Laura Robertson is the president and chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of Hawaii.

Q. You've been with Goodwill long enough to have seen good and bad economies. During down times like now, is the effectiveness of Goodwill affected?

A. When we run into economic times like we're in today I foresee in the next couple of years there's going to be more people who are in need of employment. There are a lot of people out there who maybe are being laid off, some of them have been in their jobs for a long time. Other people are just starting out and they don't have a long work history behind them and one of the things that Goodwill really can do is provide personal attention to people to ensure that they've got their resumes in order and that they're targeting the jobs where their skills are at, or that they're looking to improve their skills so that they can get jobs that will help to support themselves and their families.

Q. When times are tough, are donations or contributions affected?

A. Goodwill's really lucky because we have the opportunity to earn some of our income through our store sales. There are a lot of nonprofit agencies that are experiencing state budget cuts or program budget cuts, and we are also. However, we can use the store sales to be able to be that buffer between the two. Donors continue to be very generous to us. We have not seen a slowdown in our donations.

Q. What percentage of your operating budget comes from donations and store sales?

A. About 45 percent of our total operating budget comes from the store sales. The other pieces of our budget are program funds that we get from the state and some commercial contracts that we do that not only provide work for people who need to gain a work history and a work background, but provide some income for the organization.

A very small percent, less than 1 percent of our funding, comes from donations from the public. We really count on people to give us their old items that they don't need anymore and we turn that into revenue to train people.

Q. How long have you been with Goodwill in Hawai'i?

A. I've been with Goodwill for over 20 years.

Q. What were you doing before Goodwill?

A. I started off as a social worker and I got my bachelor's degree in social work at the University of Hawai'i. I did that for several years and then got interested in business and did a little bit toward the business end. Then I found Goodwill, which was great because you have the opportunity to blend both business and social services.

Q. You've always had an interest in social work?

A. It's one of my passions. We live in a very complicated time and there's always some benefit to having an outside perspective within our lives. The opportunity to be able to help real people get real jobs within our state is something that's very fulfilling for me and that's what Goodwill is all about.

Q. You also have a business background. That must come in handy when running a nonprofit such as Goodwill.

A. We do have to operate like a business. It's very important, especially in these economic times, that you're operating efficiently because the needs in our community are growing and people are going to count on Goodwill. They need to count on us to be here, so what's important about that is that we run our operations so that we're financially stable and we can continue to provide services.

Q. What are the challenges that face Goodwill?

A. One challenge is to do more with less. We all are in that position these days. You just look at some of the internal costs, like our electricity or our gas bill for our trucks, and it's costing more and we have to be able to be more efficient and manage our routes better.

The other challenge for us is just the expansion that we've got in people who need some services. We're working on a plan to be able to do a little bit more on our Neighbor Islands so that we can serve people there.

We're in the process of building a new building out in Kapolei, which will expand our services to serve another 1,500 people a year. It's scheduled to open by the end of 2009. We purchased some land and we did a capital fundraising campaign and we were able to raise $11 million for the building.

Q. Does Goodwill do fundraising?

A. Goodwill doesn't do fundraising. We don't do mailing appeals or direct mail that other nonprofits do because we try to operate off the revenues that we earn through our store sales. However, for something like a brand-new building, we did need to appeal to the community for support and they came through.

Q. Is the Kapolei facility one of the few new buildings Goodwill has built here?

A. It actually will be the first structure that we've ever had the opportunity to design and build from the ground up, so we're very excited. We'll have lots of programs that run out of that center for people who have disabilities, people who are on public assistance, youth programs, just a whole wide variety of programs. It also will have a retail store as part of it, and it's also going to have some space that is going to be made available to the community for people to hold meetings or training sessions.

Q. Are you involved in other community groups?

A. I serve on the board of the Hawai'i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations and I'm chairing that board this year and next year. I serve on the board for the Hawaii Employers Council as well.

There are lots of other small things that I'm involved with. I enjoy just getting involved with giving back to the community. It's a great way to be able to meet your neighbors. I feel that people have really worked hard to help Goodwill out and it's a part of my ethics to be able to help them out also.

Q. What do you hope to achieve while at Goodwill?

A. I mentioned that we were building this new building out at Kapolei, that's been a five-year project. I don't see that as the end. I see that as the beginning. I would really like to be able to bring Goodwill and our stores and our services to the Neighbor Islands. It will help to create jobs for people and it will help to provide other people the opportunities to find other jobs within the community. Within the next 10 years we'd like to be able to open retail stores in Kona, on Maui, and even Kaua'i.