Last year was a big year for Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana as we educated, employed and served more individuals than ever before. Since launching our Strategic Plan three years ago, we’ve made significant progress on our objectives and goals, resulting in life-changing impact in our communities.

We’re currently on track for our fourth straight record-breaking year in terms of revenue, resulting in life-changing impacts across our communities. Nearly 15,000 students enrolled in 47 Excel Centers across the country, and more than 14,000 employees, students and graduates received support from one of Goodwill’s coaches. In addition, more than 5,000 Hoosiers were directly employed by Goodwill across central and southern Indiana – nearly two-thirds of whom reported a barrier to employment, like a disability, involvement with the justice system, or limited education.

More than 10,000 individuals are served each day through Goodwill’s stores, schools and mission programs.

Social Enterprise 

In terms of our first Strategic Plan objective – growing viable businesses that provide the funding to sustain and build on current and future initiatives, while continuing to execute the mission – Goodwill continues to make considerable strides. 

In 2023, we announced that we would bring mission services to the territory of Puerto Rico, and we’re proud to announce that our first retail store has started accepting donations and will soon be opening its doors to shoppers. Pictured below is the Goodwill team at the Plaza Escorial store assisting the first donor in Puerto Rico!

Two additional locations in Puerto Rico are expected to open by the end of 2025, and planning and development continues for opening a location of The Excel Center®, Goodwill’s tuition-free high school for adults, and launching Goodwill Nurse-Family Partnership®, a maternal-child health program for first-time, low-income moms. 

In addition to providing Goodwill’s evidence-based mission programs to residents of Puerto Rico, Goodwill’s emphasis on reusing, recycling and repurposing will help address sustainability issues, which can be particularly acute on an island. 

We also recently opened a new retail store in Jeffersonville, Indiana – our seventh new store in this region since our merger with the southern Indiana Goodwill in 2017. Soon we will reopen our store in Winchester, which was devastated by a tornado just months after its grand opening last year. 

Central and southern Indiana residents now have access to 77 convenient Goodwill retail locations, with proceeds generated from donations and sales going toward funding programs like The Excel Center, Goodwill’s tuition-free high school for adults, where more than 8,500 Hoosiers have earned their diploma. 

Recently, we installed conveyor belts at our retail outlet in Greenwood to assist with the process of replenishing the sales floor with new inventory. The conveyor belts have reduced downtime on the sales floor from 90 minutes per day to just 15 minutes – a welcome change for customers. Employees also have opportunities to earn new certifications and a higher wage with the new conveyor belts. 

Generational Impact

Another objective driving Goodwill’s Strategic Plan is fostering an environment of support and learning that results in skills attainment and knowledge. Last year, Indianapolis Metropolitan High School, a high school for traditional-age students operated by Goodwill, celebrated its 20-year anniversary, marking two decades of directly serving Indiana’s students, preparing them for continuing education or a living-wage career post-graduation. 

We opened six new locations of The Excel Center across the country – including two in Marion and Columbus, Indiana – expanding our adult high school network to to 10 states, plus the District of Columbia. More than 800 Hoosiers earned a diploma at one of Goodwill’s high schools in 2024 alone. The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame aired a video during the halftime of an NBC broadcast of a home football game highlighting their work with The Excel Center helping to quantify the value of a high school diploma. 

We also proudly celebrated John Thompson, a graduate of The Excel Center, who was recognized in 2024 as Goodwill Industries International’s Achiever of the Year – an award that is open to more than 150 independent Goodwills across North America. 

In 2023, Goodwill Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) expanded from 35 to 62 counties, and much of our work in 2024 involved hiring nurses and rolling out the program to these new communities. We’re proud to report that there are now more than 100 registered nurses actively serving more than 1,800 Hoosier parents in nearly all 62 Indiana counties Goodwill NFP serves. 

In addition, Goodwill New Beginnings, a reentry program that offers resources to Hoosiers who were previously involved with the justice system, celebrated its largest graduating cohort since its inception in 2011. In addition to full-time employment, participants may receive help securing housing and health care, reinstating a driver's license, addressing legal challenges and more. Through barrier removal and support from expert coaches, participants work toward transitioning from entry-level work at Goodwill to a skilled, in-demand career within their community. More than 100 Hoosiers were served by Goodwill New Beginnings in 2024.

Community

Engaging community partners has been another focus of Goodwill’s Strategic Plan. Last year, the Goodwill Excel Center received $4 million in grants from Truist Foundation and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to support the national expansion of The Excel Center, with the goal of growing to 85 schools by 2030. Grant funds support the multiyear process The Excel Center National Office undertakes when opening an Excel Center.

Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana also launched a new ad campaign that illustrates how the proceeds generated from the sale of donated goods impacts communities across central and southern Indiana. The ad campaign, How Good Is Made, is designed to illustrate how the donations that customers give and purchase at Goodwill – a lamp, a table, or perhaps a pair of jeans– can change a life in your community.

TalentSource^TM, Goodwill’s in-house job placement team, was awarded funds through the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to provide career navigation and coaching services to students of The Excel Center and Indianapolis Metropolitan High School. The expansion of services is enabling more one-on-one career and college exploration and preparation, as well as the development of new relationships and engagement with local employers in each community.

In addition, through generous support from our donors, the Goodwill Foundation of Central & Southern Indiana has been busy empowering our communities. The Foundation is on track for its highest Annual Fund to date and celebrated a record number of attendees at its third annual UNBOXED event. The event has raised nearly $1M to support Hoosiers, which means even more opportunities for the people we employ, educate, and serve, like Peter Salathé.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

In an effort to create a culture and workplace of acceptance and belonging that reflects the change we want to see in our communities, Goodwill’s Strategic Plan details several DEI-driven initiatives. First and foremost, we intentionally create opportunities for our co-workers to have a voice and an active role in what equity looks like at Goodwill. This includes interactive activities like town halls and surveys as well as a DEI task force that is responsible for coordinating activities at the organization level.

Our DEI work is also taking place at the departmental level. For example, TalentSource partnered with EmployIndy to plan an all-day seminar focused on Innovative Inclusion. Over 70 community members – primarily employers – participated in this full day of high-impact learning and conversations around equitable hiring practices.

In addition, Goodwill New Beginnings collaborated with several local partners, including Martin University, to bring Keidran Brewster to an Indianapolis re-entry fair for Second Chance Month. Mr. Brewster discussed his time incarcerated and how he built a successful trucking and transportation business that provides people with second chance employment. 

Finally, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) team launched an initiative to bridge the digital literacy gap that program participants – ages 55 and up – are facing. Computer assessments were completed with all SCSEP participants in the areas of basic computer skills, internet use, email, and digital footprints. 

Through a partnership with the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library, the SCSEP team began offering a four-week basic computer skills pilot to program participants, which takes into account the way older adults learn and retain information. The participants selected for the pilot program averaged an initial score of 44%. Following daily in-person instruction for four weeks, participant scores increased by 23%. 

People

At Goodwill, the people are the essence of our mission, and that includes the people we directly employ. It’s our goal to help each person identify the path that is going to propel them into the life they envision for themselves and support them along the way. Our Strategic Plan addresses both basic and advanced needs in a number of ways. 

First, we focus on stabilization, which is ensuring an individual’s basic needs are met. For example, one pilot program Goodwill launched in 2024, called Gleaners on the Go, allows Goodwill employees to get customized food boxes delivered to their place of employment through Gleaners Food Bank. 

Goodwill employees also have access to comprehensive and affordable health care, a retirement match up to 6%, life and disability insurance, generous PTO and much more. In 2024, our financial position allowed us to distribute an additional lump-sum contribution to all employees who are eligible for our retirement plan match, equal to 2% of the previous year’s gross earnings. 

All Goodwill employees 18 years and older have access to Goodwill’s Nurse Health Coaching program. In 2024, nurses connected nearly 200 employees to primary care, promoting preventive care and early intervention, which helped control health care costs and maintain Goodwill group plan premiums without an increase to employees. 

Beyond these fundamental benefits, Goodwill Mission Coaches assist individuals on a daily basis navigating barriers to employment and education through coaching, financial literacy guidance, and connections to resources, like mental health support. Coaches also help students and employees set and achieve education and career goals and move toward financial independence. In 2024, Mission Coaches served more than 14,000 Goodwill employees and students. 

Goodwill’s Learning and Development team also developed and launched several new professional development initiatives for employees in 2024, including a range of new online courses that employees can take through Workday Learning, a New Manager Essentials orientation, and a refreshed Leadership Series.

We’re proud of the progress that has been achieved on Goodwill’s Strategic Plan and look forward to an exciting 2025, with much more to come. 

None of this would be possible without people like you who shop and donate to Goodwill, so THANK YOU. Stop by one of our conveniently located retail stores or make a donation today, and change more lives in your community.