June 26, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Goodwill Industries International
How much it raised in 2010: $643-million (includes U.S. and Canadian affiliates), an 8.4-percent increase from 2009. Revenue from the retail stores increased by 11.7 percent.
What the organization did: Last year, Goodwill started the Donate Movement, a campaign to persuade people to give used clothes and other items to Goodwill. Levi’s clothing company became the first supporter of the campaign and created a special tag in all of its items that not only explains how to wash and care for the item but also suggests that buyers donate the item to Goodwill “when no longer needed.” Other companies have also agreed to promote the campaign, which sends people to an online “donation impact calculator” so they can see what difference their gift makes when their item is sold in a Goodwill store. For instance, potential donors can select “coat/jacket” from a menu, type in the number of clothing items donated and learn that such a gift could pay for 15 minutes of a job-search class. In addition, they see a picture and story of somebody who benefited from the job-search instruction.
Results: The Donation Impact Calculator has been used nearly 287,000 times so far. In 2010 retail revenue at Goodwill’s more than 2,500 stores increased to $2.69-billion from 2009.
The takeaway lesson: Jim Gibbons, president of Goodwill Industries International, says the campaign has been popular because it is like paper and product recycling and appeals to consumers as a good way to protect the planet and help needy people.
Outlook for 2011: “We’re very optimistic,” Mr. Gibbons says. “The reason we’re optimistic is because we have to be. We have more people knocking on Goodwill’s doors today than ever before.” He adds: “We’ve been around for 110 years, and our mission is very relevant now in terms of job creation.”
