Goodwill Industries International Ranked #2 in Forbes’ Annual “America's 200 Largest Nonprofits”

Rockville, MD – Goodwill Industries International is America’s second largest nonprofit, according to Forbes.com’s annual “America’s 200 Largest Nonprofits” list. After placing 17th on last year’s list, Goodwill® shot up to the top echelon in 2009, earning over $2.8 billion in private, non-government support last year.
Goodwill joins other household nonprofit names on the top five list, including the United Way, The Salvation Army, Food for the Poor and Feed the Children. The strong ranking for Goodwill reflects its charitable commitment, fundraising efficiency and donor dependency of its 167 local, headquarter agencies in the United States and Canada.
“Goodwill fared exceptionally well in Forbes’ three financial efficiency ratios to earn revenue for our mission of helping people find good jobs,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “Goodwill agencies were recognized for their local relationships with businesses and corporations to create fundraising initiatives, as well as for the percent of revenues that are utilized for a charitable purpose versus management or other business expenses.”
Forbes ranked Goodwill:

  • Charitable Commitment: 88 percent
    The charitable commitment statistic calculates how much of total expense went directly to the charitable purpose as opposed to management, certain overhead and fundraising. The average this year is 86 percent, up from last year’s 85 percent.
  • Fundraising Efficiency: 99 percent
    The fundraising efficiency ratio shows the amount of contributions left after subtracting the cost of getting them. The average this year: 91 percent, up 1 percent from last year.
  • Donor Dependency: 97 percent
    The donor dependency figure measures the extent to which a nonprofit needed donor contributions to break even. Forbes subtracted the annual surplus or deficit from gifts, and then divided this figure by the gifts. The higher the percentage, the more the charity needed the donations. This year’s average is 95 percent — a significant increase over last year’s 60 percent figure.

Goodwill’s success is unusual among this year’s nonprofits. This year, Forbes’ largest nonprofits collectively registered an average loss of $6 million — the first time the group has lost money since Forbes began tracking them in 1999. Despite these losses, donor commitment to charitable giving remained high: giving increased by 16 percent — $7 billion — this year.
View the complete list on Forbes.com.