WHAT'S NEW AT GOODWILL!

Steve Lufburrow has been CEO of Goodwill Industries of Houston for 22 years. Since the age of 7, Lufburrow has volunteered at the organization, sacking items and unloading trucks. He became vice president of the organization when he was 25 and, at 27, took over as president from his father, William Lufburrow, who held the position for 21 years. Since taking the helm, Lufburrow has steered the organization through difficult times, rebuilding the nonprofit after it suffered a significant downturn in the early 2000s. He was interviewed by Casey Wooten.

Q:How have your past experiences prepared you for the job you do now?

A:Over the past 27 years I’ve watched this business change tremendously. All of the things I learned in the early days of Goodwill have totally changed. But because of that experience, we were able to literally recreate the entire business model for Goodwill to adapt to the complex needs of a large city. One way we’ve changed is decentralization. We are taking Goodwill’s programs to the community instead of having people who need our services come to one location to get them. We’re in the middle of our Power of Work capital campaign, which is raising $15 million to create 25 new Goodwill stores throughout the Houston area along with a permanent headquarters. Each time we open a Goodwill store we create 25 jobs for people who need an opportunity to prove they can work.

Q:Goodwill relies in some part on donations from the community. When prices for essential things such as gas are high, does that affect how much the community gives to your organization?

A:Goodwill relies on two kinds of donations — materials and money. Materials keep the engine running. We’re not able to train and employ people without donated items from the community, so part of our goal is to make the donation process more convenient than ever before. We’ve strategically placed our donation centers so donors can easily drop off items on a regular basis, which will help us weather any economic downturns. We also continue to rely on monetary donations like any other not-for-profit does, but self-sufficiency is also a goal. The community has stepped up in a great way to assist us in our $15 million Power of Work capital campaign. Part of the campaign’s purpose is to create a self-sufficiency model, where our retail store sales fund our operations and any donations we receive will be dedicated to our training and work force development programs. Currently 91 cents of every dollar goes to mission at Goodwill, and 9 cents goes to overhead. That is a high number in the world of not-for-profits, and we’re very proud of that.

Q:What is the level of donation in Houston compared to elsewhere?

A:The level of donation in Houston is very strong because we have been really working hard to gain the donors and make sure it’s easy for the community to support Goodwill. We have been working hard to educate the community on what we do, which is to help individuals become self-sufficient by overcoming barriers to employment, such as physical, mental or emotional disabilities. Out of the 186 Goodwill's across the country, we’re in the Top 35 to 40. But we are the fourth-largest city in the country and we need to be better than that. We have not experienced a downturn in donations due to the economy, as some other Goodwills in more hard-hit areas have.

Q:What is on the horizon for Goodwill Houston? Any new programs?

A:We are constantly looking at new ways to work with different populations in the area. Three years ago we started the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program. This is funded by a federal grant, and we recently learned that our $300,000 grant has been renewed. We are one of maybe a dozen HVRP grant recipients across the country. We’re also collaborating with the City of Houston to develop programs to employ people living with AIDS.

Q:How can businesses partner with Goodwill to help its cause?

A:We are always developing ways we can work with the business community. One example is our Reconnect program, which is a partnership with Dell that collects and refurbishes used computers for recycling and resale at Goodwill stores. Our business partnerships take many forms. Some businesses underwrite our programs and assist with fundraising. We also provide workers and services to businesses. Our contract division provides services such as shrink wrapping, packing and collating for business clients. We also have a temporary employment service that matches employees to businesses. The best way to find out how to partner is to look at our Web site and call me.