Page 4 - 2018 Strategic Planning Trends

INTRODUCTION

Each year, Goodwill Industries International (GII) documents common themes and trends communicated in
strategic plans across the Goodwill network. This document reflects top strategic plan trends GII identified after
engaging in onsite strategic planning consultations in 2018 as well as reviewing other information provided to GII
by local Goodwill organizations. This document is not representative of all local Goodwill organizations in North
America.

A continuing trend from previous years, Goodwill organizations are experimenting with different types of strategic
planning tools and diverse strategic planning processes, and are requesting customized strategic planning
consultation engagement from GII through multiple sessions with diverse stakeholder groups, often over longer
periods of time.

In addition, as local Goodwill organizations focused on leveraging opportunities and mitigating challenges within
both the social enterprise and mission services, data was recognized as a critical resource. Local teams
increasingly identified and collected data to better inform strategic decision making.

ADVANCE MISSION

BEGINNING AT HOME
Continuing a three-year trend, local Goodwill organizations were interested in “beginning at home” by providing
equitable services to both employees and program participants. Goodwill team members are active community
players and merit equal access to job skills and training. This strategy assumes that some percentage of persons
hired for entry-level donated goods retail jobs will move to other jobs in the community, using the skills they have
learned during employment to advance their careers and earnings potential elsewhere.

Market pressures, including increased labor costs and competition, also encouraged members to focus on their
people first.

Strategic plans included strategies that allow employees to gain skills training to improve their opportunities for
promotion, develop internal career pathways and open doors for in-demand jobs in the community. Strategies
also utilize work within Goodwill as job training to prepare program participants for outside employment.

PRIORITIZING MISSION

With contracting financial resources (both self-generated margin and external investment), local Goodwill
organizations have been making decisions regarding service delivery reductions, both in types of offerings and
numbers served. Seeking lasting impact for the communities they serve, some Goodwill organizations chose to
invest in more intensive interventions for fewer individuals rather than in broader, lighter services for many; for
some Goodwill leadership teams, transformational change in program participants’ lives superseded transactional
service.

4 2018 GOODWILL NETWORK STRATEGIC PLAN TRENDS
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