Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont Boosts Revenue with Online Booking

“We went from doing one or two home pickups a day to doing 10-to-13 home pick-ups a day,” says Bill Hall, Director of Supply Chain and Donation Acquisition for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. “That really added some revenue to our bottom line.”

Hall is referring to how his Goodwill Industries retail locations became the first to use Vonigo’s donation pick-up software with online booking. “Oh, by the way, I had to do this without adding any admin staff,” adds Hall.

A Proud History in the Carolinas

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 autonomous, non-profit Goodwill retail locations in 14 countries. The Southern Piedmont locations service 13 counties in North Carolina and five counties in South Carolina.

The nonprofit provides free job training and career coaching and has been a part of their community for over 50 years. “We’ve placed roughly 31,000 individuals with employment in area companies,” says Hall.

How They Do It

The Goodwill stores raise money for these programs through the sale of donated items. Donors bring goods to the store or have them picked up from their homes. In the case of the latter, the donor must book a time for Goodwill to arrange the pick-up. To make it easier for customers, Hall was on the lookout for a solution that would let donors book a pick-up online.

“We had a home pick-up program, but it wasn’t a very robust home pick-up program,” says Hall. “I stumbled upon Vonigo and I saw what the features they offered and I was impressed.”

“The key to Vonigo is that it allows individuals to go online themselves and book donation pick-ups,” says Hall. “Our admin staff would take roughly 50 to 60 calls a day for pick-ups. (Vonigo) frees them up because the donor has the capability to go online and schedule that pick-up themselves. It frees our staff up to do other other meaningful tasks.”

habitat for humanity donations

Online Booking Boosting Revenues

With online booking in place, Hall’s location saw a big increase in revenues. They added hundreds of thousands in revenue to their bottom lines. “We’re on pace to generate roughly $215,000 worth of revenue for our retail stores, just from our online pick-up program,” says Hall.

Now, when other Goodwill locations ask him about Vonigo’s software and online booking, he doesn’t mince his words. “Being the first Goodwill to sign up with Vonigo, I get calls from my peers quite a bit,” says Hall. “They want to know how Vonigo is working for us. And I simply tell them flat out — it’s a no-brainer. I’ve looked around at different scheduling tools and most Goodwills operate the same way. So it’s a great tool, it’s inexpensive, it’s robust, and without a doubt, it’s something that we all should be using to schedule home pick-ups.”

Try Nonprofit Donation Pickup Software for Your Location

Interested in learning about how nonprofit donation pick-up software with online booking can help your nonprofit location get better organized and increase your donations? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.