Home Locations Contact Job Connections Donate Shop Stories Impact About Work Home → About → FAQs Frequently Asked Questions Goodwill® Industries International has more than a century of experience helping people who have disabilities, who live in poverty, or who have other barriers to employment in the U.S., Canada, and 12 other countries. Goodwill is a leading social services enterprise and consistently ranks among the nation’s top charities. Along the way, we’ve heard and answered quite a few questions from the community about how Goodwill Industries International and Southern Oregon Goodwill operate. Here, we hope to give you the information you’re looking for so you can “think before you donate” and make an informed choice to support our Southern Oregon Goodwill mission. Is Goodwill a non-profit organization? Does anyone "own" Goodwill? How much does your President/CEO make? What is Southern Oregon Goodwill’s mission? How much revenue goes toward the mission? If you get donations for free, how do you determine the pricing? Does Goodwill pay employees less than minimum wage? Does Goodwill offer discounts for seniors and veterans? Is Goodwill a religious organization? Is Goodwill a non-profit organization? Yes! Southern Oregon Goodwill is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Nationwide, Goodwill has an “A” grade by CharityWatch.org and was named 10th on the list of "America's Top Charities 2020” by Forbes Magazine. We’ve also reached the Gold-level of participation in the GuideStar Exchange for our demonstrated commitment to transparency. GuideStar USA is a premier source of nonprofit information, and collects, organizes, and publishes info on the programs, finances, and impact of more than 1.8 million IRS-recognized nonprofits. Gold is the most elite level of the organization’s transparency program, GuideStar Exchange. Southern Oregon Goodwill is also fully accredited through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). TOP Does anyone "own" Goodwill? As nonprofit organizations, neither Goodwill Industries International nor any of the 161 independent Goodwill agencies internationally are “owned” by anyone. Steve Preston is the current President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International and reports to a volunteer Board of Directors. Our local Southern Oregon Goodwill President and CEO is Shae Johns. TOP How much does your President/CEO make? Shae Johns has been with our organization for more than 10 years, serving as President and CEO since 2014. Shae graduated from South Medford High School, has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Denver, and has spent more than a decade helping people with disadvantages reach their full potential at Southern Oregon Goodwill. Is she making millions of dollars a year? No, but she is fairly compensated for someone with a great deal of experience and the responsibility of managing an $18-million operation with hundreds of employees, and ensuring Southern Oregon Goodwill fulfills its mission. Southern Oregon Goodwill’s Board of Directors sets the salary and compensation for our CEO and reviews this compensation within the context of the organization’s revenues, service to people, and overall impact on the community. An executive who helps to raise more money and thereby helps to provide more job training in the community is rewarded by the Board for his or her efforts. The IRS dictates that all non-profit organizations file a Form 990 which lists top staff salaries and is publicly available. TOP What is Southern Oregon Goodwill’s mission? Southern Oregon Goodwill's Mission is to enable employment by providing opportunities for personal and professional growth, and we fund this mission through the sale of gently-used goods donated by our incredibly generous community. Goodwill is one of Southern Oregon's biggest recyclers. Our eco-friendly business model to reduce, reuse, and recycle keeps millions of pounds of unwanted items out of landfills each year. Our hybrid social enterprise puts your donation to work in amazing ways, with amazing results for people and the planet. TOP How much revenue goes toward the mission? Here in Southern Oregon, approximately 86% of the revenue we earn ($0.86 of every dollar) is spent on our mission services of job training and workforce development. This is a very healthy number in the nonprofit world and a solid indicator of our commitment to good stewardship of your donations. TOP If you get donations for free, how do you determine the pricing? We fund our mission through the sale of donated items, so we have a responsibility to our donors and to those we serve to get as much value from each donation as we can. We strive to price items fairly and competitively based on condition, brand name, market value, etc. TOP Does Goodwill pay employees less than minimum wage? All employees of Southern Oregon Goodwill earn at least $14 an hour, even in “nonurban counties” where the minimum wage is less than that. In addition, Southern Oregon Goodwill no longer participates in a Commensurate Wage training program that pays people with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage while they are gaining new skills, as allowed under the Fair Labor Standards Act section 14(c). TOP Does Goodwill offer discounts for seniors and veterans? Yes! Seniors (55 and older) and veterans get a 10% discount every day. Please ask at the register. One discount per purchase, per customer. Discounts cannot be combined with coupons or other offers and are not valid on new goods. TOP Is Goodwill a religious organization? Goodwill was founded by a Methodist minister, Rev. Edgar J. Helms, in 1902, but is no longer considered a religious organization. TOP CERTIFICATIONS & ACCREDITATIONS JOB CONNECTIONS Services Locations DONATE Donation Locations Donate Vehicles Donation Receipts SHOP Store Locations Color Tag Sales Shop Online Halloween STORIES OUR IMPACT ABOUT Mission & Region Leadership Annual Report & 990 News & Events FAQs Locations Contact WORK AT GOODWILL Current Job Openings Job Application Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries 11 W. Jackson Street, Medford, OR 97501. Copyright © 2021 Southern Oregon Goodwill ®. All rights reserved.