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Episode 3 - The Logistics of Good with Matt Connelly, CEO of Good360.org
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Episode III- Interview with Matt Connelly the CEO of Good360.org, the leader in Product Philanthropy & Purposeful Giving. Hear how Good360 empowers over 90,000+ Non-Profits to deliver high quality goods via its Corporate Partners to individuals, communities, and disaster relief victims.
Podcast Sponsored by OMI "We Make CRM Work!"
This podcast is sponsored by OMI the company that makes CRM work! In this episode, we're speaking with Matt Connelly, CEO of Good360, about how his organization manages to communicate effectively with more than 90,000 non-profits in the Good360 community. [inaudible]
Speaker 2My name's Matt Connelly. I'm the CEO of Good360. We're a non-profit entity based out of Alexandria, Virginia that serves a network of 90,000 non-profits, feeding them a distributed, donate a product.
Speaker 1Can you expand on that? What , how would you describe what you guys do
Speaker 2As mentioned? We're a non-profit, but we act like an operating company. Specifically our capabilities need to be strong operationally to effectively take in product from very sophisticated supply chains, but as opposed to most non-profits getting financial support, we get donated product and distribute that donated product to worthwhile non-profits in our network.
Speaker 1That sounds like a logistics headache to deal with 90,000 non-profits and general physical things. You have to warehouse or ship or whatever to get there. You have a background in this kind of thing! Can you tell me a little bit about that so that we understand, how you got to this role?
Speaker 2Yeah, thank you. I had the privilege to be part of UPS for 32 years. During that time I did a lot of operational support for the UPS foundation specifically , executing in -kind movement for large non-profits like UNICEF world food program, American Red Cross. During that time, I became passionate about the space and served on a number of boards, including Good360 for eight years. And when I retired from UPS, it was a great transition to become CEO because the board was interested in increasing our operating capabilities and efficiencies.
Speaker 1Okay. So let's make this a little concrete here. We mentioned 90,000 non-profits can you mention a few of those? And can you also mention a few of the donor companies, the places that are giving you these things to channel to those non-profits?
Speaker 2Yeah. George I'll start with the 90,000 non-profits , there is no fee to join our network. There is a vetting process to ensure that they're a reputable charity. If they're a 501-C3 that usually can be done within 24 to 48 hours, it might take a little longer if they're not a 501-C3 entity, but, the non-profits in our network ar e t he full spectrum. Some are large and are authorized to take large quantities of donated product. We have 500 of those that are quote unquote truckload approved. The other, n on-profits ar e t he full spectrum of size and mission. And we were thankful to get the Salesforce CRM, have the support of OMI to help us really catalog these non-profits to truly understand what their mission, how best we can serve them with their mission, with the type of product that they need and what scale and quantity that they can absorb effectively and efficiently. As far as our donor network goes, we have 400 donors , as mentioned before, we need to have strong operating capabilities to pull through that product efficiently since the non-profits in our network pay fees, and the fees are basically shipping and handling as well as overhead. So it's very important for us to be efficient, to , to bring those costs down for our non-profits, to give them the best value, which is usually pennies on the dollar for the fair market value they receive. And we also appreciate financial grants and donations because we're able to target those monies to the specific cause that they're intended to, with the work that we've done with OMI and our Salesforce CRM. And we commit to 10 to 15 X of amplification of that donation with donated product.
Speaker 1And are you able to name a few of those companies that are donating goods to you?
Speaker 2Yeah, sure. I am. Our two largest are Amazon and Walmart. The other top five or Nike, Williams-Sonoma, Tempur-Sealy, and Advanced Auto Parts.
Speaker 1As the leader here. You want to thank those big donors. Can you give some love to some of the smaller ones too? Just give me like three of the ones that you really love that are maybe some smaller, but really kind of great participants in this program.
Speaker 2Yeah. I , I think, some of the smaller ones, are Hasbro that provide toys that are well received with others. There's a company called Hollander out there, that provides excellent bedding, which, is really impactful for people that are economically disadvantaged that might be sleeping on a floor and going into the winter season where they get access to quality bed bedding and blankets, and that is really a special for us. So those are a couple of t hose kind of n iche Doners that make a big difference.
Speaker 1How do you manage and like organize and just stay on top of, and communicate with 90,000 non-profits? Like, I wouldn't know where to start.
Speaker 2It's a great question because , non-profits are really challenged during this COVID environment because, a lot of them h ave been, impacted by t wo-fold. One is, the volunteers that they count on might be constrained due to COVID volunteers tend to be retired or elderly. That might be more at risk to the virus. Also, t he y co uld be capital challenges and constraints. So it really is a big focus of ours to make sure that we're staying connected with them as their mission evolves, and that could be personnel within their mission and their contacts as well as what their needs are. And that's why we' re re ally invested heavily and our Salesforce CRM management platform and working urgently with OMI to get the most relevant data and most relevant exchanges with the no n-profits so we can be very responsive to them during this very disruptive time.
Speaker 1Can you take me a little more to that? Give me an example here. I mean, is it the case that you would get a call from say Walmart and they say, Hey, we've got, we've got a bunch of a dinner plates that we need to, you know, we want to donate. Then you would look maybe in your CRM and say, Oh, who needs dinner plates? What kind of, non -profits do we serve that could use that? And you've already got that information somehow indexed, and you can search it, or do you take needs from t he non-profits and then go to the retailers and whatnot, who donate them? How does that work?
Speaker 2Yes, it exactly works that way. In addition though, I'd like to expand on it, because it also provides functionality around operational execution and capacity building operational execution. For example, we go to 2000, we match 2000 Walmart stores with local non-profits that go with regularity and pick up donated products that Walmart store, the benefit for Walmart is, is they save disposal costs and or transportation cost of having to reposition that excess goods. The benefit to the local non-profit is, is they get access to quality product in a very efficient manner, receiving it locally. We use our CRM for all interactions between the Walmart store and the non-profit specifically case management functionality. So the interaction between the disparate non-profits in the 2000 retail locations that are being picked up are much more efficiently managed through our CRM in regards to concerns and or opportunities that are much more streamlined. In addition , we're able to have a community where, and this is where the capacity building comes in, where our non-profits can learn from each other and share best practices and ideas and make a very wide and disparate non-profit network a much tighter, more collaborative community where they can learn from each other as well as Good360 can provide capacity support. For example, we helped our non-profit network really understand the Cares Act and how to go about to get funding support through the Cares Act, as well as other best practices, whether it be teaching them how to use QuickBooks or teaching them how to market and fundraise better in their community.
Speaker 1So I , I would like to ask you about, this seems like a very new rule, new role for you coming from the corporate world. What are some of the major differences? What was the learning curve like? What have you found that, surprised you maybe?
Speaker 2I was fortunate since , when I came on board last August, I had a base familiarity of the model from being a director, but I also , used the first a hundred days to really, m eet and get to know each one of our employees at a much more granular level, meet each one of our donors a nd, meet our key non-profit partners o r largest non-profit partners, as well as some of the smaller in government agencies that we work with around disaster recovery that gave us the ability as a leadership team, a Good360 to craft strategic imperatives last October, implementing those, the latter half of Q4 and Q1 of this year really helped us really accelerate our model during COVID to give it context, George, we distributed $335 million of donated product last year! This year is going to be well over 700 million and that is due to Good360 increasing our operating capabilities, increasing our engagements with our non-profit, through our partnership with OMI and enhancing our Salesforce CRM platform. And lastly having , the opportunity to be a great outlet for donors, excess product that was disrupted due to COVID by having responsible cost-effective solutions for them , a big value add we provide to our donors is, is compliance where they get assurance that product tenders to Good360! We'll make sure it goes to reputable, vetted charities that won't wind up on Craigslist or in a flea market or dilute their brand.
Speaker 1So you said that you spent time early on getting to know every employee, and I wonder if you can expand on that. Why was that important to you? And can you think of a time when, when maybe you were able to call someone and get something done faster, or just in a better way, because you had, had invested that time on the front end and there was some familiarity there.
Speaker 2Yes. Working at UPS for 32 years, where I started as a driver, a truck driver, UPS has a culture of promote from within as well as having a history of best practices coming from the people that are closest to the activity and work. And that could be, either closest to the work or closer to the customer. So I know the importance of that and sitting down with each member of our team individually, which are 50 of them. So it's not a huge number. I was able to communicate directly to them, our vision and our strategy, but also get their input and their ideas. And, u h, i t says, is that a very strong symbiotic effect on efficiency ,nimbleness and innovation, I will also say, is that the Good360 leadership team all comes from a commercial experience. So they bring a fundamental understanding of process and results. That, I found exceptional.
Speaker 1Okay, awesome. And can you just tell me a little bit more about the way you think about leadership and what you consciously try to do to make yourself more effective in that role at Good360,
Speaker 2The more I learn and the more I have experienced, the more I appreciate values, I spent a great portion of my time, probably the majority of my time , shaping values and understanding, those values are, you know, what is Good360 trying to accomplish, what are we looking to stand for? What do we represent? And by doing that with our people, it allows me to empower them more. If I have confidence the values of the organization are understood the mission of the organization is understood and subsequently the direction of the organization is understood that allows me to empower my people to a great deal, which I've been able to do. I'm very happy for that and that it gives our company the ability to move quick and has allowed us to double our growth, which is, which is not easy during a transition to a virtual environment as well.
Speaker 1Can you think of a time when you wanted to transition from one value, you thought, Oh, this is a pretty good value, like in the abstract, but it's not working here. I'd like to maybe transition to something that's in the same family, but a little different. And like why that was?
Speaker 2When we shaped our strategy. Last October, we set our North star and our North star is that for every non-profit that does a transaction with Good360, they feel they received tremendous value. And that helps with decision-making when things don't go right, we're committed to make, make it right with a non-profit. That is a pretty clear and strong purpose, but to achieve it effectively is not easy. You need to have excellent donor relations. You need to have strong operating capabilities to provide quality products to the non-profits, and then you need excellent efficiency to keep the fees down associated to that product, to be as low as possible, as well as improve our media image. Should we have more dollars underwriting transactions? And those dollar grants can be targeted to specific causes. It could be hurricane relief, it could be wildfire relief. It could be targeted to specific causes like veterans or homelessness or child poverty.
Speaker 1So, Matt, talk to me about why corporate philanthropy is important, especially at this moment, and especially with what you guys do, because I would imagine all these different disruptions are happening at different levels, and you guys seem really situated right in the middle of a lot of that.
Speaker 2Yes. Supply chains were very much disrupted in COVID and that was a big driver of our two X growth because , we are a responsible and c ost-effective outlet for excess product. specifically it could be winter launch that didn't fully sell or a spring launch that never launched at all, or the equation being tipped of being less brick and mortar much more e-commerce. And sometimes those supply chains are fed differently. The value we provided, both cost-effectively and responsible i s, is we help donors with their sustainability goals. For example, last week, I had the opportunity to participate in W almart, sustainability milestone summit, and the progressive steps that Walmart is taking to reduce their carbon footprint is inspiring and Good360 h as the opportunity t o, to partner with them. Amazon is another committed company that is looking to have zero waste and have strong sustainability goals and UPS and Good360 working together. We're able to provide, operating capabilities i n a lot of cases to help them achieve that. But in short, the importance of reducing the carbon footprint for our key donor partners has never been more understood and i t's been never more supported. And I think we can see that with some of the, the climate effect that's going on, either in the Gulf or West Coast, the urgency around it. I personally have seen this with all of our donor partners a s sincere passion to reduce their carbon footprint.
Speaker 1Tell me about where you guys are in this moment. What is the the trajectory of Good360? Where's it come from in the recent past? Where is it right now? Where's it going?
Speaker 2I think we've really hit our stride as an entity where we truly understand what we are. We are an operating company that happens to be a non-profit. So we really understand the need for having a operating capabilities that can align with the most complex supply chains in the world. We wouldn't have the opportunity to participate with the donor partners I've been referencing if we weren't able to execute to their standards, which are quite high and execute to their specific network needs. So I'm real pleased that a Good360 has been able to respond to that. I do. I am concerned though, that the needs in the community are accelerating and Good360 is committed to find ways to get additional financial funding, to underwrite, more engagements, to support our non-profits, specifically, being able to get that 10 X or 15 X impact from a financial donation to move product to specific target causes and do it in a way that is cost neutral for a non-profit. If you're passionate about hurricane Laura relief or veterans homelessness within our 90,000 , non-profits network that we've been able to really define with OMI's h elp i n our Salesforce CRM. We can say, if you, for every dollar you give, we can provide $15 worth of product to specific causes that are targeting your intent a nd donation. So a hundred thousand dollars for hurricane Laura, we can provide 1.5 million of building supplies, you know, furniture fo r, for homes. Once a home's been repaired, that's a big deal. If you wanted to donate a hundred thousand dollars to homelessness for veterans, we can go into our CRM with OMI's support and find exactly what non-profits impact veterans that are homeless and feed them new clothing. For example, at 15 X, what the dollar amount received.
Speaker 1Matt, Thank You for joining me today. This has been really, really enlightening. Tell people where they can find more on Good360, where they can help out if they're so inclined. And , um, anything else you'd like to mention?
Speaker 2Good360.org, please visit our site. You'll get a deeper understanding of our mission around COVID relief, as well as our response with the recent disasters. And it is the forum . If you are a non-profit to join our network at no fee or help us with a financial donation to underwrite the movement of product to our non-profit network. We're very thankful of the partnership with OMI, the enhancements we've made with our CRM to better serve our network and 90,000 non-profits.