Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois

In 2018, Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois served 24,592 people in many different ways, but with the same end goal – helping people create opportunities to enhance their lives.

Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois established the following goals–

• Increase opportunity and efficiency in all our retail stores and mission service programs
• Live our value of constant learning for all – our participants, our employees, and our community
• Serve all of our communities with mission service programming, and
• Position Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois as a leader among thrift retail, mission services, and employers

Employment Services

In 2018, we served 24,592 individuals in our communities.

Goodwill helped over 1,719 individuals find and maintain work.

Goodwill provides a wide array of employment services. Since 2017, Goodwill has operated the One Stop services in partnership with Rock Valley College and Illinois Department of Employment Security at The Workforce Connection offices in Rockford, Belvidere, and Freeport. This partnership is funded through The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Goodwill provides employment services in partnership with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Goodwill provides a placement program as well as a supported work program.  In 2018, Goodwill operated these employment programs for adults with disabilities in Rockford, Sterling, and Freeport Illinois.

In 2018, the Placement program outcomes include:

• 40% of participants obtained employment in the program,
• 60% of those who found work found it within 6 months of beginning the program
• 75% of those who found it employment retained their employment after 90 days

In 2018, the Supported Work program outcomes include:

• 35% of individuals found employment in the community within 6 months
• 75% retained their community employment after 90 days
• 80% of participants are satisfied with the program

We are thankful for the People With Disabilities Program, who generously helped support Goodwill’s Supported Work program in 2018.

Education Services

In 2018, Goodwill’s GoodGRADS program served 327 individuals through Adult Education classes.  Over 85% of Goodwill’s students persisted in the GoodGRADS program and over 71% of students had increases in math or reading in Goodwill’s 8-week class sessions.

Goodwill provided scholarships for 691 GED tests in our communities so individuals would not have any financial barriers to earning their GED. 77 individuals earned their full GED as a result of the test scholarships. Additionally, 500 practice test scholarships were given to students.

Scholarships given by community are:

• Freeport – 23 scholarships given and 1 GED earned
• DeKalb – 20 scholarships given and 1 GED earned
• McHenry – 122 scholarships given and 18 GEDs earned
• Ottawa – 135 scholarships given and 14 GEDs earned

• Rockford – 388 scholarships given and 42 GEDs earned

Financial Programs

Goodwill provided the IRS Certified Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for the 10^th year in 2018.

Goodwill prepared taxes for 3,203 customers and saved clients over $563,000 in tax filing fees.

Goodwill’s goal is to serve customers efficiently and effectively and we reached our goals in 2018. Goodwill’s customer satisfaction at tax sites was over 98%, with over 97% of customers reporting that it was easy to get an appointment. Additionally, the acceptance rate of tax returns with the IRS at Goodwill’s tax sites was over 98%.

This program is generously supported through the United Way of the Rock River Valley and the Internal Revenue Service.

Let's Go To Work Program

Goodwill’s Let’s Go to Work program offers employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities in 7 community locations. In 2018, we served 50 individuals in this program that provides training and a supportive work experience for individuals with disabilities.

Round Up at the Register

Goodwill’s Round up at the Register program asks customers to “round up” their total at the registers at the store locations. The round up funds generated provide scholarships to individuals with disabilities at the community colleges in all of our local communities and support Goodwill’s Mission programming in our communities.

In 2018, Goodwill provided the following Community Colleges with scholarships: Blackhawk Technical College, Highland Community College, Illinois Valley Community College, Kishwaukee College, McHenry County College, Rock Valley College, and Sauk Valley College.

Corporate Citizenship

In 2018, Goodwill diverted over 15.3 million pounds from our local landfills by recycling cardboard, shoes, clothing, and metals, and computers.

Retail Customers

In 2018, Goodwill retail locations had over 1 million customers at our 12 store locations. Goodwill has 11 retail stores, one outlet store, and one attended donation center.

Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois is a community-based not-for-profit organization whose mission is to create opportunities for individuals with barriers to enhance their lives.

In short:  there's nothing quite like us!

For many, we're a great retail shopping experience offering amazing value.  For others, we're a convenient place to donate used clothing and household goods.

We're a retailer and a recycler that puts all of our sales revenue back into the communities we serve.  Through your donations, we're creating jobs and enhancing the lives of people with disabilities.  We're providing vital skills and training to those who need it most.

We're Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois - a 100% non-profit organization doing good work throughout an 18-county area in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.  Rockford, IL serves as our headquarters, and we're one of 165 Goodwill agencies under the auspices of Goodwill Industries International (GII).  Goodwill was recently named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 10 charities in the country as well as one of America's 20 most inspiring companies.  In addition, Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois was named Organization of the Year by Illinois Special Olympics in June 2013.