Goodwill is more than a nonprofit; it is a community champion for neurodiversity and workforce development. Their mission relies on the trust of donors, partners, and the job seekers they serve. Because they are deeply embedded in the community, Goodwill's teams are constantly in the field at job fairs and local events, representing the organization as a community leader.
“We are one of the figureheads of neurodiversity in our area. We have to represent ourselves well, and HiHello helps us look like the knowledgeable professionals people expect."
The Goodwill teams were invested community leaders, but their community engagement lacked insights, creating a critical visibility gap. They handed out thousands of paper business cards, but each was an opportunity left to chance, yielding no measurable data to prove the effectiveness of their outreach. They were missing the results necessary to prove their impact, justify their fieldwork, or effectively track the ROI of their local initiatives, which was increasingly necessary to support their growth model and forwardthinking mission.
"With the traditional business card, you can’t really see the impact of your networking; you’re just handing a card and hoping for the best. By moving everything to digital, we can finally see the results. Being able to see that engagement is a huge feature for us."
At the same time, Goodwill's digital presence was inconsistent, and generic IT-driven signature tools offered no path to brand control. While staff were community leaders, their 1:1 emails told a different story. Inconsistent, employee-generated email signatures and off-brand designs posed a visible governance risk, but more importantly, undermined the brand's hard-earned trust and legitimacy.
"Are community members going to trust us if we're not professional-looking? When you get an email from Goodwill, you see that professional signature, and you know it is really us. It is one more step in having more control over our brand."
Goodwill wanted creative control and professional brand execution. The organization evaluated generic Microsoft tools but found them too limiting for a brand that wanted to present itself as a community leader. They chose to deploy HiHello email signatures to create a single source of truth. By integrating digital business cards for the field and automated signatures for the inbox, Ethan ensured that every interaction, from a handshake to a sent email, was unified and data-driven.
"There's more creativity with the HiHello card than what you would get through trying to do it through Microsoft or some of those other third-party sites where you can set up signatures."
By integrating digital business cards for the field and automated signatures for the inbox, Ethan ensured thatevery interaction, from a handshake to a sent email, was unified and data-driven.
“We just wanted it for business cards, but once we saw the features, keeping everything all in one place for signatures and cards just made sense, and it has been really good.”
As a Creative Services Manager, Ethan Walsh prioritized creative control and brand execution, but to deploy the solution, he had to win over the IT team, whose main focus was security and tech stack efficiency.
He bridged this gap by showing that HiHello offered the flexibility the creative team needed with the Microsoft SSO security IT demanded.
“I know it's helped IT a lot on the backend and saved IT's time. The process is good for onboarding people. We just send them the link, and they just sign up with Microsoft. As long as they hit the Microsoft button, they're in. They're good.”
Marketing claimed brand control and consistency, and established the core infrastructure that enabled deeper community engagement.
With the infrastructure in place, Goodwill’s creative services team could deploy branding at scale and increase opportunities to deepen the brand experience. Plans include adding scheduled promotional banners to further promote and support Goodwill’s initiatives and continue telling their story to the community.
They replaced 'hoping for the best' with a measurable engine of trust; they see the benefit and are doubling down by investing in further creative execution of the platform.
While brand stewardship was the initial driver, the environmental impact of going digital became an equally important factor. Goodwill formed a sustainability committee, which quickly identified printed business cards as a primary pain point: "Why not just go digital?" By choosing HiHello, the team cut massive paper waste and solved two problems at once.
“We were getting both a digital business card and the signature in one platform. This helped a lot - it was a sustainability thing, trying not to waste paper on cards, while also moving toward having more features and being current. It’s really neat to go to a conference, pull out your phone, and do a quick scan to get someone's information.”
From handshake to inbox, every Goodwill interaction now contributes to a measurable, governed engine of community trust.
