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The national policies further provide that several autonomous Goodwill Industries may form themselves into regional associations for the development of cooperative activities and extension.

The purpose of the National Goodwill Industries organizations of which there are two -- The Bureau of Goodwill Industries of the Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the National Association of Goodwill Industries -- is to promote the development of Goodwill Industries into new localities; to develop and maintain standards in the operation of the industrial, social service, religious, business and other activities of the Goodwill Industries; to develop exchange and report service; to conduct research work in the interest of increasing service to handicapped people and to increase the usefulness of materials; to prevent duplication, encourage co-operation and mutual understanding; to develop and arouse public opinion in the interest of helping handicapped and unfortunate people to help themselves; and to develop financial support for the work of the national organizations and the affiliated local Goodwill Industries.

The skillful utilization of discarded material has been, through the history of the Goodwill movement, the chief resource used in developing the employment and other service activities of the various local organizations. The financial resources necessary, both for social service activities and for subsidies to more seriously handicapped persons who may not earn all they are paid as wages, have been secured through direct fund-raising programs by the local organization or through affiliation with the local Community Fund, or similar central fund-raising organizations.

The exhibits presented in this report very naturally give much attention to those items which have to do with the development of the resources which make possible the service of Goodwill Industries. The figures deal largely with dollars, bags, truck calls, sales, purchases, and other things which are only too material. The fact that the Goodwill Industries give primacy to human and spiritual values seems to be indicated by only a few figures having to do with the number of persons employed, opportunity wages paid, attendances at inspirational, educational, and social activities. All exhibits, however, in this report are direct evidence of the human service of those Goodwill Industries reporting through the Department of Accounting of the movement for the year of 1936.

The figures presented are those which have been sent to the National Department of Accounting by local Goodwill Industries, and are presented here merely as gauges of the service of the organizations reporting. These figures cannot, nor can any figures tell the full story of the service of any local Goodwill Industries, nor do they tell the scope of the program of a local organization as it utilizes all the resources of men, money, and material at its command in its endeavor to make life more worthwhile for the less fortunate persons in its community.

The figures presented in these exhibits do give evidence of the business-like methods used in the management of Goodwill Industries. They likewise indicate that there is a very real connection between the use of business-like methods of collecting, reconditioning and selling discarded material, and the giving of employment, training, and rehabilitation to handicapped and needy persons.

It has been suggested that every man should climb a mountain at least once in his life so that he might from that mountain top enjoy a breadth of vision which will take him beyond his own individuality and relate him to the divine. Readers of this report are invited to climb to the mountain top of the statistics reported, and with their feet firmly resting on the summary shown, indicating that $1,976,901 were paid in opportunity wages to 38,124 different handicapped and needy persons, look out over the horizon of human service and see something of the divine in the lives of those 38,124 people, who through Goodwill Industries last year were given the opportunity to more nearly attain perfection in developing to their fullest usefulness in accordance with their physical, intellectual, and other capacities.

Policies

The purpose of Goodwill Industries has been indicated earlier in this report. Some evidence of their work and service is given in the statistical exhibits. It is proposed now to review some of the policies which were adopted during the past year to guide local Goodwill Industries in their management and service, discussing principally some of the policies which should assist persons generally interested in and professional workers co-operating with local Goodwill Industries, to a clearer understanding of the Goodwill Industries' service and operation. The first of those policies has to do with the "means of service."

Means of Service

The devising of ways and means of providing employment, training, and rehabilitation opportunities for the handicapped and needy people served in Goodwill Industries is a most important factor in the operation of the organization. The traditional method has been the collection, repair or salvaging, and sale of discarded material. A few Goodwill Industries have manufactured new articles either from new or used material. A few have bought and sold so that the gain might be used to subsidize the work. Some have engaged in other types of commercial and personal services, and a few have engaged in contract work for commercial organizations. In order that there may be a common understanding of acceptable means of providing service, it shall be the policy of Goodwill Industries: