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Note that Goodwill is a charity in the same way that IKEA is a nonprofit. They take your stuff for free, and give you a tax receipt, but they don’t give any of

Note that Goodwill is a charity in the same way that IKEA is a nonprofit. They take your stuff for free, and give you a tax receipt, but they don’t give any of it away. They sell it for as much money as they can in their stores. The “charity” part is that they provide jobs and job training … to the people who work there. Goodwill is simply a way to launder your possessions to feel like you’re doing good, instead of throwing them in a wastebin.

smnrchrds 5y ago
Do they make a profit? If so, where does the money go?
- URSpider94 5y ago
  Nonprofits can actually make a profit, they just can’t distribute it to its owners (usually the board of directors) as a dividend. Goodwill pays its executives well, roughly $1MM to many of its regional executives. Its primary charitable work is claimed to be hiring people who are otherwise unemployable, often paying them below minimum wage. Some of this is discussed on the Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Industries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Industries
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    Not saying your larger point is wrong, but this schtick ("Goodwill pays its executives well, roughly $1MM to many of its regional executives") always annoys me. Goodwill is a large organization, and large organizations require experience and talent to run. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about a large corporation, a government, an army, a charity, or even a church. It's not going to be possible to find people to manage it properly for $50K a year. Cutting corners when it comes to attracting and retaining qualified management leads to even greater waste in the big picture.
    - URSpider94 5y ago
      Agree 100%. You are 100% right, and I don’t think their executives are “stealing” money. I am the first to jump in and defend charities, like the Mozilla Foundation, or even Goodwill, who pay their CEO’s appropriately. So perhaps that part of my comment is a red herring. It’s just that Goodwill is extremely odd in that the business IS the charity. Most people don’t put a lot of thought into it, and assume that they are somehow giving all of the junk we drop off on their doorstep to needy people - they aren’t. Or that their thrift stores are earning them money off our junk to fund relief programs and feed the needy - they don’t do that. Their charity is … to pay people (generally not very well) to sort and clean all of our junk, put it on display in stores, and take our money for it when we buy it back. It’s just … weird. It does beg the question of where all the money goes.
URSpider94 5y ago
To be more positive, look for organizations like local churches/synagogues/mosques, community centers or homeless organizations that will give your donations directly to people in need. This works well for clothes and home goods, not as well for e-gadgets. For those, you might consider selling them on EBay and donating the proceeds to a charity.
HysteriaStrange 5y ago
You have made a lot of repeat comments about this and a lot of it isn’t true.

smnrchrds 5y ago

Do they make a profit? If so, where does the money go?

URSpider94 5y ago
Nonprofits can actually make a profit, they just can’t distribute it to its owners (usually the board of directors) as a dividend. Goodwill pays its executives well, roughly $1MM to many of its regional executives. Its primary charitable work is claimed to be hiring people who are otherwise unemployable, often paying them below minimum wage. Some of this is discussed on the Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Industries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_Industries
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  Not saying your larger point is wrong, but this schtick ("Goodwill pays its executives well, roughly $1MM to many of its regional executives") always annoys me. Goodwill is a large organization, and large organizations require experience and talent to run. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about a large corporation, a government, an army, a charity, or even a church. It's not going to be possible to find people to manage it properly for $50K a year. Cutting corners when it comes to attracting and retaining qualified management leads to even greater waste in the big picture.
  - URSpider94 5y ago
    Agree 100%. You are 100% right, and I don’t think their executives are “stealing” money. I am the first to jump in and defend charities, like the Mozilla Foundation, or even Goodwill, who pay their CEO’s appropriately. So perhaps that part of my comment is a red herring. It’s just that Goodwill is extremely odd in that the business IS the charity. Most people don’t put a lot of thought into it, and assume that they are somehow giving all of the junk we drop off on their doorstep to needy people - they aren’t. Or that their thrift stores are earning them money off our junk to fund relief programs and feed the needy - they don’t do that. Their charity is … to pay people (generally not very well) to sort and clean all of our junk, put it on display in stores, and take our money for it when we buy it back. It’s just … weird. It does beg the question of where all the money goes.

URSpider94 5y ago

To be more positive, look for organizations like local churches/synagogues/mosques, community centers or homeless organizations that will give your donations directly to people in need. This works well for clothes and home goods, not as well for e-gadgets. For those, you might consider selling them on EBay and donating the proceeds to a charity.

HysteriaStrange 5y ago

You have made a lot of repeat comments about this and a lot of it isn’t true.