Goodwill FAQs

July 1, 2015by Nandor Fejer

In this blog we will list the most asked Goodwill FAQs, and try to provide answers to questions you might have

Goodwill Services

What happens after you graduate from a GWSV program?

GWSV provides assistance for individuals with barriers to employment and other life challenges including homeless veterans, veteran families, people in the criminal justice system, foster youth, at risk youth, people with developmental disabilities and individuals looking to improve their employment skills.

How is partnered with GWSV?

We proudly partner with Mission College, City of San Jose, Wells Fargo, EDD, Comerica Bank, Loaves and Fishes, Sunday Friends, The Opportunity Youth Partnership, and TeenForce.

What programs does GWSV offer?

We offer a range of programs including employment services, computer training GED classes, employment workshops, housing assistance, vocational training, credit recovery, and paid work experience. A full list of available programs is available on our home page.

What heppens after you graduate from a GWSV program?

Upon completion of a Goodwill of Silicon Valley program we offer comprehensive employment assistance.

Mission

Where does the money go?

Revenue from our retail and contract divisions are used to fund and support programs that will help empower the community and create self-sufficiency among the under-served.

How much does it cost to enroll in one of the GWSV programs?

We do not have any enrollment fees for our programs.

How many people are served?

In 2014, over 10,000 people received support from one of our many GWSV programs.

Which partnership does GWSV Mission have?

We proudly partner with the following companies; CalWORKS, Sacred Heart, Catholic Charities, InnVision, Emergency Housing Consortium, US Dept of Labor, CA Dept of Education, Veterans Administration, SurePath Financial, San Jose Unified School District, East Side Union High School District, Willow Glen High School, Mount Pleasant High School.

Employment

Where can I apply for employment opportunities?

You may apply in person, at 1080 N. 7th St., in San Jose at our General Information Session “GIS”. The sessions are every Tuesday at 8:30AM. Please arrive at least 30 minutes early.

How long will it take to process my application once it’s submitted?

Applications are all reviewed in a timely manner. However, we do not guarantee an interview. If there is an opening for a position, and you may be a good fit; we will contact you for an interview.

Should I call Goodwill to follow-up on my application?

No. We will contact you if there is a potential employment opportunity.

May I apply more than once?

You may re-apply every 3-6 months.

Retail Locations

Do I pay sales tax when shopping at Goodwill?

There is no sales tax applied to purchases at Goodwill. However, there is a CRV charge on commercial beverages.

What are store hours?

Retail Centers are open Monday-Saturday 9AM-9PM and Sundays 9AM-8PM.

Does Goodwill offer any discounts?

Yes, Seniors (55 and older) receive 10% off on Tuesdays and we also have 20% off for designated colored tags.

Can I purchase a Goodwill gift card?

Yes, gift cards can be purchased and used at all Goodwill of Silicon Valley retail locations.

Donations

Who will pick up my donation?

We recommend contacting College Hunks Hauling (1-800-461-5241) and they can pick-up donations on our behalf. College Hunks Hauling will pick up your donations for a fee.

Why Should I donate to GWSV?

All donations received from Goodwill go towards supporting our mission to support our employees, our customers, and people with challenging barriers to employment; to raise their standard of living and improve their lives through our services and social enterprise.

Where can I donate items?

You can take donations to any of our local trailer drop offs centers or local retail stores. For a list of places to donate click here.

What types of donations do you accept?

We accept a wide variety of items, ranging from clothing and toys, to electronics (working and non-working), furniture, and e-waste.

What don’t you accept?

We cannot accept large appliances, batteries, or hazardous materials.

Can I claim a tax deduction for donating my goods to Goodwill?

Yes, any trailer drop off center or retail location will gladly issue you a receipt if requested.

Does Goodwill Silicon Valley sell everything it receives in store?

We sell the majority of donated items in our retail stores; however, some items do go to specialty departments that sell to private vendors.

Does Goodwill of Silicon Valley accept mattresses?

You can drop-off old mattresses and/or box springs at any Goodwill retail store for a $20 fee per item.

What are the benefits to using the Online Donation App?

The biggest benefit of using our donation app is that you can reduce the time it takes you to drop off donations, especially during high volume drop off periods.

Hopefully those Goodwill FAQs answered the questions you might have had. Each program has their own set of Goodwill FAQs on their website.

Disclosure of Information

Goodwill of Silicon Valley will not, under any circumstances, use your information for marketing purposes outside the scope of Goodwill of Silicon Valley nor disclose, rent, or sell any of the information we collect to any outside party.

Goodwill of Silicon Valley reserves the right to change our policy at any time with respect to any information collected following the posting of our revised privacy policies, and also reserves the right to change our privacy policy with respect to all information collected to conform to state or local legal requirements as those requirements may change from time to time. Any such change to conform to state or local legal requirements will not result in a lessening of the extent of privacy protection afforded to the information which we have collected prior to the date of the change in policy, except to the extent required by law.

How we protect your information

www.goodwillsv.org uses secure server software (SSL) to encrypt all personal information you input before it is sent to us via the internet. In addition, all of the customer data we collect is protected against unauthorized

How we use your information

Goodwill of Silicon Valley may use the information we collect to notify you about important functionality changes to the Web site, new services, and special events we think you will find valuable. We also may use Google AdWords’ free conversion tracking feature to track conversions on our site. This information is used to help us measure the results of our marketing efforts, so we can make the most informed decisions that support our social enterprises. For more information or to opt-out please see Google’s Advertising and Privacy policy. Additionally, we may also implement a Twitter website tag to collect conversion tracking data and collect data for remarketing purposes. The website tag for remarketing collects visitor cookie IDs and allows us to serve you tailored ads and opportunities based on your interests. You may opt out of Twitter’s collection of remarketing data here.

Your consent

By using our Web site, you consent to the collection and use of this information by Goodwill of Silicon Valley. Goodwill of Silicon Valley reserves the right to change our privacy policy at any time. If we decide to change our privacy policy, a revised copy will be posted on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it.

Terms and Conditions

Proprietary Materials

All materials contained on this web site are Copyright ©2022 Goodwill of Silicon Valley or are licensed or otherwise published by GWSV with the permission of the owner of the material. All rights in such materials are reserved to the respective owners.

The materials posted on this site may be retrieved and downloaded solely for not-for-profit or educational purposes (“Authorized Uses”), provided that such Authorized Uses do not include posting, publication, transmission, or dissemination of such materials in digital or electronic form by means of the World Wide Web, e-mail, online services or any other medium now existing or hereafter developed, or the making of more than thirty (30) printed copies.

No materials contained on this web site may otherwise be copied, modified, published, broadcast, or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of GWSV. Any reproduction permitted under this User Agreement must contain the following notice: “Copyright ©2022 Goodwill of Silicon Valley. All rights reserved.”

The information contained on this web site, or any other web site owned, operated, licensed, or controlled by GWSV, as well as the design and layout of such web sites, contains elements protected by trade dress, copyright, or other laws, and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part. No text, logo, graphic, sound, or image from this web site may be copied, except in connection with the Authorized Uses described above, or retransmitted without the express written permission of GWSV.

Warranties

GOODWILL OF SILICON VALLEY (GWSV) MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS WEB SITE OR ANY LINKED SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.”

GWSV MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND THAT THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY THIS WEB SITE OR ANY LINKED SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR FREE, OR THAT THE SITE OR THE SERVER THAT HOSTS THE SITE ARE FREE FROM VIRUSES OR OTHER FORMS OF HARMFUL COMPUTER CODE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL GWSV, ITS EMPLOYEES, ITS AGENTS, OR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THESE PAGES, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SITE OR ANY LINKED SITE.

Social Media Goodwill of Silicon Valley’s social media sites are provided for the purpose of promoting discussion and fostering knowledge about Goodwill. It is not intended for users to share personal information, search for jobs, make personal connections or develop personal relationships in the manner that social networking sites are intended. Users of Goodwill social media sites are discouraged from providing unnecessary personal information, about themselves or others, and where such is considered a violation of the Terms and Conditions of the site, may result in termination of a user’s account.

External Links, Links to external web sites do not imply an endorsement of the materials disseminated at those web sites, nor does the existence of a link to another site imply that the organization or person publishing at that site endorses any of the materials at this site. Links to other web sites are provided by Goodwill of Silicon Valley(GWSV) as a convenience to its users. GWSV is not responsible for the materials contained at any web site linked to this site.

Web Accessibility

Goodwill of Silicon Valley monitors this web site to ensure that it continues to meet and exceed accessibility standards. Our site is WCAG Level AA Compliant, and incorporates additional web accessibility standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative. Our site is also compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requiring that electronic and information technology (including web sites) of federal agencies be accessible to people will disabilities.

User-Generated Content Terms Of Use

Goodwill of Silicon Valley reaches out to social media users to seek their permission to feature content on our various sites, social channels and in various promotional materials.

If you choose to allow us to use your social media content (“User Content”) by replying with the hashtag #Goodwillsiliconvalley, you agree to these Terms of Use.

You hereby grant to Goodwill of Silicon Valley and its related companies, agents, licensees, sublicensees, contractors, successors, legal representatives, assigns, and third-party service providers, and their respective retail partners, marketing or public relations agencies, and other affiliates (the “Licensed Parties”) a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully-paid, non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable right to use your User Content in any manner to be determined in the Licensed Parties’ sole discretion, including but not limited to on webpages and social media pages operated by the Licensed Parties, in promotional emails and advertisements, and in any and all other marketing, promotional and advertising initiatives, and in any media now or hereafter known. The Licensed Parties may use, display, reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works from, combine with other materials, alter and/or edit your User Content in any manner in their sole discretion, with no obligation to you whatsoever.

You grant the Licensed Parties the right to use your username, real name, image, likeness, descriptions of you, location or other identifying information, including but not limited to your voice, in connection with any use of your User Content.

You own the intellectual property rights to your User Content and have obtained rights from any third parties. You represent and warrant that you have the permission and authority to provide the aforementioned license to Goodwill of Silicon Valley.

If individuals other than you appear in the photo or video, you represent and warrant that you have permission and consent (or their parent’s or legal guardian’s permission and consent if a minor) license the right to use their name, image, likeness, voice, and other features contained in the User Content to Goodwill of Silicon Valley.

You are releasing Goodwill of Silicon Valley from any liability and you promise not to sue or file a claim against Goodwill of Silicon Valley for its use of the User Content as described in this policy.

Changes to Terms and Conditions for User-Generated Content

We reserve the right to modify or terminate any User-Generated Content or service therein for any reason, and without notice, without liability to you, any other Member, or any third party. We also reserve the right to modify these Terms and Conditions for User Generated Content from time to time without notice. You are responsible for regularly reviewing these Terms and Conditions for User Generated Content so that you will be apprised of any changes.

Goodwill of Silicon Valley invites you to join our community and post your thoughts on our website and social networking pages

But before you comment, please read these basic rules:

Be appropriate. Comments with obscene, explicit, sexist, racist or otherwise derogatory language or images will be deleted.

Be polite. Comments containing personal attacks, insults or threats will be deleted.

Be honest. Potentially libelous comments will be deleted.

Don’t ‘spam.’ Comments advertising or promoting commercial products and services will be deleted.

Comments on our web site are held for moderation and approved several times daily.

We reserve the right to delete or reject any comment or ban any user who violates our community code of conduct. Community comments don’t reflect the views of Goodwill of Silicon Valley or its employees unless stated otherwise.

Skip to content