100+ years of doing good work

For more than a century, Goodwill has been a beacon of hope, making a positive impact on communities across the United States, Canada and 13 other countries. Here at Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, we’ve been proud to serve our local community since 1919.

Our commitment to meeting critical human needs has never wavered, and we take pride in our long-standing legacy of doing good work. We know that finding employment can be tough, but as a nonprofit organization, we’ve been helping people achieve their career goals for over 120 years.

In that time, we’ve helped millions of individuals get back on their feet and find success in the workforce. Here are just a few of the ways we made a difference in 2023:

  • 19,355 individuals were served through our mission services
  • 11,538 people received Goodwill store Give Back vouchers
  • 24,909 hours of instruction provided by Education & Training staff
  • 302 people were places in jobs by Goodwill and earned an average of 90% above minimum wage
  • 2,281,5111 shopper transactions at 34 Goodwill stores
  • 1,355,681 people donated gently-used items

We believe in progress for people,
the community and our planet.

At Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, we are committed to doing our part to protect the environment while serving our community. We know that many of our customers and donors share our values, and we want to ensure you know how we approach reusing and recycling. When you donate items to Goodwill, currently at 150,000 pounds of donated materials daily, we sort them carefully into two categories: saleable and non-saleable.

Saleable

Saleable items like clothing, books and housewares are placed on our sales floor, where they have the chance to find a new home. If these items don’t sell after a few weeks, we recycle them to prevent them from ending up in a landfill.

Non-saleable

Non-saleable items like damaged goods and scrap metals are immediately recycled. Over the past five years, our dedication to responsible recycling has kept an estimated 460,000 cubic yards of material out of landfills. That’s almost 3,000 truckloads of waste that we’ve prevented from polluting our planet.

We believe that everyone can make a difference, no matter how small. By donating to and shopping at Goodwill, you’re helping to create a more sustainable future for us all. Thank you for being a part of our community and for supporting our mission.

Our 2023 impact: Helping the planet, one step at a time.

At Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, we take our commitment to sustainability seriously. As we reflect on our impact in 2023, we are proud to report the following achievements:

  • Over 57.3 million pounds of household donations were kept out of landfills through thrift store sales, repurposing, recycling, and reuse.
  • We saved over 6.06 billion gallons of water by selling secondhand clothing. Making just one new t-shirt uses 713 gallons of water.
  • Through selling secondhand clothing, we saved 44.2 million pounds of carbon emissions from being released into the air. Making just one new t-shirt uses 5.2 pounds of carbon dioxide.
  • Thanks to our partnership with Dell Reconnect, 309,784 pounds of electronics were ethically recycled.

Looking ahead, we are excited to plan for even bigger things in the coming year. As we plan, we are committed to increasing our positive impact on the environment and our community. Stay tuned for exciting updates on our future initiatives.