Good360 would like to thank the Retail Industry Leaders Association for hosting our webinar last Thursday, where we were able to talk about the benefits of product giving from a retailer’s perspective. Doyle Delph, Good360’s Vice President of Donor Relations, spoke on waste diversion, tax benefits, and corporate social responsibility through product giving, and also how product giving engages employees and allows retail stores to connect with their local communities. Lori Cook, Director of National Accounts with The Home Depot Foundation, spoke about the success of the Framing Hope program and the tremendous benefits of product giving for The Home Depot stores. There were 30 different retail representatives on the webinar as well as a Twitter chat at #Good360. Thanks to RILA, Good360 has already received inquiries from three different retailers seeking philanthropic solutions to inventory challenges.
To give you some background on Good360, we are a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to fulfilling the needs of nonprofits by distributing corporate product donations around the world. Our organization works with the nation’s top brands and retailers to provide needed products to more than 19,000 qualified nonprofit organizations. A nonprofit leader since 1983, Good360, formerly known as Gifts In Kind International, has distributed more than $7 billion in product donations and is ranked as one of the 10 best-managed charities by Forbes magazine.
Good360 distributes product donations in several ways:
- We pair local nonprofits with local retail stores (Framing Hope model);
- We store donations in our warehouses and place on an online donation catalog;
- We work with community-based nonprofit partners that redistribute donations locally, and
- We match one-time donations directly with recipient nonprofits.
Recently, Good360 and The Home Depot Foundation partnered with Indiana University to evaluate the economic benefits of our Framing Hope program with The Home Depot stores. Lori Cook discussed some of the research findings including that in the first 28 months of Framing Hope, The Home Depot diverted the equivalent of 2,500 garbage trucks of compressed waste from landfills. Also, not only did The Home Depot stores donate products to more than 450,000 household units to qualified nonprofits, but this year The Home Depot was able to reach a milestone of donating $100 million in product donations. A full executive summary and detailed impact report can be found here.
Good360 continues to work with Indiana University with the help of The Home Depot Foundation. We will announce groundbreaking research on the business case for product giving at our product philanthropy summit in November. The study includes a cost-comparison between liquidating, salvaging, and donating inventory. It will also include an analysis of the relationship between product giving, employee engagement, and a company’s brand.
For more information about how Good360 can help your retail store with environmentally sustainable and cost effective solutions to inventory challenges please contact Doyle Delph at (703) 299-7532 or doyle@good360.org
