“With the shutdown, the retail brick-and-mortar evaporated, while the e-commerce exploded. That created a lot of disruption, and we were able to provide a significant value to donors: to export their product, and then distribute it effectively to people that could do the most good with it.”

-Matt Connelly, CEO, Good360

How do companies that pledge social responsibility actually put purpose into practice? Partnering with major corporations like UPS, the NFL, Amazon and Walmart, Good 360 answers that questions by facilitating the donation of excess product in supply chains to over 90,000 nonprofits. In this episode of Logistics with Purpose, powered in partnership with Vector Global Logistics, our hosts sat down with Good360 CEO Matt Connelly to learn more about delivering goods – and good – in the era of disruption, globalization, and digitization.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now,

Scott Luton (00:32):

Good morning, Scott Luton and Enrique Alvarez and Kevin Brown here, here with Supply chain Now welcome to today’s episode, Kevin Enrique. How are we doing? Okay,

Matt Connelly (00:41):

Good morning. How are you today? I’m doing great, Scott. Thanks for asking. Always a pleasure to be here with you and our amazing guests today.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Agree one of our favorite series beyond, uh, great people like Kevin and Enrique. I love this content logistics with purpose of what this episode is all about. We’re continuing that series here at PowerBar, dear friends, over at vector global logistics. And on this series, we’ve talked about before we spotlight leaders and organizations that are changing the world in some way, shape or form. And we got to get those stories out. So wonderful conversation in store today. Hey, quick programming before we get started here. If you liked this conversation, be sure to venture over to supply chain. Now, wherever you get your podcasts from and subscribe for free. So you don’t miss future episodes. Okay. We have an outstanding featured guests here today. He and his organization doing huge things. He leads good, three 60, where doing good is their mission. How does that fall right into this logistics with purpose series 37 years of purposeful giving. We’re going to talk more about that. Helping to get the right product to the right people at the right time. Get ready. More than $10 billion of product has been distributed over the courses 37 years to families in need. So no further ado. Join me in welcoming Matt Connolly, CEO of good three-sixty Matt. You

Matt Connelly (01:59):

Doing well, Scott, thanks for having me here this afternoon and good to see Enrique and Kevin, welcome to the show.

Scott Luton (02:05):

So we’ve got an outstanding conversation teed up. We love to talk with organizations or move the needle much like good three 60 is, and we’ve got so much to dive into, but first before we get to the heavy lifting, Matt, I want to dive into your background a little bit. So tell us, give us the goods on your upbringing. Where did you grow up and give us an anecdote or two about that upbringing?

Matt Connelly (02:24):

Oh, I grew up in a town called Nita, Massachusetts, which is right outside the Boston area. Uh, went to university in Boston, at Northeastern university, right in Copley square Roxbury area. And that a rich childhood with lots of good food and character and sports history, not all of it good, but it has been good lately

Scott Luton (02:47):

The bad years make the good years even better. And as a longtime Clemson and the Atlanta Braves fan may many of those years suffering fan, it makes it it’s made those good years even better. So, so you mentioned food. So you relocated to the Atlanta area from the Boston area. What’s one thing you miss about living in a great city like Boston?

Matt Connelly (03:06):

Yeah, well, I, I think probably two things. I miss the local sports broadcast, uh, Nessun new England sports network. I’m able to get that cause I get the, uh, the extra endings package and the center ice package for the Bruins. But, uh, you don’t get the, uh, you know, the, between game programming I missed and I also missed the seafood up there. It’s pretty unique. The folks up there call them steam. Steam is interesting. And, uh, you know, while main lobster is, uh, is certainly something that, uh, is a little, it’s very abundant up in that area as you know, Scott. So I missed those two things and, and, uh, the good news is, is I got a plenty of reasons to go back. My oldest son works in Boston. He works for an investment bank in town and, and my mother, uh, thank goodness is, uh, uh, is thriving and, and through to, through a pandemic and is up there. So I’m looking forward to visiting more here once the pandemic settles down.

Scott Luton (04:00):

Love it. Okay. So much Boston. I mean, we love Atlanta here, right? Of course we’re partial. Love, love the city of Atlanta, but Boston also so much history and good food and, and just a, a great, uh, global community. Uh, one more question. The billion dollar question for you, Matt, are you ready? Um, you mentioned the sports clearly. You’re a passionate sports fan. What is your, of all the teams? What’s the number one team that you’re most passionate about? Red Sox. Okay. The Boston red Sox winter put two world series in the last 10 years or so, right? Oh, four, four, Holy cow. That’s couple, couple years. Well, incredible teams, incredible talent. And they’re going through a bit of a rebuild, uh, and it’d be fascinating to see kind of this, if we can have a normal baseball season, this, and in 2021, I think I read here lately that the braid, the Atlanta Braves are hoping for full capacity in their city and by June. So I love that kind of optimistic view. That means the vaccine is, uh, distributions gone really well. And we can hopefully have some semblance of a normal baseball season, but man, the red Sox have really, they’ve been the model here recently, hadn’t they? Wow.

Matt Connelly (05:12):

Yeah, I don’t know. Uh, but I think you’re very kind. I think the, uh, the more the, the models that I think are, uh, you know, get my kudos is, is the Tampa Bay rays where they can feel the world series caliber team and came up just short, right. If they could argue if they left in their starting pitcher a little longer, they, they would’ve, they would’ve won a world series, uh, with doing it with, uh, a fraction of the budget that, you know, the Dodgers have the red Sox have and the Yankees hat, but, uh, you know, the red Sox had recent success, but they’ve also had a very long drought as you know, you know, with the curse. And also I do appreciate the Braves organization greatly, and I think, uh, truest arc like they call SunTrust now is, uh, is a fantastic venue down in battery park, uh, incredibly well done.

Scott Luton (06:00):

I agree it, and hopefully I got it. I got to say the streak as we call it with the Atlanta Braves, 14 years of having one dependent, but one world series versus four world series in the recent history with the Boston red Sox. So we’re really jealous. Here we go. But the Braves do have a great team. We’ll see what happens in 2021. And I’ll tell you, Kevin and Enrique, we can talk about this till the cows come home. Clearly Matt is passionate about the red Sox. I love that. Okay. So Enrique, I want to pass Baton as we kind of moved from, uh, you know, kinda fun stuff with Matt into more of the leadership and industry. And then, and then eventually we’ll get a good three 60 with Kevin’s help, but Enrique, where are we going next?

Enrique Alvarez (06:39):

Well, thank you again, Scott. And again, Matt, thank you for being here. It’s a super, it’s very refreshing to kind of be talking to people like yourself and organizations like yours that are really kind of in the leading the transformation. I would say when it comes to like purpose driven companies and, and mentality. So thank you once again. Um, it’s gonna be interesting. So there’s a lot of, uh, younger listeners that we have. And, and so if you could kind of walk us through from the very early stages in your professional, very impressive professional transportation, supply chain career. I mean, what are some of the things that you would kind of recall back in those days and kind of why, why logistics, right. Why logistics, how did you end up where you are now in being such a successful CEO?

Matt Connelly (07:22):

Well, Enrique you and I are our students of this space and been in this space for a long time. And yeah, it wasn’t always a sexy part of business, right? It was a, you know, warehousing or traffic management. It was called well before just mentioned supply chain. And, and I think one thing that people came to realize just about this time last year, you know, how important supply chains are that, uh, supply chains are, uh, uh, are complex. Supply chains are sometimes fragile. Uh, but supply chains are always very important. And I think people saw that last year where supply chains, uh, experienced disruption and in Q2, I think another macro factors that has made supply chain really a cool and relevant space is, is the triangulation of three things. One being the growth of e-commerce, the second being globalization, you know, the world is, uh, become a smaller place. And the third is, is a big data, big, big analytics, and you mesh all those three together. Uh, it really comes, uh, an area of importance. I think most companies, you know, when we were starting out in pre-K the supply chain person, uh, didn’t have a seat at the, at the C-suite. Right, right. Yeah. They, they, they, they don’t, they might’ve been buried, you know, two and sometimes three maybe levels below, uh, and, uh, you know, you know, the back office warehouse person, right. And necessary evil

Enrique Alvarez (08:56):

Maybe earlier in those days,

Matt Connelly (08:58):

It’s right up. And, uh, I think, uh, you know, the, the, uh, the understanding now, you know, and, and again, I mentioned big data, big analytics and globalization, um, you know, decisions that are made around the strategic decisions that are made around a company supply chain or approach to logistics is, is, is a major differential or a make or break for a company. And, uh, you know, that’s been pretty cool to, to, to see, uh, when I started 32 years ago and in Boston as a, uh, as a truck driver to have the, uh, the Boston accent come out, I was, uh, fortunate to kind of learn the business from the ground up, and that was driving a truck. And, uh, I know exactly what the psyche is of the people that really matter. Um, you know, people in the office don’t matter. I learned that brand is, is a person that is, uh, driving safely and compliantly, uh, in our neighborhoods and, uh, delivering goods and need a goods medicine, uh, et cetera, to people’s doorstep, right.

Matt Connelly (10:06):

And those people are the brand. And how I started with the business at ups really gave me a, uh, a granular understanding of that, that, uh, still sticks with me today. And then, um, you know, having the opportunity to work for a large company that had aspirations and the aspirations were going from being a domestic small package provider to being a global multimodal supply chain company. I had the opportunity to learn at a granular level, you know, different capabilities that you’re very familiar with and Rica is ocean freight, air, freight, customs, brokerage clearance, and, uh, really, uh, you know, understanding the importance of that as globalization really took off, you know, probably in the mid to late nineties and certainly accelerated in the, in, in the early two thousands. And, you know, those experiences really helped for me to, uh, get a good, strong understanding of how to put other networks that add value to companies and add value to consumers.

Enrique Alvarez (11:13):

Yeah, you were basically doing all the heavy lifting and you kind of went through every single step in the supply chain, which I’m sure gives you an amazing perspective of how things are done and then also how things should be done. Right. Cause it’s different to kind of, as a consultant myself is completely different to do things then just to kind of try to understand things without doing and then trying to bring some recommendations to the table. So not in those early years and kind of going through the ups career that you had, which is amazing. What do you think were the three most important characteristics or aspects that you consider important for, for success in a company as I guess, open and innovative as, as ups? What, what do you think was key for you to progress from when you, where you started to where you are now?

Matt Connelly (11:58):

Yeah, I think, you know, business values are kinda, you know, sometimes a little harder to define and, and sometimes, uh, not easy to understand the tangible benefit of that, but having values is critical and those values generally are centered around two things. One is, is people and customers, people, we talked about people being the brand, but, uh, the other aspects of the people that are so important is to get ideas from the bottom up on auto-approve because they’re the ones closest to doing the job, having a culture of progression where there is, uh, there is avenues for promoting from within there is avenues to grow a career within an organization, I think is very important, but diversity is so important for so many reasons. One of those reasons is, is different perspectives and different backgrounds and different thoughts. So I’ve always found the best leadership teams have the right mix of outside perspectives from the industry. Maybe even outside perspectives, not from the industry and then homegrown women and men that have an understanding of the core processes and the core cultures of an entity.

Enrique Alvarez (13:13):

No. So thank you once again and there, you guys have it, right? So it’s no secret recipe, I guess. It’s, you mentioned values, you mentioned a culture that allows progression and avenues to grow for everyone that starts and works for that company. Uh, you mentioned people, you mentioned ideas, customers, listen, listen, it’s very important. Listen to everyone in the organization, not only like the top levels and of course, diversity, which has all this things that are, were important back then when you started. And I feel that they’re incredibly critical and maybe even more important now. Yeah,

Matt Connelly (13:44):

Yeah. To touch on I’ll touch on customer here in a sec. Cause that’s the other thing that’s used for focus, but you know, what’s encouraging that I’m seeing in diversity is, and this, you know, obviously was from the tragic events of last summer as companies. My, in my opinion always had good, intense, good, good intentions in regards to growing diversity within their workforce or within their supplier base. But they, they either did not understand or, you know, weren’t willing to kinda, uh, modify processes or enhanced processes to create an outcome that they want. And I think that’s really neat. I’m seeing that on a number of levels where companies, a lot of them are great, are great donor partners. They’re doing things differently, whether that is how they vet suppliers, whether that’s how they attract talent, whether they, how they groom talent, you know, actually interesting enough as being, uh, Atlanta, Georgia guys, uh, that we’re very proud of our city is there was an article in the wall street journal it last weekend, uh, talking about how big tech companies and non-tech companies are moving either to Atlanta or shutting up significant operations in Atlanta due to the large percentage of African-Americans the, uh, yeah, I think there’s four HBCU schools in the Atlanta area.

Matt Connelly (15:07):

So that’s a case that’s, that’s an example of doing things differently. And so as opposed to Google or a Silicon Valley company, trying to improve their diversity in their workforce with Silicon Valley only having 2% African-American the community were brilliant, so successful. So, you know, let’s shut up an operation in Atlanta where there’s a, yeah, there’s a diverse, educated workforce. Let’s bring, let’s bring the work to where the, the, the, the talent is versus trying to find talent in an area where there’s just not much quantity. That’s an example of that. But, uh, also, uh, you know, I’ve gotten a, as time goes on and increasing appreciation of the value being customer centric and a good three 60, our, our North star is that for every nonprofit, which is 90,000 women in our network. And I know we’re going to talk about that with Kevin, that every nonprofit that does a transaction with good three 60, they feel they got tremendous value from that engagement. Absolutely. And, uh, you know, we’re working toward a culture where people are empowered. All of our people are empowered to kind of make it right. If they received a shipment from good three 60, that might’ve been, you know, not the bill of lading that they were expecting, or the goods got damaged. You know, we want to, uh, you know, refund them, you know, the transaction fee or the shipping and handling and, or send them the next one free or both. Right.

Enrique Alvarez (16:33):

So, Matt, you’re not telling us that sometimes things go wrong in the world of logistics. Is that what not in this industry now?

Matt Connelly (16:41):

Sure. It’s a full contact sport, as you gentlemen know. And I always liked the Mike Tyson line, right. That everybody has a plan till you get punched in the face. Right. We, we, we chuckle with that saying now, and then here a good three 60 hand and, uh, have ups. I certainly did as well. That could be a good episode title Scott right there,

Enrique Alvarez (17:00):

The classical philosophy classical philosophy of the Tyson might just go at it again. And no, I, when you were talking about all this, I kind of got a flashback from my grandmother in Mexico. And of course, I’m going to try to translate this, but she always said to us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions or something like that. So you’re right. People and companies usually in general have good intentions, but we are going to deep dive into good three 60. Cause that’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a big stretch going from like a good intention to actually becoming a purpose driven company and, and you guys have it and, and you’ve been doing it for awhile. And I think that kind of reflects the amazing school that ups has been for you and some other people that have come out of ups. And, and we’ll deep dive into that one, a couple of two more questions on your professional career. Uh, the first one is one big Eureka moment that you’ve had, like throughout your extensive career in supply chain. And, uh, just one moment or one example that you think, well, this basically shift my thinking towards, cause you moved from the corporate world to leading an organization like good, three 60. What was, what was there that kind of made you make that decision?

Matt Connelly (18:11):

Yeah, I think the Eureka a decision when I, when I transitioned from the commercial world and non-profit was how challenging managing a non-profit is a nonprofit should be titled, not for loss. A non profits don’t have access to equity markets, you know, stone like, you know, Scott and I have a great idea. Uh, we’re gonna burn through cash for the next 18 months. And so we can get you and Kevin to jump on board. We dilute you guys bring in the equity money to, for us to get to where we want to be. You don’t have that option in a nonprofit. There’s not many banks. If any banks willing to lend money to a nonprofit that doesn’t have positive operating leverage. So, yeah, that was kind of a big Eureka moment for me with, you know, with, with running a nonprofit you’re really operating without a net.

Matt Connelly (19:02):

So you gotta be able to create that step safety net because you need to have the reserves to do three things. One is, is to handle rainy days. Uh, two is, is to have working capital to be able to make strategic decisions, uh, quickly the, uh, having to do two things. One is say, Hey, is this a good investment? And then secondly, you know, how are we going to pay for it? Right? And if you can eliminate that, that can make your company a lot nimbler and successful faster. A third is, is, uh, you know, having, uh, the ability to invest in your model. Yeah. And invest in, you know, people, it, technology, infrastructure, et cetera, uh, that how hard it was or how different it is for a nonprofit and the other is, is, you know, managing key constituents. If you’re a board member for a commercial entity, you’re representing investors.

Matt Connelly (19:57):

If you’re a board member for a nonprofit, you’re representing donors in some way, shape or form, and the expectations of donors are higher because giving you either money or product in our case, with the expectations of an outcome of impact for investors, they know that, Hey, I’m in, I’m investing money, but I could lose it to make more money. Right. And so I believe the stakes are a little higher, both from the, uh, uh, governance perspective, but you need to operate a little differently, uh, from a commercial perspective to, uh, you know, make sure that you have the, the financial foundation and underpinnings to do, to increase your value and impact.

Enrique Alvarez (20:38):

And, and I believe you kind of jumped from GPS cause you were on the board of good three 60. Right. Is that kind of like, you’re the stepping stone? How did you get from one to the other company

Kevin Brown (20:49):

And why, why would you do that?

Matt Connelly (20:50):

Well, I mean, okay, that’s great. You’ve done your homework and that surprise with venture logistics, but anyways, uh, yeah, it, it, uh, I got involved with the nonprofit space about 10 years ago with Eduardo Martinez. Who’s the president of the ups foundation. We had tremendous vision on where he wanted the foundation to go, which included having a larger in-kind presence in the nonprofit community. And for ups, of course in kind is his logistics and supply chain. He didn’t have those operating capabilities within the foundation. So, uh, he worked closely with myself and I leveraged my work in groups and operational teams to provide, uh, solutions and execution for disaster recovery relief. And that could have been pre-positioning bottled water for a hurricane, uh, domestically, or it could have been consolidating seventy-five metric, tons of plumpy sump in Europe to airlifted to does a hell of Africa.

Matt Connelly (21:54):

So I got exposed to the NGO world through working closely with ed. I got excited about it. I got an understanding as you do in Rica of how important logistics is to disaster recovery, to distribution of needed goods and services to our most under resourced people in the world and getting an understanding of the structure of the UN cluster, uh, the world food program, uh, UNICEF supply division UNH gr, which we can talk about a little later, but, uh, so that gave me the opportunity to serve on boards including good three 60. Uh, the board is an excellent board. I think the quality of a board is so important for any nonprofit, not only to provide governance and compliance, but to provide the strategic direction. And good three 60 has been, uh, privileged to have a fantastic board of different skill sets that built up operating capabilities that made good three 60 very relevant during the, uh, the pandemic.

Kevin Brown (22:57):

Thank you. And, um, Kevin, go ahead. I feel like I’m going to hugging the conversation with Matt here. So, uh, so all yours and thinking about, uh, Matt we’ll again, welcome. And we really appreciate this opportunity to talk to you. It’s interesting as you talk about your career at ups and, and as I started my career in the late eighties, early nineties, you know, we called, uh, what we call supply chain today. You know, we called it shipping or transportation or traffic, and then over the last 25 years or so has turned into logistics now, supply chain, but really at the end of the day, we’re doing one of two things we’re picking up and we’re dropping it off. Now. We’ve really, there’s a lot of complexities now and from a to B, but ultimately that’s what we do. So it’s interesting to hear your story and where we go from logistics, you know, really what we’re here to do is to also talk about what good three 60 actually does to help those around the world, those in need. So if you would, and a couple of minutes ago, Scott had alluded to, we’re going to talk about pers purposeful giving. Why is that important? Wouldn’t talk when it’s your organization and your customers, we’ll, we’ll call it your, your partners. And we can talk about partners again in a couple of minutes, but really from a high level, then drill down. What does good three 60 actually do, and then keeping in mind purposeful giving from your perspective and your client’s perspective.

Matt Connelly (24:19):

Yeah. Yeah. Thanks Kevin. Yeah. Good. Three 60 is a, is a key fulcrum that will become more relevant to help address the needs gap specifically. Good three 60 provides cost-effective and responsible solutions for companies, excess product and their supply chains. And we distribute that product to a network of 90,000 better charity.

Kevin Brown (24:41):

And this has been going on from your organization for 37 plus years. And Scott gave us all the numbers and everything and the overall impact. What do you see as the biggest impact since the time that you’ve been there? What is the largest impact that you’ve seen, that you’ve actually had your hands on, where you have made a difference or your organization has made a significant difference? Is it during COVID or is it

Matt Connelly (25:03):

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I it’s, well, far as me making a difference, um, there’s nothing there, you know, we’re a team. Yeah. Here, a good three 60 and, and a good three 60 is really a key, uh, component to distribute needed goods during COVID, uh, to give a context, Kevin, in 2019, good, three 60 distributed $330 million a donate a product last year was over 700 million. And this year we’re on pace to be over a billion dollars. And the reason being is, is a good three 60, you know, with the board’s leadership and the phenomenal management team we have here, which is the best I’ve worked with no offense ups partners, but, uh, is, uh, they built operating capabilities that were really relevant for when COVID hit, you know, when COVID hit, there was spring launch, those winter launches that didn’t fully sell. There was spring launches that didn’t go at all.

Matt Connelly (25:58):

There was massive flux between what flowed through the brick and mortar network and what throat flow through a.com companies in the omni-channel space that have both which most of our donors have. Uh, so they have different supply chains for both. You know, they leverage both networks and they have synergies between the network, but, uh, you know, with the shutdown, the retail brick and mortar supply chain evaporator, while the e-commerce exploded, right. And you know, that created a lot of disruption and, and we were able to provide a significant value to the donors, to exhort their product, and then distribute that effectively to people that could do the most good with it. The value Kevin, our donors get is they get compliance when they give us the product, they get a assurance that that product is not going to wind up on Craigslist or a flea market or some secondary market to dilute their brand.

Matt Connelly (26:54):

They are eligible for an enhanced tax write off. And then, uh, what would really, um, increasing our, our competency on an ability to do is provide the donor, uh, two things. One is impact stories that they share on their internal comm sites, uh, but also provide them key metrics. Well for sustainability goals of what product was kept out of a landfill and, or did not have to be transported back to our return center or fulfillment center to be put back on a marketplace. The other is, is being more cause specific. We’ve invested heavily in a CRM where we have strong definition of what our 90,000 non-profits focus on, whether that is indigenous people causes, whether that is a racial justice issues, whether that is homeless veteran issues, that we’re getting better at targeting, uh, the impact. We also, uh, have strong capabilities and this is how the ups relationship started with good three 60 back 15 years ago, uh, around disaster recovery, which we can talk about Kevin, if we have time.

Kevin Brown (28:05):

Okay, good dude. So, you know, COVID has played a critical, it’s been an impact that we never saw coming, but there is a silver lining for everything. And with that silver lining, if you can find one with COVID has been the ability for people to become more humane, to open up their hearts and their eyes for what is going on in different parts of the world and how we can make a difference. So we truly appreciate everything that you do it good through 60. And over the last few minutes, we’ve talked about 90,000 plus nonprofits in order to have those 90,000 nonprofits, you also have corporate partnerships that are critical to the day-to-day running of your organization and how you make it better for the rest of the world companies like Nike ups, Walmart, Amazon fans, auto temper Tempur-Sealy. So there’s a lot of different organizations that are making a significant difference, so that those 90,000 can make a difference. If you could tell us about some of the recent partnerships and, uh, we’ll talk about the NFL here in just a moment, but talk to us about your corporate partnerships and then the other 90,000 plus.

Matt Connelly (29:08):

Yeah, great. Um, two partnerships that I think are germane around COVID relief, and one is with Garnet Hill, which is a really cool company based out of Exeter, New Hampshire in my old neck of the woods, up in new England, where they committed to provide $10 to good three 60 for every cotton mass that they sold on their website. This resulted in a tremendous impact because what good three 60 can do is we can commit to at least 10 X of product of impact for every dollar given. So with this partnership with Garnet Hill, we’ve been able to provide $250,000 in product to people in need during the pandemic and just a really cool progressive company and a great initiative to, uh, you know, collaborate for, uh, you know, the greater good. Now the other initiative during COVID, which really will always stick with me and resonates with me is, uh, working with Nike, Nike, uh, we partnered with them to deliver 30,000 Nike zoom pulse shoes.

Matt Connelly (30:09):

And, um, I was not aware of how good these shoes are until, uh, this initiative, but these, these are, these shoes are just incredibly well-designed. And as you know, Kevin, you know, healthcare workers, uh, were heroes right from the jump and continue to be today. As we look to all get vaccinated, they, uh, we delivered 5,000 pairs of shoes to hospitals in Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis and New York city. And, uh, those men and women that were putting long hours in an emergency rooms and ICU units, uh, you know, at least they had the best-in-class footwear out there to keep them comfortable. In addition, Nike, uh, also gave 5,000 pairs of, uh, air POL zooms to military healthcare workers in the veterans health administration network. And coupled with those shoes in those cities, into the VHA, uh, we also, uh, distributed 95,000 pairs of Nike soccer socks that were high compression socks, which helps the blood flow with people that are on their feet today, doing the critical work, trying to, uh, help people in need.

Matt Connelly (31:21):

And then as far as the non COVID, uh, program that is, I think is really special is what we have with advance auto, uh, advance auto, a merge with CarQuest a number of years ago. They’re a fantastic organization down in North Carolina. They, uh, distribute, they provide, I think it’s 54 DCS that we move product excess product from advance auto to a network of non-profits that specialize on two things. One is, is trade is training. The next generation of auto mechanics. A lot of these entities are giving at risk youth, mostly young men, a chance to learn a vocation and a skill. And these goods that can, uh, advance auto provides helps that mission and also advance auto supplies. And parts goes to nonprofits that specialize on providing trumping low cost trans transportation repair to people that are in need of transportation to get to work. And without providing it at low cost would not be able to do it. So those are three that are, you know, that, that come to mind and, uh, that are, that are personal.

Kevin Brown (32:33):

And I’m sure if we had the time you could go on and on and on and probably touch something on all 90,000, they all make a difference. And, uh, so we appreciate the, the partnership that you have with Nike and what they’ve done for our heroes and our frontline workers during this horrible pandemic. So, uh, last question I really have for you, and this is something that I’ve seen has been floated on the internet. It’s really an interesting story. Is your relationship with the NFL? I think we’re all just about everybody in America has some type of an affiliation with the team. I’m an Atlanta Falcon and a Dallas cowboy, but we all have that affiliation. Tell us about your affiliation with the NFL.

Matt Connelly (33:10):

Yeah. The, the affiliation, the part should be NFL. This thing has gone on for about eight years. It’s not eight years and it’s, it’s, it’s seven, but I’m pretty sure it’s eight years. And, uh, the relationship actually came through Nike, but the NFL being, um, you know, the global brand that they are, which is a philanthropic at the heart, they did not want to throw out merchandise merchandise that would be thrown out after a big game, specifically conference championship games in the Superbowl. You know, those purchases as a, you know, from being good sports fans are, are one of impulse, right? So you need to have the product available on deck literally minutes after the victory. Uh, you know, this year Tampa Bay, right? I mean, a minutes after Tampa Bay won people, uh, the majority of those purchases are probably done within 24 hours.

Matt Connelly (34:02):

Yeah. 24 and 48. So, so to fulfill those, you need to have product on order. And so the team that came up a little short either in the conference championship or the super bowl, uh, that product is, uh, the NFL didn’t want to throw out. So we work, uh, collaboratively with them and we work and do a lot of research globally for non-profits. And under-resourced parts of the world where this product will do a couple things. One is, is raise someone’s dignity. We want to make sure that, uh, you know, where it goes, the, the, the folks might not know who won the super bowl, you know, cause we don’t want them thinking they’re wearing unquote a loser shirt. And secondarily, as we’re very cognizant of not to disrupt the local economy, we don’t want to provide, let’s pick a number 2000 t-shirts in an economy and knock out textile manufacturers or textile retailers. So we worked very deliberately to make sure that we’re not disruptive to the local economy on that, but a great partnership, the NHL with the NFL, uh, we also have a similar partnership with a major league baseball, which is similar and also very constructive.

Kevin Brown (35:15):

Very good. Matt, we appreciate your time today. Last thing I have is, you know, there’s a lot of potential listeners out there listening to us today. If they want to support your mission, if they want to work with you, collaborate with you, how’s the best way they can do that, whether it be an organization or individuals or what, what is your thought process on that?

Matt Connelly (35:35):

Yeah. Anyways, good three sixty.org. It’s a pretty, it’s a pretty a user-friendly website for nonprofits that are looking to get access to our product that we provide either at the carton level, through our e-commerce site or LTL or truckload level. If they’re approved to receive those larger quantities, it’s free to join our network. The vetting process is usually done within 24 hours. If they have a, a five Oh one C3 EIN number, okay. By take a little longer, if not, but know, please join our network. If you’re in the nonprofit space. And if you’re a donor looking for those solutions, certainly there’s access to providing engagement with good three 60 through our website, but also feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn,

Scott Luton (36:21):

Matt, again, thank you, Scott. Turn this back over to you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Gosh, I feel like I’ve gotten a business education and a nonprofit education all in the same 60 minute session. So I want to wrap with just a couple of additional questions. Matt, you’re a walking encyclopedia for seven different things and whether it’s sports or business or leadership, or kind of the, uh, the evolution of supply chain or of course the great need that’s out there that good three 60 serves that unfortunately is probably in a blind spot for so many certainly Americans and, and many others. So it’s, it’s neat to have you own and share some of the great work you’re doing. Let’s go broader. Uh, as we start to wrap up here, you know, we’ve touched on so much as part of this discussion, but when you think of global business, and I think you mentioned that, you know, the world is certainly, uh, a much tighter community. These days information age does a good job. There what’s one thing maybe we haven’t touched on that you’re tracking as a, you know, as a business leader right now. Yeah.

Matt Connelly (37:21):

Two things that, uh, we’re watching closely is, um, logistics costs, uh, as, uh, Enrique and Kevin know the cost of transportation, uh, is, uh, is escalating for a number of reasons. I think we’ve seen the price of oil go up off of record lows. Recently, the price of building facilities is a lot more expensive. I think to construct a new DC or warehouse, you know, steel alone is probably 50% higher now than it was last year. We’re really, uh, looking at ways to bend the cost curve of a movement of goods because our constituents, which are nonprofits aren’t, they’re the most vulnerable during an inflationary period, which we could be in with almost $2 trillion of new money cycling through the economy that, uh, they’re not able to pass on added expense to their constituents, which are our most needy and vulnerable. Right? So, so what, uh, the, the business dynamic that we have that we’re really watching about watching and, and, and, uh, are looking to manage effectively to be seamless to our, our nonprofit condition, which is how to manage a potential inflationary environment and aggregate, and certainly an inflationary environment around logistics and supply chain.

Matt Connelly (38:43):

And that is both cost of labor compliance, building a facility, uh, and then moving it, whether it be over the road or by rail or by air ocean, uh, I think, uh, all you gentlemen know that air and ocean freight rates have skyrocketed in the past 12 months. So how to manage that in a way to a port or non-profits that don’t have the ability to pass on those costs to their, their constituents. Um, check, sorry about that.

Enrique Alvarez (39:13):

I just wanted to comment something quickly on what you just said. I mean, those extra charges and extra costs that are kind of really, really putting a lot of pressure on, uh, on everyone’s supply chain for, for this organization. So for this people, the, the end customers, the people that are really benefiting from what you’re sending it’s critical, right? To your point earlier, it’s just not, we’re not moving containers, we’re just shipping hope and medicines. And so if they cannot ship it, then someone will be very impacted more than just simply by paying more. I mean, there’s a lot more stake as you mentioned. Yeah.

Matt Connelly (39:47):

And, and, and maybe if, if, if I may Scott to add on a little bit of a fun kind of triangulation with Enrique and Kevin is, is, uh, working with Uhha UNH CR we’re, uh, partnered with USA, UNH gr and gap brands to send new clothing abroad. Uh, that includes segmenting it, scanning it, bailing it, and coming up with cost-effective ocean solutions to different parts of the world, including Western Africa, Eastern Africa, and the middle East, and, you know, working with venture logistics, we’re able to come up with new, fresh ideas to, to help mitigate or bend that cost curve around increased shipping costs. And, and, and we all know that ocean freight costs have gone up quite a bit, as I mentioned.

Scott Luton (40:34):

Yeah. As we sit here today, speaking of ocean shipping, and of course, we’re hoping that it is clear long before when this episode publishes, but to see what’s going on in the Suez canal, uh, that just adds to these, all these headaches. That’s adding the complexities and costs and, and a lot more. So, uh, intriguing times we live in, in the supply chain world right now, but I want to go back. So we’re going to wrap on two things here and folks, we want to encourage you to go to good three sixty.org. Y’all check that out. And there’s a lot more information there that Matt has been speaking about, including ways that you can get involved and help further and ignition. So two quick things I want to go back to, uh, I didn’t realize in my homework that you started as a ups driver, you mentioned the front line and, and you know, whether you’re healthcare or retail or supply chain, or you name it, folks that are in his frontline roles, man. So many brave stories of, of people that went to work pandemic or no pandemic to make it happen, to protect the rest of us. And there’s so much good news that comes out of that. What’s one thing we’ve seen stories where communities have thrown surprise parties for their hardworking, long working delivery drivers, right. Because e-commerce has been helping everybody get what they need amongst other things. But what’s one thing that maybe most listeners may not appreciate or know about those hardworking delivery drivers.

Matt Connelly (41:56):

Yeah. It is the one thing that they, they need to know is that, you know, these folks early on, right, when there was a lot of mystery about the virus, right. And, and uncertainty about the virus and, uh, you know, they, uh, for the greater good, right. They, they went into work and, uh, you know, healthcare workers, supermarket workers, every person on my team knows to thank their delivery driver, whether it’s USBs, Amazon ups or FedEx, uh, to thank those drivers. But early on is we really didn’t have a clear understanding of the depths of the virus, which were, were significant as we found out, you know, they, uh, they went out there, right? They, they didn’t have the opportunity to work in a virtual environment. Uh, we know this firsthand because we, uh, we move stuff. We, we move cartons, we move LTL volume.

Matt Connelly (42:53):

We moved TL volume that, uh, we, uh, are so appreciative, a good three 60 of our team in Omaha. Uh, we have, uh, uh, um, a core of good three 60 folks, uh, leadership and, and Omaha that manage all the carton movement and some LTL movement, uh, for good three 60. And, uh, that team, uh, without question, you know, went in there every day, uh, and implemented, you know, safety protocols. And, uh, you know, we’re fortunate that, uh, we are a partner with great companies like ups, Amazon, and Walmart, where we were able to glean best practices in regarding pacing and, and contract racing and protocol for entering. But, uh, I, I, Scott, I think that’s a great way to end it is, is the humility of the people that kept our supply chains going, kept food on our, on our supermarket shelves, you know, food on our table. And, uh, and we’re there to service the people that, uh, uh, you know, contracted the virus so well done. Scott

Scott Luton (43:53):

Well said, uh, got to thank a driver. And when we can get closer together, you got to hug on the driver’s level in those drivers. They’re, they’re vital vital components, uh, as, as, as, as all those other frontline workers that Matt alluded to. All right, we’re gonna wrap on the billion dollar question. So as a survey over espn.com, I’ve learned that the red Sox beat my beloved Braves yesterday in spring training, they’re at a record of 12 and eight Garrett Richards beat Mr. You Noah for the brave. So what is your break out your crystal ball as we wrap here, what is your prediction for the red Sox?

Matt Connelly (44:27):

2021? I think 2021 is going to be a rebuilding year, cause it’s a very tough

Scott Luton (44:32):

Division with the, uh, the Yankees. And, uh, and especially if they make it regional where the, you throw the Phillies in. And, uh, you know, the med center are going to be both improved if they, if they go that way, if they go the, the old national league East where the, uh, the Braves are playing the, you know, the Phillies and the meds may be a different story, but I, I’m more, uh, I think the year Atlanta Braves are a better brighter outlook then my red Sox this year, but I’ll still be written for the red Sox, win, lose a drop. That’s how it goes. Well, I love that. And again, that makes the better years exciting, innocent. It’s really amazing what the red Sox have been able to do once I got past that curse, and then they just set, set baseball and fire.

Scott Luton (45:14):

So we’ll see what happens, uh, but a pleasure and an honor to sit down with you, thanks so much, Matt Connolly and, and, and the great people, the great people over at good three 60, uh, and check them out. Good. Three sixty.org, big thanks as well. Of course. And Ricky Alvarez, Kevin Brown with vector global logistics and the conversations like this is what makes this series so awarding. Am I right? Understood. Thank you so much, Matt. This is, uh, you really, you didn’t really mention the other services that you provide, but just inspiring other companies like mine. I mean, we look up to you and organizations like yours, and I think that’s something that’s incredibly important, especially this day. So, um, thank you so much. Yeah. After eight years for a year global interest, it gives us a lot of optimism when I talked to people like you, Enrique and Scott, thank you for the opportunity today, Fitbit, uh, it’s been a pleasure. Kevin Brown and Ricky Alvarez with vector global logistics, Matt Connolly, CEO of good three 60 to our listeners. And hopefully you all enjoyed this conversation as much as we have here. What an incredible organization doing good, really deeds, not words, what it comes on mind. So with all that said, hopefully this finds you well, wherever you are on math, our entire team here at supply chain. Now, Hey, do good gift forward. Be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time here, own supply chain out. Thanks.

Intro/Outro (46:37):

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