Stores Committee

Donation Acquisition

By Bryan Engel-Director of Operations – Mid-Atlantic Region, Diocesan Council of Pittsburgh

Do not tell anyone, but at one time, I worked for another thrift store organization. My title was Donations Acquisition Coordinator. I only worked there for two years before seeing the light and coming over to St. Vincent de Paul. But, during that time, I was able to raise their donations from 300,000 pounds of donations to 1.2 million pounds of donations in that timeframe. How did I do it?

1. Fun-raising … To get their name out there, we reached out to other non-profit organizations, schools, churches, and sporting organizations. For two hours, we would show up with a truck and collect donations on site. After that two-hour period, the truck closed. The donations were weighed, and we paid 10 cents per pound to the non-profit hosting the drive. No need to sell cookies, candy, hoagies … just donate to a non-profit and feel good about raising extra money for your school, church, or sports team.
2. Promote on Social Media … To book a fundraiser, non-profits were required to promote the event for at least 3 weeks (anything less did not help them or the charity). That got their logo out to the community without us having to do anything (other than create a flyer). If you can get other organizations to promote your brand for free … that 10 cents per pound also includes FREE advertising.
3. Word of Mouth … At EVERY event, I would print out flyers with a QR code on how to schedule a donation drive. You would be surprised by how many people on the softball team have family members at another school in the band. Eventually, the word spread. I went from doing ONE event to THREE every Saturday. At some drives, we would schedule two trucks because they would fill them. It became a contest. “Let’s make more than the other school!”

If paying for donations is not for you, here are some other options:

1. More donations bins in high traffic areas.
2. Extended Hours. In Pittsburgh, we just opened our stores on Sundays from 11am-5p. Guess what? We got donations on Sundays too! More people donate on the weekend, so we are making it convenient for them.
3. Email your donor database.
4. Discount Coupons for Donors.
5. Partner with Real Estate Agents … pre-Covid, we saw a spike in furniture donations by reaching out to local Agents … you would be surprised how many of them need to clean out a house quickly and will pay to do so (win-win).
6. Use social media – it is FREE!

I hope this helps you get more donations for your stores or your friends in need. If you want to see how SVdP Pittsburgh promotes our donation drives, click the link https://svdppitt.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/donation_drive_video.mp4 … check me out as a cartoon.

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

Key Benefits of Adding an In-Store Radio System to Your Thrift Store

By James Conley, National Store Support Manager  

Sets the mood for your store

By selecting the correct music for your store, you can create an inviting environment for your customers and give them a more enjoyable experience while shopping. You can add different genres of music playing at various times of day to appeal to your customer base.

Promote Sales/Color Rotations

You can inform your customers of current sales, upcoming sales, current color rotations, St. Vincent de Paul Society’s community programs, all through ads, promotions, etc., that can be created to play in between songs. This will help guide your customers throughout the store.

Increase Shopping Time

Studies have shown music, and promotions increase your customers’ shopping time, which adds to your average ticket price. By nature, customers wait for the next ad, the next promotion, to make sure they are getting the best deals.

Build Our Brand

What better way to promote all the programs St. Vincent de Paul has to offer than through ads that you can customize to play on your radio system. What is your local St Vincent de Paul doing? What events do you have coming up? Are you hiring? What benefits are there to working for St. Vincent de Paul? These are all ways to build the brand of St. Vincent de Paul.

Employee Morale

“Take care of your employees and they will take care of the business.”  Music is always a great way to boost employee morale. Have fun with it!!  Create some competition to allow employees to pick a favorite station if they win, etc.

Commercial Free

The best part of My In Store Radio is that it is commercial free! No unwanted ads! Only the ads you want your customers to hear!!!!

Music plays a significant role in our society, not only in retail, but in overall health. It helps to relieve stress and anxiety and create a feeling of well-being for our employees, volunteers, and our customers. It also can trigger feelings of pleasure and well-being, which in a retail setting increases total spending!

If you would like more information, you are welcome to contact My In Store Radio at (646) 968-0339.

We encourage you to check out other SVdP National Partners here: (https://members.ssvpusa.org/fundraising-development/national-partners/)

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

By Paul Ihlenfeldt, Director of Operations – North Central Region

At our National Assembly in August, we presented material on how to use data to measure productivity. I thought it would be appropriate to provide a detailed recap of the presentation and highlight several key strategies.

The non-profit thrift environment can be extremely unpredictable. You’re not always sure how much you are going to receive in donations and cannot always predict how or when it is going to sell. But we can reference trends and use those trends to plan and budget for improvement. If we do not establish a goal for improvement, we will not achieve improvement. We will only repeat what we have done and eventually lose what we have gained.

Our thrift stores not only provide low-cost products for our friends in need, but they also provide a significant amount of funding for our various programs that provide the support our Neighbors in Need (NIN) depend on. We have a huge responsibility to ensure our stores are consistently profitable and can continue to support the St Vincent de Paul mission in serving others.

The following is a high-level road map of key areas of focus to assist you in achieving success in your planning.

First, you will need to implement the color tag rotation and use a POS pricing system that can capture the data. The POS systems most commonly used are Thriftworks and Secure Retail. They both can provide sufficient data to be used in analyzing the key components of your business.

Second, if you have not already, you need to create a profit & loss statement for your stores. The financials should be broken out by store and totaled and summed together to understand the health of the organization’s profit/support centers. Profit & Loss (P&L) tells a story, and we should be reviewing that “story” monthly. The fundamental equation for the P&L is:

Revenue – Cost = Net Operating Revenue

Work with your accounting firm or your own in-house financial leadership to create this business tool if you are not already using it.

Budget Sales:

What do you want to achieve? Look at trends and what contributed to those trends and start with determining the revenue budget. Are there external factors? Road construction, weather, pandemic, lack of good applicants to fill open positions? Or are there internal factors? Inefficiencies in production, not enough produced causing high sell-through, employees taking vacations, not enough donations? If you correct these issues, how much more revenue will you generate? Put a plan in place to fix the correctable and budget the benefit.

Budget Expenses:

Start with payroll, which is your largest expense. Your store wages should be approximately 40% of its revenue. When including administrative payroll, your organization’s payroll should be approximately 50% of the revenue. Now, based on the revenue budget, you can determine the number of full-time equivalents or FTE’s you can employ. Always ask yourself, is the added payroll adding value and will the revenue cover the expense?

Review the Key Areas of Support:

I recommend looking at 5 key areas of production.

1. Donations
2. Warehouse/Logistics/Recycling
3. Pricing
4. Utility/Sales Floor Support
5. Cashiers

Your revenue budget will drive what you need to support these areas of production. Pricing is the key position, and this is where we specifically refer to the metrics (financials) to understand the number of pricers needed to support our sales plan.

• You can only budget more revenue if you have enough donations. Track the daily number of donors dropping off donations. The number of gaylords/containers you fill and the number the pricers empty. Remember those donations are free and are valuable in support of our mission.
• Depending on the amount of donations and kind of donations, are you able to transport and store those items efficiently and effectively.
• Determine the units needed to get you to your sales plan. We use this formula to forecast our production units:
  • Units=1.43(X*Y)
  • X=Units sold last year
  • Y=1. (your budgeted percent increase as a decimal)
    • Example: for a 7% increase would be 1.07
  • 43 coefficient X your forecasted units allows you to achieve 70% sell thru.
• Determine the number of hours to allocate to pricing.
  • Hours=X/Y
    • X=Units to be priced to meet goal
    • Y=Hourly production target for pricer.
  • How many utility teammates do you need to run the carts to fill the floor? Determine the number of carts that can be put out per hour and set those goals with your team.
  • Based on the sales plan, do you have enough registers and cashiers to effectively move customers through the registers? Determine a maximum number of customers in line to call for assistance.

In conclusion, effective budgeting, forecasting, and measurement are essential for navigating the unpredictable landscape of the non-profit thrift environment. By setting clear improvement goals and utilizing data-driven strategies, we can transform challenges into opportunities for growth.

The practices outlined—such as implementing a robust POS system, developing detailed profit and loss statements, and strategically budgeting for both revenue and expenses—are vital in ensuring the sustainability of our thrift stores.

Your stores not only provide affordable goods to those in need but also generate crucial funding for our programs that support the community.

As we focus on key areas like donations, logistics, pricing, and customer service, we empower our teams to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Ultimately, our commitment to continuous improvement and careful financial management will allow us to uphold the St. Vincent de Paul mission, ensuring that we can serve NIN for years to come. Let us take these insights forward, implementing actionable plans that lead to sustained profitability and greater impact in our communities.

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

By Viktoriya Kotyash, Store Manager – West Region – Diocese of Sacramento

Many stores still rely on petty cash rather than business credit or debit cards for purchasing supplies. They designate employees or volunteers to visit local store chains to buy general supplies. This can be beneficial to support local stores that support your store’s mission.  When this isn’t the case, stores can greatly benefit from having products delivered rather than making these purchases in person. Here are a few reasons why you should consider it:

Safety Benefits:

1. Reduced Liability: Employees and volunteers face lower risk of theft and accidents while traveling, especially in unfamiliar or dangerous areas and bad weather.
2. Lower Risk of Injury: Heavy lifting, navigating crowded stores, or dealing with bulky items can lead to injuries. Online ordering allows items to be delivered directly, minimizing the need for physically handling them until they arrive.

Other Benefits:

1. Time Efficiency: Staff and volunteers can focus on the store’s mission and operations rather than spending time shopping for supplies. This efficiency can lead to better allocation of human resources.
2. Cost Savings: Online shopping often provides access to competitive prices, tax exemptions for non-profits, discounts, and bulk purchasing options, which can help stretch the store’s budget further.
3. Wider Selection: Online platforms usually offer a broader range of products, including specialized items that may not be available locally. This can be particularly useful for finding specific types of equipment or supplies.
4. Streamlined Inventory Management: Online ordering systems often offer features like automatic reordering, tracking of past purchases, and inventory management tools.
5. Convenience: Online ordering allows for easy comparison of products, prices, and reviews, enabling more informed purchasing decisions without the need to physically visit multiple stores.

Retailers to consider: 

1. Amazon Business: (National Partner)

-Offers bulk purchasing options and discounts on a wide range of products.

– Free shipping on eligible items with a Business Prime account and quick delivery at times as soon as the same or next day.

– Access to business-only pricing and analytics tools to track spending and optimize purchases.

–The Amazon Tax Exception Program (ATEP)

Best For: General supplies, office equipment, cleaning products, and miscellaneous items.

2. Sam’s Club or Costco:

– Access to bulk purchasing, which is ideal for stocking up on essentials at a lower cost.

– Savings on shipping with business memberships.

Best For: Bulk items, office equipment and supplies, and janitorial supplies.

3. Uline:

– Offers a wide variety of essential items like shelving, storage bins, and packing materials.

– Fast shipping and dedicated customer service for businesses.

Best For: Production equipment, shelving, storage solutions, and cleaning supplies.

4. Store Supply Warehouse (National Partner)

– Specializing in store fixtures, displays, and retail supplies.

– Known for their wide selection, competitive prices, and customer service tailored to the needs of small businesses, including thrift stores.

-Special pricing and branded items for SVdP.

Best For: Mannequins, clothing racks, shelving units, hangers, and other items necessary for retail stores.

5. Magnalite Catholic – SVdP (National Partner)

– Offering St. Vincent de Paul branded merchandise.

Best For: Prayer cards, medals, banners, and branded clothing or linen.

6. Grainger:

– Extensive inventory of industrial supplies, tools, and safety equipment.

– Offers fast shipping and bulk purchasing options.

– Specialized products that are often difficult to find elsewhere.

Best For: Maintenance supplies, safety equipment, and industrial tools.

7. Home Depot or Lowe’s:

– Large selection of tools, hardware, and building materials.

– Discount programs and credit lines available for businesses.

– Online ordering with in-store pickup options.

Best For: Tools, hardware, building supplies, and fixtures.

8. Nonprofit-Specific Suppliers: TechSoup (technology and software) and Good360 (surplus goods).

– These suppliers cater specifically to nonprofits, offering deep discounts on software, hardware, office supplies, and more.

– TechSoup provides software and technology at a fraction of the retail price.

– Good360 offers access to donated goods from major corporations.

Best For: Technology, office supplies, and donated goods.

By leveraging these retailers, stores can maximize their budgets, streamline operations, and access a wide variety of equipment and supplies.

If retailers are interested in learning how to become a National Partner, encourage them to reach out to Director of Stores Support Jeff Beamguard.

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These best practices and processes are available through the revised National Store Committee website, https://thriftstores.ssvpusa.org.

National Store Committee members are available in each of your regions as mentors and guides to assist you. https://thriftstores.ssvpusa.org/about-us.

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail our Director of Stores Support Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.