See Goodwill Industries of Central Florida’s 2017 Year in Review video by clicking here.
Come the New Year it is customary to reflect, evaluate and reminisce about the prior year’s accomplishments. For us at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida it is no different. The resulting introspections are both necessary and rewarding.
2017 was a turning point for our organization with 3 significant trends worth noting…
Sustained mission success
It was another landmark year for our mission of Building Lives That Work. We served 47,531 people and placed 8,102 into jobs last year.
While placed and served numbers are both down slightly from our record setting year in 2016, we are still proud because 2017 was a year in which unemployment rates were very low across Central Florida.
Also, when we look deeper into the data there are substantial discoveries. First, the average wage of our placements was up from $10.14 to $10.42 an hour from 2016. Second, the average amount of hours worked per week by those we helped place was 35.
Third and most importantly, 1 in 4 individuals that came through Goodwill Industries of Central Florida’s Job Connection Centers for services in 2017 were placed into jobs.
These statistics demonstrate that people are working more, securing higher quality jobs and have high chances of landing a job through our services.
Another special headline was the launch of our Impact Families program which addresses family homeless in our community through funding and support by Disney through the Central Florida Foundation.
Two new Job Connection Centers opened, one in DeLand and one at our headquarters in South Orlando and GoodSource Staffing Services, Operation GoodJobs and our other programs all showed continued success. Lastly, YouthBuild launched in partnership with Valencia.
Strategic rebranding and greater community engagement
We continued our “mission first” marketing rebrand, emphasizing our programs and services through our communications. Therefore we shared our mission with our community to greater effect and saw collaborative partnerships flourish in 2017.
We hosted 12 Wow Tours this past year, playing host to nearly 150 community guests who got to experience our mission first-hand. We also hosted our 2nd annual Inspiration Breakfast at SeaWorld Orlando where over 300 guests joined us and raised funds for our mission and individuals like Hector and Stormee.
In August we led 3 Hard Hat Tours for community leaders in DeLand where we toured the construction site of our newest store and Job Connection Center. We listened to the greater West Volusia community to better help alleviate its most pertinent challenges.
Two major technological advancements took place this year as well. We launched our new website with a fresh, new, and easy to navigate look, and a new resource site for our clients so they can be informed of the latest events, courses, services and job fairs at our Job Connection Centers.
Lastly, our volunteer program rose to new heights this year, with nearly 700 volunteers participating, including 25 corporate groups accounting for over 10,000 hours served.
An emergent retail presence
This was a great year for our retail department. Retail revenue grew 8.3% above last year. In the midst of a competitively disruptive industry our stores not only managed to survive but thrived! In addition shopgoodwill.com saw revenue growth of 27% and Ebooks also grew by nearly 8%.
We continue to recognize the importance and rewards of utilizing online sales platforms and offering a convenient and polished in-store shopping experience for customers.
Retail also raised $13,000 at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, $36,000 through the 2017 Truck Promotion and over $325,000 through Change Round Up. Retail and transportation also led key partnerships with the American Red Cross, OCPS and Toys for Tots.
Come This Year
2017 was a banner year for Goodwill Industries of Central Florida. Collaboration, growth, superior services…the list goes on. We look forward to continuing these trends throughout 2018 as we continue to Build Lives That Work.