FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT GOODWILL
What is Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina?
What is Goodwill's Mission?
Who does Goodwill serve?
Can you help me find a job?
What do I do first if I need help from Goodwill?
What is a Goodwill Job Connection?
What services do you provide?
Does Goodwill provide services for companies and employers?
Is there a fee for your services?
How can I access the Goodwill's Job Connection services?
What hours are Goodwill Job Connections open?
How can I access the job leads you have available?
Do you help people find jobs with companies and businesses other than Goodwill?
Why do Goodwill organizations in different areas of the country have different programs, policies, and appearances?
How can I make a cash donation to Goodwill?
I’d like to donate, but with so many charities out there it’s hard to choose. How can I make a wise choice?
Where can I find your annual financial report?
What material donations do you accept?
What material donations do you NOT accept?
Can I donate a car, truck, or boat to Goodwill?
What do you do with donated computers? Will my personal information be safe?
Where can I donate?
How do I determine the value of my donation for tax purposes?
What do you do with the material donations you receive?
How can I find the closest Goodwill store?
Since the material donations are given to you, why can’t you just give them to people in need?
How do you determine your pricing?
What happens to items that do not sell?
How can I apply for a job with Goodwill?
What do I need to do to make sure my application is complete?
How can Goodwill's Business Support Services work for my company?
Does Goodwill provide temporary employees?
What is Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina?
Goodwill is a private not-for-profit agency that provides job training and placement opportunities for people with barriers to employment. The primary funding for these programs is generated through the sale of donated clothing and goods in our stores in Upstate and Midlands South Carolina. A volunteer Board of Directors, comprised of local community leaders, provides oversight and ensures that the organization meets the needs of the citizens of South Carolina.
What is Goodwill's Mission?
Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina helps people with disabilities and other special needs become fully independent citizens through education, training, and employment leading to job placement.
Who does Goodwill serve?
We serve people with barriers to employment. A barrier to employment might include learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, age, lack of education, single parenthood, language barriers, extended absence from the workforce (e.g. displaced homemakers or disabled veterans), felony history, co-occurring disorders, substance abuse, domestic violence or neglect, physical challenges, and homelessness or near homelessness. However, a barrier might also be as simple as needing assistance preparing for and finding employment.
Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina serves the South Carolina counties of Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Kershaw, Laurens, Lexington, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg and Union.
Can you help me find a job?
Goodwill can provide or connect you with the resources you need for a successful job search and assist you with maximizing the benefit of those resources. Ultimately, however, the individual is responsible for following through on job leads and opportunities.
What do I do first if I need help from Goodwill?
Contact Us or visit a Goodwill Job Connection. Goodwill has a variety of resources available to assist with your employment needs, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with you.
What is a Goodwill Job Connection?
Goodwill Job Connection offices provide job seekers the opportunity to access resources such as computers, internet access, job leads, and assistance with resume development to help them be successful in their job search. Employment Specialists at Goodwill Job Connections do work with local employers and can provide direct referrals. For a list of Goodwill Job Connection locations, please click here.
What services do you provide?
Our staff provides job assessment, skills training, job placement and job retention support to help people prepare for, find, and be successful in employment. Goodwill's Job Connections offer job seekers the opportunity to access resources such as computers, internet access, job leads, and assistance with resume development to help them be successful in their job search. We also offer training programs that prepare participants for work in a specific field, including careers in Retail, Food Service, and as a Certified Nursing Assistant.
Does Goodwill provide services for companies and employers?
Yes. Goodwill Job Connections frequently work with employers to help them find people who are the right match for the employment opportunities available. Our services to employers include: free job postings, screening of candidates, referrals of qualified applicants, and job fairs for candidates who meet the employer's requirements.
Is there a fee for your services?
Goodwill's services are free.
How can I access the Goodwill's Job Connection services?
Come in to any Goodwill Job Connection (locations are listed here) and register with the Employment Specialist. The Employment Specialist will conduct an initial interview with you, and then will help you begin your job search.
What hours are Goodwill Job Connections open?
Hours for all Goodwill Job Connection locations are listed here.
How can I access the job leads you have available?
Come in to any Job Connection location.
Do you help people find jobs with companies and businesses other than Goodwill?
Yes. We place individuals into jobs with many different employers.
Why do Goodwill organizations in different areas of the country have different programs, policies, and appearances?
Every Goodwill organization serves a specific region or territory and is operated independently, with its own Board of Directors. While most Goodwills have similar missions of providing employment services to help people become independent, the actual programs and services vary. This is also the reason that Goodwill stores across the country may look and operate a little differently from what you are used to in your hometown.
For more information about the programs specific to Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina, click here.
How can I make a cash donation to Goodwill?
Financial donations can be made in any of the following ways:
• Mail to: Fund Development, 115 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29607
• Hand Delivery: To any Goodwill facility.
• Online
Remember to make checks payable to Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina. Goodwill is a nonprofit organization, so your contribution is tax deductible and 100 percent of your donation will go to programs serving persons with barriers to employment.
I’d like to donate, but with so many charities out there it’s hard to choose and trust that my money or donated goods are being put to good use. How can I make a wise choice?
Typically, a good rule of thumb is to seek out organizations that put at least 65 percent of their revenues back into its programs. Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina is proud to say that over 90 cents of every dollar spent goes back into some aspect of program services.
For more information on nonprofit agencies in your area, visit the South Carolina Secretary of State's office website, access a brochure from the South Carolina Secretary of State's office about Wise Giving, or visit a reputable website specializing in information on nonprofit organizations like guidestar.org.
Where can I find your annual financial report?
Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina's most recent
annual report is available online. You can access it here.
What material donations do you accept?
Goodwill will accept material donations of any kind, including computers, cars, and boats. Common donations include clothing; shoes; housewares such as flatware, dinnerware, pots and pans and kitchen utensils; small appliances like toasters, blenders, mixers and juicers; toys;, bicycles; books; sporting equipment; tools; collectables; decorations; furniture; computers and other electronics.
What material donations do you NOT accept?
We are unable to accept liquids or other hazardous materials. A good way to decide whether to donate an item is to consider whether someone else could still get use from the item, even if you no longer need it. If the answer is yes, Goodwill can probably use the donation to generate funding for our mission services.
Can I donate a car, truck, or boat to Goodwill?
Yes! We accept donations of vehicles and watercrafts, including cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and jet skis. For more information about donating a vehicle, please call 1-800-4DEDUCT in the Upstate, or 803-407-5881 in the Midlands.
What do you do with donated computers? Will my personal information be safe?
Some computers that are donated to Goodwill are able to refurbished and sold in our retail stores, enabling people to purchase a system, complete with Microsoft Windows operating software, at an affordable price. Prior to sale, all donated hard drives are wiped to the standards of the United State Department of Defense.
For computers that cannot be refurbished, Goodwill
and Dell have created a partnership called the Reconnect program. This partnership allows Goodwill to safely
recycle computers, while ensuring the safety of our donors' information and the health of the environment. For more information on the Reconnect program, click here.
Where can I donate?
You may
donate at any Goodwill location. To find the donation center nearest you, please use the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
For questions about vehicle or watercraft donations, please call 1-800-4DEDUCT in the Upstate, or 803-407-5881 in the Midlands. How do I determine the value of my donation for tax purposes?
You can access a donation valuation guide by clicking here.
What do you do with the material donations you receive?
Most items are processed and prepared for sale in our retail stores. A few items are sent to our e-commerce department to be photographed and placed for auction on www.shopgoodwill.com.
How can I find the closest Goodwill store?
A complete list of our retail locations can be found here.
Since the material donations are given to you, why can’t you just give them to people in need?
Goodwill must cover the costs of operating the stores, including staffing, rent, utilities, trucks, insurance and much more. Also, the revenues generated are used to operate the vocational programs serving people with barriers to employment. This would be compromised if material donations were given away. Additionally, since Goodwill’s inception in 1902, the prevailing philosophy has been based on teaching people to support themselves. Our intent is to give people the tools to support themselves and become independent. One of Goodwill's early taglines was “Not Charity, But a Chance.”
How do you determine your pricing?
Our prices are competitive with the demand. We establish prices by surveying the market. While we occasionally make a mistake, we try to make sure we are selling excellent quality merchandise at a price that is a value for our customers. In addition, we are committed to maximizing the impact of our donors' generosity. The money we earn in our retail operations helps fund our vocational services. The more funding generated from the sale of donated items, the more lives we can improve through job training and placement.
What happens to items that do not sell?
We want to make sure our stores are always full of fresh merchandise. Merchandise remains in our retail stores for four weeks, and is marked down several times during the fourth week. If an item has not sold at the end of this four-week cycle, it is transferred to one of our Clearance Centers (located on Haywood Road in Greenville and on Meeting Street in West Columbia), where it is sold at a set price per pound. If these items still do not sale in the Clearance Centers, they are then recycled or sold in bulk to 3rd party recyclers.
We strive to ensure that the greatest dollar is extracted from each donation, and that as much as possible is recycled. The landfill is our last resort.
How can I apply for a job with Goodwill?
You can find a complete list of Goodwill's job openings in Upstate and Midlands South Carolina on our Careers page.
If you see a position you are interested in, please follow the instructions to submit an application. Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina is an equal opportunity employer (EEO/AA).
What do I need to do to make sure my application is complete?
Please make sure you:
- Complete and answer all questions on the application.
- Do not leave any "blank" areas
- Where applicable, list the last three employers you worked for. List the most recent employer first.
Any offer of employment with Goodwill is subject to completion and results of a pre-employment drug test and criminal background check, in addition to other examinations that may be requested by Goodwill.
How can Goodwill's Business Support Services work for my company?
Goodwill offers a variety of services, including janitorial, grounds maintenance, and industrial contracts to assist with your production needs. For more information about janitorial and grounds maintenance services, click here or contact James Carter at (864) 246-0872. For more information about industrial contracts, click here or contact Rhonda Cox at (864) 246-1127.
Does Goodwill provide temporary employees?
Yes. GoodWorks Staffing Services can assist you in meeting your workforce needs. For more information about GoodWorks, please click here or call 864-269-2611.
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