Goodwill Gulf Coast has received a $5 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the largest single gift the Mobile-based nonprofit has ever received.
“It’s the largest in our history by a long shot,” said Frank Harkins, president and CEO of Goodwill Gulf Coast. “We’re very grateful.”
Harkins said he is not aware of any prior connection between Scott and the region the organization serves across Southwest Alabama and Northwest Florida. He said Goodwill Gulf Coast first learned a gift was coming through a call from a third party, and the money followed shortly after.
Scott, an author and philanthropist who was previously married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, pledged in 2020 to give away the bulk of her fortune and has directed billions of dollars to hundreds of nonprofits, colleges and community organizations across the country. Goodwill Gulf Coast is among the local groups singled out for support, part of a giving strategy that has focused heavily on organizations serving low-income communities, workforce training and racial equity.
Goodwill Gulf Coast serves roughly 11,000 people a year across seven counties in Alabama and three counties in Northwest Florida, offering far more than the retail stores most residents associate with the Goodwill name.
“Most people think of us as a thrift store, but we’re much more than a thrift store,” Harkins said. “We do workforce development for the community, and pre-COVID we prepared 600 individuals with jobs. With COVID this year, we’ve reduced that number to about 425.”
Beyond job training and placement, the organization provides financial literacy classes and free income tax preparation help to the public. It also operates a Child Development Center in Spring Hill that offers preschool education for local families, and has distributed medical equipment to roughly 3,000 individuals in need.
The pandemic hit the organization’s operations and finances hard this year, Harkins said, forcing the closure of its facilities for about 40 days.
“It was a huge blow financially to all of us,” he said.
Harkins said Goodwill Gulf Coast’s volunteer board of directors is still developing a plan for how to put the unexpected gift to use, with an eye toward making the money stretch as far as possible to support the organization’s mission.
“We were not expecting this,” Harkins said. “We’ll be coming up with a plan to maximize the use of the money. It’s a blessing, and we should treat it as such.”