Goodwill NYNJ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social enterprise founded on February 13th 1915 in Brooklyn by two clergymen inspired by Rev. Dr. Edgar J. Helms, the national founder of Goodwill. The organisation operates a dual model: revenue from thrift retail funds employment services for people with disabilities and other barriers to work, while the sale and reuse of donated goods diverts usable material from landfills. Its operating philosophy holds that people in need should earn a living rather than receive charity.
The retail arm comprises 37 thrift stores across New York and Northern New Jersey selling donated clothes and household goods. Headquarters are at 25 Elm Place in downtown Brooklyn, with a Northern New Jersey services central office in Newark; the organisation also serves Long Island and Upstate New York. Two mergers shaped its current footprint: the Brooklyn and Manhattan Goodwills combined in 1962, and the organisation merged with Northern New Jersey Goodwill in 1999.
Employment services cover job placement and retention for people facing barriers to work. In 2021 nearly 10,000 people were helped to find and keep jobs. The organisation describes its work as a 'double impact' - keeping goods out of landfills while helping individuals into employment - and reports being a BBB Accredited Charity with strong Charity Navigator ratings.
Technical domains include workforce development, nonprofit social enterprise operations, thrift and retail operations, and sustainability and landfill diversion.
