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OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 9:36 am
by GRANDPASMUCKER
Speaking of the Omaha World Herald......That 3 day expose they are currently running on the good ole Goodwill is good stuff. That story is the kind of top rate journalism that we hope to see from the World Herald but rarely do. I knew after watching all those Goodwill stores opening up the past few years that somebody was making a lot of money somewhere. It turns out the guy managing the local Goodwill Inc made just under a million dollars last year. :lol: His daughter made over 100,000 managing one of the Goodwill Stores last year. :lol: The Goodwill buys stuff form China and then has employees paid by federal funds repackage the stuff from China in bags labeled Made in the USA. Over 13 or 14 local Goodwill managers made over 100,000 last year while the employees did not even get a Christmas Party. :lol: Turns out their is little good about the Goodwill! Nice job Omaha World Herald!

Re: OWH endorses Ms. Clinton!

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:30 pm
by GetUrban
GRANDPASMUCKER wrote:Speaking of the Omaha World Herald......That 3 day expose they are currently running on the good ole Goodwill is good stuff. That story is the kind of top rate journalism that we hope to see from the World Herald but rarely do. I knew after watching all those Goodwill stores opening up the past few years that somebody was making a lot of money somewhere. It turns out the guy managing the local Goodwill Inc made just under a million dollars last year. :lol: His daughter made over 100,000 managing one of the Goodwill Stores last year. :lol: The Goodwill buys stuff form China and then has employees paid by federal funds repackage the stuff from China in bags labeled Made in the USA. Over 13 or 14 local Goodwill managers made over 100,000 last year while the employees did not even get a Christmas Party. :lol: Turns out their is little good about the Goodwill! Nice job Omaha World Herald!
We actually agree on something! Good reporting by the OWH indeed. I'm sure people will think twice about donating again until they get things straightened out. I do like what they've done with their new store designs though.

Should this sidebar be its own thread?

Re: OWH endorses Ms. Clinton!

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 1:00 pm
by nebugeater
GetUrban wrote:
Should this sidebar be its own thread?

Sounds like a solid idea and this could take on a life of it's own. I split it.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2016 4:41 pm
by Dundeemaha
Does anyone know if the dataomaha.com section of the OWH is a different department within the organization? I feel like the investigations, articles and interactive graphics are clearly a level above the main site content. This is another great example of that.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 9:48 pm
by daveoma
This story came out of nowhere for me, and after the OWH gave the Holland Center credit for the redevelopment of a lot of downtown Omaha just before OPA announced they wanted to demolish historical buildings, I can't help but think there is a motive here. I don't the exorbitant salaries are much different than a lot of other nonprofits, so why Goodwill?

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:09 pm
by Dundeemaha
daveoma wrote:This story came out of nowhere for me, and after the OWH gave the Holland Center credit for the redevelopment of a lot of downtown Omaha just before OPA announced they wanted to demolish historical buildings, I can't help but think there is a motive here. I don't the exorbitant salaries are much different than a lot of other nonprofits, so why Goodwill?
They spell out in the articles that the high salaries are much different than their local competitors and other regional Goodwills of similar size.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:27 pm
by Uffda
Happened to talk with a current employee of Goodwill tonight and they said there was a lot of |expletive| going on. They thought that a disgruntled ex employee went to the paper.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:22 am
by Taco
I have a family member with special needs who worked at Goodwill during high school as well as a couple of friends who worked as training program managers. All three left separately, disgruntled due to many of the things mentioned in these articles. I am glad this information is coming to light, hopefully with some much needed change, Goodwill can be a better organization.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:23 am
by bbinks
Seems like a racket. People donate stuff. It sells for $2. probably a fourth of that goes to top manager pay.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:48 pm
by GetUrban
More like 3/4 of everything goes to overhead, salaries, etc.

In general, corporate CEO and upper management pay has gotten out of hand in many industries & professions. The money would be better spent if it was invested back into operations or divided among those doing the bulk of good work. CEO's need to show more humility and reward the employees who are also performing well.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 3:54 pm
by Omaha_corn_burner
GetUrban wrote:CEO's need to show more humility and reward the employees who are also performing well.
Need to? No, they do not need to reward employees. Would it be nice if they rewarded employees? Yes, it would be for the employees.

They need to reward stockholders, that's their job. If rewarding quality employees would bring about positive changes for the company, which in turn would generate more profits and raise stock price/dividends, then they need to do that. The problem is that CEOs seem to just want to get their paychecks, do whatever it takes to generate profits, and then leave the company. Usually that involves buying up other companies, cutting services, or trying to cut costs.

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:13 am
by Greg S
This was fantastic work by the OWH. These salaries do differ from their peers, and money being raised is not going where they said it was. I've donated items to the one off 156th and Maple for years but I am done until there is a change.

Too many alternatives. For now I will stick Hand Me Ups and the Open Door Mission.

Greg

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:10 am
by Coyote
I have been dealing with Hand me Ups ever since they opened next to the Applewood Hy-Vee. The one out on West Maple is also nice...

Re: OWH Goodwill Charity Reporting

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 11:18 pm
by nativeomahan
The CEO resigned today. I'm guessing that other heads will roll. Many of the larger philanthropic entities in town announced they wouldn't give another dime to Goodwill until changes were made at the top. That's what finally pulled the rug out from under the leadership team.

I'm very happy that the World-Herald undertook this story. That's what good investigative journalists are supposed to do.