Goodwill Industries Offers Good Will For Everyone

By Gary Orlando

The next time you have a garage or yard sale and are lamenting about not getting enough out of it, or if you have some good stuff left over, consider donating it to Goodwill and get a tax deduction for your trouble. This way, everybody wins. Goodwill International is a nonprofit organization that has been helping folks out for over 100 years and has grown to an annual revenue of $1.8 billion. Goodwill was started in 1902 in Boston by Rev. Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister. He began by collecting items that the wealthy no longer wanted, and he found individuals to repair the house goods and resell them. He then used the profits to help the individuals who repaired the goods and other less fortunate people to get jobs and undergo job training. The original Goodwill business slogan was "not charity, but a chance!" Helms’ visionary tactic was to get needy people involved and help them to solve their problems on their own, as opposed to giving them handouts. By doing this he was able to offer dignity, hope, and independence, to those less fortunate.

Goodwill is still the same today, except more—much more. Their main goal today is best defined by what their Career & Job Training Services division does. They assess an individual to help determine just what he or she may need as far as education, training, and both soft and hard skills for employment. They also offer job placement, and provide support services for both temporary and permanent employment. It really is a complete service, as it also teaches people how to dress for success, how to prepare resumes, the importance of time management, etc.

Probably the most well known part of Goodwill is the retail stores, about 1,900 of them across the U.S., located in most cities. The stores are used to generate both jobs and training for those requiring employment, and they supply direct financial support for Goodwill itself. If you have not been in a Goodwill store yet, you should do so. They price everything very competitively and most of the items are in much better shape than those you would find at a yard sale. And most importantly, Goodwill tries to keep local donations and sales from their stores at that local level. So when you support your local Goodwill, the money stays in your own community.

There are other national nonprofit organizations that were started to help the less fortunate, but Goodwill does a better job in accomplishing this due to its founder’s philosophy, the national coverage of local retail stores, and keeping the money local.