D Movement: The Final Days of Project Organize

By NaTisha Moultry, Community Relations Manager

Enter Project Organize by September 30!

As we approach the final days of the Project Organize contest, I started thinking about the reason we created the contest. Most people have a hectic schedule with work, kids and social activities. Getting organized can be overwhelming at times and some people may feel like it is an impossible task. I wanted a fun way to encourage people to clear the clutter in their homes, offices or garage while offering them an incentive for doing so. I was actually at home cleaning my own closets and I wished that I had some help getting things organized. I also thought about how wonderful it would be to have someone else clean after everything was neatly put away. And that was how the idea of working with a professional organizer and cleaning crew was born.

Project Organize offers great prizes; a three-room makeover by Complete Organizing Solutions, a five hour cleaning by Angel Maids, as much as five hundred dollars worth of products from the Container Store and a one-hundred dollar Goodwill gift card.

I encourage all families, whether you win Project Organize or not, to create your own campaign to clear the clutter in your home. Encourage the kids to donate clothing they can no longer wear or toys they no longer play with. Go through the kitchen cabinets, closets and the garage. Donate any usable items that your family no longer needs to Goodwill. Not only are you creating a clutter-free environment in your home, you are also helping Goodwill fulfill our mission of providing employment and training opportunities to people in the community.

If you could clear the clutter in three rooms in your home, what would they be?

Happy Anniversary to the Donate Movement!

Last June, Goodwill Industries International launched the global initiative to raise awareness about the positive impact of donating to Goodwill Industries®. When you donate to Goodwill, you are not only keeping gently used clothing and household goods out of landfills, but you are supporting vital community programs.

Did you know that more than 85 percent of Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc.’s, revenue is used to provide the free job training and services offered at the company’s 17 Career Solutions Centers? Goodwills in the U.S. and Canada average 84 percent of their revenue being used for the job programs that are offered. In 2010, Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. served 11,200 clients while 2,915 clients found employment. Goodwill agencies around the world served 2.5 million people, and, at year’s end, they employed more than 97,000 people.

The Donate Movement helped Goodwills throughout the U.S. and Canada attract 20 million more donors in 2010 than in 2009, which means we earned more revenue and were able to serve more people. Goodwill Industries International, and Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., launched the Donate Movement Web site, which features the Donation Impact Calculator (patent pending), allowing you to see how your donations can fund Goodwill’s services. For example, donating just one coat or jacket provides 11 minutes of career counseling to a Goodwill program participant.

During the past year, Goodwill Industries International partnered with major corporations and partnered with Lorrie Marrero, Certified Professional Organizer® as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Donate Movement. Marrero is creator of The Clutter Diet® and author of the best-selling book by the same name, as well as a contributor to Good Housekeeping.

Four corporate cause-marketing partnerships helped the Donate Movement gain momentum. Goodwill’s first partner, Levi & Strauss, Co., began putting “A Care Tag for Our Planet” in their jeans and other products. The tag instructs people to Wash Less, Wash Cold, Line Dry and Donate to Goodwill. Not only does this raise awareness of corporate social responsibility and Goodwill’s brand, but it also reduces energy consumption and diverts items from landfills.

Other partnerships include:

• Family Circle: Goodwill teamed up with the national magazine to encourage readers to organize “Back to School” donation drives, resulting in approximately 20 million pounds of clothing being diverted from landfills.

• Hanes®: The clothing manufacturer partnered with Goodwill, deeming March national “Clean Out Your Drawers Month.” Celebrities Bethenny Frankel and Michael Moloney provided tips on how to de-clutter and organize for spring. The campaign encouraged people to donate the items they no longer use to Goodwill.

• Planet Green™ — the television network devoted to conscious living – leveraged its multi-media platform, to spread the message about the positive impact donations have for our communities and the environment.

Just as you carefully consider to which organizations you will donate your money, you should also consider which organizations should receive your donated goods. When you donate to Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., you can be assured that you are making a positive impact on both people and the planet.

How often do you donate to Goodwill, and what is your strategy for deciding what to donate?

D Movement: Simplify your Life by Donating to Goodwill

Courtesy of Goodwill Industries International

Spring presents the perfect time to take a fresh look at the items in your home and decide what should stay and what should go. As you de-clutter your home, Goodwill Industries® of Middle Tennessee can put your unwanted items to good use. When you donate your gently used clothing, housewares and electronics, you are helping Goodwill® provide job training and community- based services to people in your local community.

Here are the top four things that people don’t think to donate.

1. Shoes: When you use the Donations Calculator you’ll discover that when you give one dozen pairs of shoes you provide more than one hour’s worth of free career counseling for someone who is searching for a job with the help of Goodwill’s career counselors. It’s more than just a good way to clean the clutter from your closets, avoid the hassle of a yard sale or to take advantage of a tax write-off. Your donated shoes fund job training and placement for people who want to work but may have a disability or other barrier standing in their way.

2. Books: If you’ve already read a book and have no plans to read it again, donate it to Goodwill. Donating books frees valuable shelf space and makes room for new ones. Check your children’s rooms for outgrown kid’s books or your kitchen for cookbooks you haven’t consulted in the last year.

3. Clothing: You can let go of the jeans that never quite fit or that sweater that wasn’t quite your style. Goodwill gladly accepts donations of gently used clothing. As you’re cleaning out your closet, put clothing donations in a pile and, when you’re finished, bring them to your nearest Goodwill donation express center. When you’re finished going through your closet, that pile might be bigger than you bargained for!

4. Housewares: Sometimes we inherit household items from others or receive them as gifts. If you have a second toaster, vacuum cleaner or blender that you don’t need, donate it to Goodwill.

More than 1.5 million donors have given their gently used items to Goodwill, helping their neighbors build careers and make positive contributions to their communities. Last year, Goodwill served more than 11,000 people in our communities; including people with disabilities, those who lack education or work experience and others facing challenges to finding employment.

One expert who knows all about the process of de-cluttering is Lorie Marrero, Certified Professional Organizer®, contributor to Good Housekeeping and spokesperson for Goodwill’s Donate Movement. She is also the author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life and the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program that teaches people how to organize their closets, businesses and homes. An organizing expert, Marrero has first-hand knowledge about spring cleaning and the importance of donating gently used items to environmentally sustainable organizations such as Goodwill.

To calculate the impact of your donation or to find a Goodwill Donation Express Center, visit www.giveit2goodwill.org.

What items are making it into your Goodwill donation box?

D Movement: Donate Forward March 20 – 26

Karl Houston, Senior Director of Marketing and Community Relations

One of my favorite movies, “Pay It Forward,” starred Haley Joel Osment who portrayed a 12-year-old boy who wanted to make the world a better place. In the movie, he does a favor for someone, without any expectation of being paid back. That simple concept was a hit off the silver screen in the U.S. and beyond. A social movement was born with the only expectation being that for every request you make, do the same for others. Pay it forward.

As I think about the history of Goodwill, when in 1902, Boston’s Rev. Edgar J. Helms, had a desire to make his community a better place through the act of giving people a chance to earn a living. Rev. Helms would gather burlap sacks and visit the wealthier residents in his community asking for items they no longer needed or wanted. After collecting the donations, Rev. Helms took the items to his church where people repaired what was broken and then sold the used goods. He didn’t believe in charity. The reverend gave people an opportunity. Those he worked with found success through their own efforts and with work, they gained the dignity that comes with earning a paycheck. Like the young boy in the movie, his goodwill efforts became a movement that would eventually grow internationally.

This simple concept of reciprocity is still central to our mission here at Goodwill. With every donation made to Goodwill, we feel a sense of obligation to pay it forward by giving someone an opportunity to earn a living. We believe it begins with us being good stewards of your donations and ensuring that we maximize your donations to have the greatest impact on individuals, families and our community.

From the time we receive your donation, your donations are supporting a growing list of free job training programs and continuing services offered by Career Solutions. How so? When you donate to Goodwill, things like clothes, small appliances, furniture, and toys, at one of our 67 Donation Express Centers, your donations provide jobs and free job training services.

Each item is handled by an attendant, many of whom may have some barrier to employment. The journey continues when the items are transported to our Goodwill’s main processing plant in Nashville where each piece is processed by Goodwill employees for resale, many of whom have disabilities or other disadvantages. Your donated items are then sent to one of our 30 retail stores for resale.

Once each item sells, with the help of our retail staff, again many of whom have come through our job training programs, the revenue from that sale supports our community-based employment and training programs. Thanks to you, these programs provide thousands of hours of free classes and on-the-job training to thousands of individuals in our communities who have an economic, educational, social or vocational barrier to employment.

The bottom line? When you donate forward, your donations become an investment in the futures of the thousands of individuals who participate in our programs and services each year, and an investment in our communities. It’s a good thing!

Join our movement during the week of March 20 and donate forward.

Have you calculated your impact?