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Big news from Evergreen Goodwill! We were selected as a recipient for the Microsoft’s AI for Good Award—and we couldn’t be more excited about what this means for our people, our mission, and the millions of items that flow through our stores.

Let’s be honest: sorting 45 million donated goods annually by hand is no small feat. Our team works incredibly hard, making hundreds of fast decisions every day, without any data to support them.

Thanks to the Microsoft grant and expert support, this is about to change: We will use AI to process donations to enable team members to make smarter, faster data-driven decisions: Should an article go on the sales floor or online? How should it be priced? And what should happen to an unsellable piece – can it be recycled or repurposed?

We like to think of it as a shift “from hands to head”: Our team will be able to focus on higher-value tasks machines can’t do while AI will identify and classify items more efficiently, suggest pricing based on huge datasets, and even help spot which items are best suited for online listings. And that means also reducing waste and boosting revenue for the free job training and education programs we provide.

“This is not just about modernizing our operations, it’s about supercharging our impact – keeping more items out of landfills and providing more people in our communities with the training and education to thrive in today’s workforce,” said Evergreen Goodwill President & CEO, Libby Johnson Mckee.

The adoption of AI is not limited to the staff at their stores and donation centers. AI will take an increasingly prominent spot in our program curriculum to make sure community members have the digital skills to thrive in a 21^st century workplace.

In the end, this groundbreaking project is all about doing what Goodwill has always done: turning gently used goods into opportunity. With AI, we can do that more effectively than ever—and as a result, help more people find jobs, gain skills, and build brighter futures.