Goodwill caught selling donors' personal information

[n2doc]

INDIANAPOLIS - Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana has launched an internal investigation after 13 Investigates discovered the charity has been selling tax returns, medical records, social security numbers and other sensitive information mistakenly donated by its customers.

The personal information WTHR found for sale at Goodwill Outlet Stores has angered donors, shocked law enforcement and raised policy questions about the charity, which receives 1.9 million donations annually.

The problem was first identified by a longtime Goodwill donor and shopper. Her tip to Eyewitness News triggered an undercover investigation that, according to police, exposes a safety and security threat to anyone who donates to the charity.

more

http://www.wthr.com/story/23875764/2013/11/04/goodwill-caught-selling-donors-personal-information

[gopiscrap]

1. fuckers they should get their 501 c 3 yanked

[Shrike47]

4. I disagree.

Goodwill did not 'sell' donor information as such. They put out junk heaps and some of it contained personal information people were lazy, sloppy, stupid enough to give to Goodwill. People who were using Goodwill to dump their trash complain because Goodwill didn't protect them from their own sloth?

[gopiscrap]

5. Goodwill still has an obligation to protect that info

[jsr]

2. Goodwill has become a personal ATM for executives and should be boycotted.

Executives are giving themselves enormous salaries and benefits at the expense of workers who are paid next to nothing to collect merchandise at zero cost.

[shanti]

6. yes i tried it once

goodwill would be the last "charity" that I'd donate to. my son worked at one of their facilities for a few days and watched as the managers skimmed the donations. ski equipment, teevees, etc.

[kestrel91316]

7. We have a big new Goodwill store that just opened up here. I bought 3 nice

cotton long-sleeved shirts suitable for work there for under $20 total. Does this make me a bad person? Do I need to stop claiming I'm a Democrat?

Just curious.

[jsr]

3. National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries

https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-urges-boycott-goodwill-industries

National Federation of the Blind Urges Boycott of Goodwill Industries

Baltimore, Maryland (June 7, 2012): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), one of the oldest and largest organizations of Americans with disabilities, today called for a boycott of Goodwill Industries International, Inc., the nonprofit manufacturer and retailer, for its payment of subminimum wages to many of its workers with disabilities. Freedom of information requests filed by the NFB confirmed that Goodwill Industries employees have been paid as low as $1.44 an hour. The NFB and over forty-five other organizations support legislation, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act (H.R. 3086), which would phase out and then repeal the nearly seventy-five-year-old provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act that permits special certificate holders to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Goodwill Industries is one of the most well-known and lucrative charitable organizations in the United States, yet it chooses to pay its workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. While this practice is currently legal and many entities engage in it, many other nonprofit organizations have successfully transitioned to paying their employees the minimum wage or higher. That Goodwill Industries exploits many of its workers in this way is ironic, because its president and chief executive officer is blind. Goodwill cannot credibly argue that workers with disabilities are incapable of doing productive work while paying its blind CEO over half a million dollars a year. Goodwill should be ashamed of such blatant hypocrisy. We are calling upon all Americans to refuse to do business with Goodwill Industries, to refuse to make donations to the subminimum-wage exploiter, and to refuse to shop in its retail stores until it exercises true leadership and sound moral judgment by fairly compensating its workers with disabilities.”

For more information on this critically important issue, please visit www.nfb.org/fairwages.