a number of its regional stores.

When merchandise cannot be sold at a normal Goodwill store, it is taken to a "Goodwill Outlet" or "Bargain Store" where items are mostly sold by weight, with prices ranging from $0.49 to $1.89 per pound, depending on the location. The wide selection and massive discounts on a variety of household goods typically attract a fervent following of regular customers, some of whom make a full-time living buying and re-selling goods. Many vendors buy this merchandise in bulk and send the merchandise to third-world countries.

, CharityWatch rated the Goodwill Industries an "A".

In January 2016, Goodwill Industries of Toronto, Eastern, Central, and Northern Ontario closed its 16 stores and 10 donation centres after 80 years of operations, citing cash problems. The six other Canadian Goodwill Industries Branches remain operational.

In 2019, Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan announced that it is receiving a $1.25 million grant fund from the Amazon CEO's Day One Families Fund.

In May 2022, Goodwill Industries International announced a $12 million investment in their Digital Career Accelerator. The donation made by Google.org of $7 million in direct grants and $7 million in search ads on Google aims to reach more than 2,000,000 people across the U.S. and Canada through infrastructure expansion to aid the development of digital skills and career training.

GoodwillFinds
In 2022, a consortium of local Goodwill organizations from across the US founded a new venture, launching in October 2022 the first nation-wide, centrally-managed online marketplace called GoodwillFinds-dot-com, a site that allows consumers to purchase donated items from across the country in a single, branded, fixed-price, modern shopping experience. Matthew A. Kaness, a seasoned retail veteran, was hired to lead the venture, oversee its launch, and rapidly expand the new re-commerce platform. While many Goodwill member stores had previously sold some donations online, Goodwill was limited to in-store purchases, auction sites, or online stores like eBay and Amazon. The online store GoodwillFinds.com allows consumers to search by category, trend, price and donation location, and leverages AI to recommend pricing and enable personalization.

GoodwillFinds is a separate entity from Goodwill Industries International, but is also a non-profit organization and shares the same mission as Goodwill. The online store is expected to raise awareness of the Goodwill brand to a new generation of shoppers, bringing in more donations as well as customers to participating Goodwills across the US.

Helms College and Edgar's Hospitality Group
In 2021, MacKenzie Scott donated $10 million to Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia (GIMG), the only Goodwill that includes an accredited vocational college: Helms College. The college and academic programms offer certificates, diplomas, and degrees in culinary arts, industrial trades, and medical services; it uses the restaurants within Edgar's Hospitality Group as applied learning venues for its culinary students. It is named after Edgar Helms, founder of Goodwill. GIMG is the only Goodwill in the world operating a college and hospitality venue to serve the mission.

GIMG also dealt with former CFO Tim Ligon stealing $75,000 from the organization.

Castro pop-up
In November 2010, for the first time, Goodwill opened a store in San Francisco, California specifically designed to hire employees who are transgender, gay, or lesbian. The temporary or "Pop-up" store was a unique partnership between Goodwill of San Francisco and the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative. The Castro Pop-up store closed in April 2011, and staff were transferred to various Goodwill stores throughout the San Francisco area.

Women Veterans initiative
In June 2013, Goodwill announced an initiative with the goal of engaging 3,000 women veterans as the organization helps them find jobs over the next two years. With this initiative, Goodwill aims to provide services and support that lead to economic self-sufficiency.

Evening of Treasures
Goodwill Industries of Greater New York holds an annual charity gala with many fashionable attendees and participants. The 2023 Evening of Treasures gala included the likes of Jenna Lyons (who hosted the event), Tommy Hilfiger, Todd Snyder, and Willy Chavarria, as participants. Designers executed upcycled looks using Goodwill thrift finds.

Donation policies
Goodwill has policies on donations, including items that it can accept. It will only accept items that can be resold, whether in the retail stores, online, or as bulk lots.

Goodwill stores generally do not accept donations such as automotive parts, furniture showing signs of damage, large appliances including stoves, refrigerators, washers/dryers, or exercise equipment. Most stores also do not accept hazardous materials such as paint, medications, or building materials such as doors, wood, nails, etc. For liability reasons, Goodwill generally does not accept baby cribs or car seats. Sanitary regulations prohibit accepting mattress donations, and although some Goodwill stores sell brand new mattresses, most locations are unable. Because of safety concerns, particularly lead content in painted products, some Goodwill stores do not accept certain toys.

Executive compensation
In 2005, Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette (GICW), Goodwill's Portland, Oregon, branch, came under scrutiny due to executive compensation that the Oregon attorney general's office concluded was "unreasonable". The President of the Portland branch, Michael Miller, received $838,508 in pay and benefits for fiscal year 2004, which was reportedly out of line in comparison to other charity executives and placed him in the top one percent of American wage earners. After being confronted with the state's findings, Miller agreed to a 24% reduction in pay, and GICW formed a new committee and policy for handling matters of employee compensation.

A 2013 article on Watchdog.org reported that Goodwill's tax returns showed that more than 100 Goodwills pay less than minimum wage while simultaneously paying more than $53.7 million in total compensation to top executives. Douglas Barr, former CEO of the Goodwill of Southern California, was the highest paid Goodwill executive in the country. He received total compensation worth $1,188,733, including a base salary of $350,200, bonuses worth $87,550, retirement benefits of $71,050, and $637,864 in deferred compensation, after serving as CEO for 17 years. This is often incorrectly cited as his salary "In 2011, the Columbia Willamette Goodwill, one of the largest in the country, says it paid $922,444 in commensurate wages to approximately 250 people with developmental disabilities. These employees worked 159,584 hours for an average hourly wage of $5.78. The lowest paid worker received just $1.40 per hour."

In 2016, an investigation by the Omaha World-Herald found that executives managing its local Goodwill stores received salaries of up to $400,000 with its CEO, Frank McGree, also collecting a 2014 bonus of $519,000 -- while over 100 of his store workers were paid less than minimum wage. The investigation found that 14 executives (including the CEO's daughter) were paid more than $100,000, while only $557,000 of the enterprise's $4,000,000 revenue went to "programs" for the disabled. Despite the organization claiming its profits were to assist the disabled acquire job opportunities, the paper's investigators determined that, between 2011 and 2015, none of the store revenues supported job programs. Responding to the World's investigation, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson conducted an official investigation, finding that McGree's salary was "excessive," -- and concluded that there had become "no correlation at all" between what the area's Goodwill's executives were paid and how the organization was performing its true mission. However, Peterson concluded no laws had been broken that he could charge; instead, he urged the state legislature to enact oversight reforms to the regulation of non-profits.

In 2018, CEO Rich Cantz of Goodwill Northern New England (NNE) put out a video statement addressing the false "Think Before You Donate" rumors that alleged owner Mark Curran profits $2.3 million a year from the organization, and no money was going to charity. In the statement, he says that Goodwill NNE does give to charities and works to provide resources for brain injury rehabilitation centers, those with disabilities, and veterans seeking work. Further, the website states that "Mark Curran" is neither the owner nor CEO. As of 2020, Steven Preston is the CEO of Goodwill Industries International and has to report to a volunteer board of directors. In 2020, the stores in New England were still running a voiceover during shopping hours that reiterated this message to shoppers. The claims appeared in a longer email covering several for-profit and non-profit organizations, which was also debunked by Snopes.

Workers' wages


Goodwill Industries International has been criticized by some for using a provision of federal labor law to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, organizations can obtain a "special wage certificate" to pay workers with disabilities a commensurate wage based on performance evaluations. Of Goodwill's 105,000 employees, 7,300 are paid under the special wage certificate program. The National Federation of the Blind considers it "unfair, discriminatory, and immoral". Other disability rights advocates have defended Goodwill's use of the special wage certificate to employ workers with disabilities. Terry Farmer, CEO of ACCSES, a trade group that calls itself the "voice of disability service providers", said scrapping the provision could "force [disabled workers] to stay at home", enter rehabilitation, "or otherwise engage in unproductive and unsatisfactory activities". Goodwill believes that the policy is "a tool to create employment for people with disabilities" who would not otherwise be employed. Goodwill notes that "Eliminating it would remove an important tool for employers and an employment option available to people with severe disabilities and their families. Without the law, many people with disabilities could lose their jobs." Goodwill has urged Congress to "support legislation that would strengthen the FLSA and increase its enforcement", and to "preserve opportunities for people with disabilities who would otherwise lose the chance to realize the many tangible and intangible benefits of work.". A 2013 FLSA fact sheet from Goodwill states that "Without FLSA Section 14(c), many more people with severe disabilities would experience difficulty in participating in the workforce. These jobs provide individuals with paychecks that they would be unlikely to receive otherwise, as well as ongoing services and support, job security, and the opportunity for career advancement." Goodwill has updated this policy as of June, 1st 2024 and currently only 9 out of 149 local Goodwills in the US still issue the certificates. The goal is to, "transition people with disabilities employed under the special minimum wage certificate into competitive integrated employment."

Lobbying
A coalition of smaller charities in California had complained about Goodwill's support for legislation encouraging greater regulation of donation boxes, calling the efforts an "attempt to corner the clothing donation market and make more money". Local Goodwills have argued that donation boxes divert money from the community and contribute to blight, and have pushed for state legislation that requires owners of a donation box to clearly display information about whether it is a for-profit or nonprofit organization.