Goodwill Executive Summary

e-Evaluation Technology & Process Solution

Johns Hopkins University - Carey Business School IT Capstone Graduate Project

Graduate Applied Project in Technology

Executive Summary
The JHU Capstone Team was approached by the Member Services Center (MSC) of Goodwill Industries to help them select an online survey application to eliminate their current paper-based event evaluation system. The paper-based system was not only time consuming and inefficient, but it was also not fulfilling their ‘Going Green’ environmentally-friendly strategic initiative. The JHU Capstone Team began addressing this business problem by evaluating internal processes, collecting and analyzing specific functional requirements, and completing external market research
Helms, a Methodist minister and early social innovator. Helms collected used household goods and clothing in wealthier areas of the city, then trained and hired those who were poor to mend and repair the used goods. After these goods were repaired, he then resold them or gave them to the people who repaired them. Goodwill operates as a network of 184 independent organizations in the U.S., Canada and 14 other countries. In 2007, Goodwill organizations collectively earned more than $3.16 billion, 1

Graduate Applied Project in Technology and used 84 percent of that revenue to provide employment and training services to more than 1,113,000 individuals. Today, Goodwill has placed 140,287 people in competitive employment jobs earning about $2.3 billion dollars. It operates 2,246 retail stores, has 65.4 million donors, has generated $3.2 billion dollars in revenue and serves 1.1 million individuals through employment and training programs. One of the many departments in the Goodwill organization is the Member Services Center (MSC). The MSC is responsible for organizing and administering employee learning events and sessions across the non-profit organization. They host approximately five large events and many small events each year. These events can have anywhere from 100 to 500 attendees. Most, if not all events occur at hotels. On average, a small event consists of 10-15
SurveyMonkey is an online, web-based survey tool that can be subscribed to for as little as $20 per month. This tool allows Goodwill to distribute surveys to employees electronically via e-mail, allowing the participants to either complete the surveys at the event’s computer kiosks or at a later date when it is more convenient to them. Furthermore, SurveyMonkey assists the MSC by removing the need for them to manually convert paper-based results to an electronic format. Figure 3 displays Goodwill’s Learning Event Quality Improvement Process, which has been updated for the inclusion of SurveyMonkey. The following bullet points summarize the steps of Goodwill’s SurveyMonkey process, which is further depicted in Figure 3. • Goodwill staff members plan a conference which will feature individual sessions; session times and titles are finalized 2 – 3 weeks prior to the event. • • Goodwill Staff create a daily and overall survey form in SurveyMonkey. Goodwill staff members send evaluations at the end of each day and then again at the conclusion of the event. • • Goodwill staff members download reports and meet to discuss results. Goodwill staff members contact approximately 20% of conference attendees for further feedback. • • Goodwill staff members print and archive reports and analysis. Goodwill staff members send results and ‘thank you’ notes to session