Dual Benefits

Sandy in Connecticut asked Amy, a stay at home mom, wrote in to "Ask Amy" in The Washington Post to see if it was wrong of her friend to buy "armloads" of items from the Salvation Army and then sell them for about five times the purchase price in order to make extra money for the family. Sandy feels that those items are for the needy, not for her friend to profit from.

Amy asked Maj. Dennis Gensler, general secretary of the Adult Rehabilitation Centers Command for the Eastern Territories, who responded by explaining that the money raised from these "armload" purchases goes to fund programs at the 115 Salvation Army adult rehabilitation centers throughout the country. The stores have a dual purpose of offering low-cost goods for sale to anyone (not just the needy) and they use the profit from the sale of your donated goods to fund their operations. The money raised from a donation to the Salvation Army funds vital programs for needy people and fund's Sandy's friends stay-at-home lifestyle.

Savvy business people like Maj. Gensler understand that indirect benefits as well as direct benefits build a stronger business.