Goodwill of Silicon Valley Readies for Coming Tsunami

Posted by Barney Beal, Content Director
One might not expect Goodwill to be in the car detailing and mattress reconstruction business.
That’s because Goodwill has what may seem like a straightforward business model – accept donated items, sell them and use the funds to pay for job placement, training and other community-based programs.In fact, there is a great deal of complexity in how Goodwill centers operate and for Goodwill of Silicon Valley, with some of the highest housing costs in the country, a number of factors have combined to make dealing with that complexity vital to survival.
“One of the concerns I have with Goodwill is that commodity prices have gone down while the minimum wage has gone up,” creating lower prices for goods and higher costs, said Christopher Baker, CFO of Goodwill of Silicon Valley. “There is a tsunami coming for Goodwill. The only way to get through this is optimizing our business.”