The donations are not free. Goodwill incurs substantial costs associated with staffing donation centers, maintaining physical facilities (stores and career centers), a fleet of trucks to move the materials, and personnel required at stores to process, price and sell the merchandise. Most importantly, if we didn’t charge for the items, we wouldn’t be able to fund our employment and training programs which we offer for free to more than 38,000 people each year. While many other nonprofits rely on financial donations and government funding, Goodwill uses this sustainable model of selling donated goods to fund our mission. You can feel good about purchasing items in Goodwill’s stores – 89 cents of every dollar you spend supports our mission and sustainability.