Shopgoodwill.com Recognized as Top Website in 2009
08/26/2009
Grand Rapids, MI – This week, TIME.com released its 50 Best Websites 2009 including one with local ties, shopgoodwill.com. The website was also featured on the Today Show by TIME.com Executive Producer Catherine Sharick as one of her top five Web sites that could change your life. Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids is one of numerous Goodwill agencies who make up the suppliers for the national online site. Shopgoodwill.com, the nation’s first and only nonprofit Internet auction site, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Monday, August 31.
“The shopgoodwill.com auction site is one website to add to your favorites,” says Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids Vice President of Community Relations Jill Wallace. “Shopgoodwill.com has over 75 categories and subcategories, from antiques and jewelry to toys and one-of-a-kind collectible items.” Revenues from items sold through the Grand Rapids agency stay in the local community to help fund job training programs for individuals with barriers to employment.
Shopgoodwill.com is the first and only auction site created, owned and operated by a nonprofit organization. Since its launch in 1999, it has earned more than $50 million dollars for Goodwill Industries International programs. More than 18,000 items are for sale at any given time pulled from the billions of pounds of donated goods the organization collects each year. From 2000 to 2006, the site’s revenues grew at an average annual growth rate of 111 percent. All the proceeds benefit Goodwill Industries International job training and placement programs.
“With 83 percent of revenues going directly into training programs, shoppers can feel good about their purchases,” says Wallace. “And they feel protected because the items all come from one source with an internationally-respected brand name – Goodwill Industries. It’s like buying something from someone you know.”
Items currently available for bidding can be found at www.shopgoodwill.com.
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About Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids
Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to changing lives through the power of work. Since 1966, the organization has offered a wide range of employment and training programs free of charge to assist those with disabilities and other barriers to employment in developing their marketable skills in order to find meaningful employment. Its efforts are supported by revenues from its 14 retail stores in a five-county area, as well as from monetary donations. For more information, visit www.goodwillgr.org.
