CAMPAIGN FOR THE FUTURE

"AN INVESTMENT IN PEOPLE"

Campaign Overview

Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire was founded in 1974 and recently celebrated its 30-year anniversary as one of the largest non-profit organizations in the North Bay Region. Our service territory includes Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Trinity and Humboldt Counties. Last year, we served 2,549 clients in a variety of job training and life-skills programs and placed nearly 700 of them into competitive employment at an average salary of $10.83/hr.

Our clients are people who have mental, physical, emotional and developmental disabilities. We also work with many welfare recipients. All of these individuals are highly motivated to become independent and self-sufficient members of their communities. Goodwill's job training programs provide them with the skills, resources, confidence and self-esteem to achieve their goals. These workforce programs are funded primarily through government grants and the sale of donated goods in our retail training centers.

Our Mission: Changing Lives and Strengthening Communities Through the Dignity and Power of Work.

Our Vision: To help change the lives of even more people in need each year throughout the Redwood Empire.

Our biggest challenge is to find the necessary financial resources to make our vision a reality. This challenge is made all the more difficult by continued, significant reductions in funding for our job training programs as a result of the State's budget crisis. In the past three years, we have endured funding decreases of $2.2 million, a stark reality that will inevitably continue into the foreseeable future.

This reality not only threatens our future vision of client growth, but is also forcing us to seriously consider closure of some current programs. Our desire is to become less reliant on government funds and more financially self-sufficient through other sources of revenue. As such, we have developed a long-term strategic plan that will focus on more fully developing our core organizational strength and capacity:

The expansion of our Retail Division.

Goodwill's seven Retail Training Centers provide a critical source of revenue to fund our client programs. They also serve as a training site to help many of our clients learn proper work habits and new job skills. The cost of opening a new Retail Training Center is $100,000. Our plan is to open five new training centers over the next five years, for a total fund raising goal of $500,000. We are seeking help from the community for an investment such as this. Goodwill has a talented management team, dedicated employees, an excellent reputation for quality workforce programs and an efficient business model in place. We are poised and eager to expand our scope of job services for people in need.

Our "Investment in People" Campaign for the Future will provide the necessary funds for us to open new training centers in Rohnert Park, Napa, Windsor, Sebastopol and Cotati. Revenue from these centers will help fund our mission and allow us to serve even more clients each year.

Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire has developed a list of key leaders in Sonoma County that we have asked to donate to our "Investment in People" campaign. A contribution to our cause would be a one-time gift that will help us launch our strategic retail expansion plans. The successful implementation of our strategy will provide us with the financial strength we need to achieve our vision of the future.

Support Goodwill by Giving Online

Please support Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire, make an online contribution through e-Giving.