CEO, Jim Kerlin
The past year has been a fulfilling and successful 12 months for Wiscraft, Inc. This social enterprise was established in 1903 as a Workshop for the Blind, however, since 1985 (more than 25 years ago), Wiscraft has met its re-vitalized mission to provide meaningful and sustainable employment for people who are blind or visually impaired as an independent non-profit.
Wiscraft currently has three business units – Assembly & Packaging, Machine Shop and its Communications Center. The Communications Center has been fully operational since November 2010 and offers a full menu of call center services.
Wiscraft’s sources of operational funding primarily consist of revenues from manufacturing, the call center and philanthropic support from individuals, corporations and foundations. Long-term customers include: Briggs and Stratton, Harley Davidson, Pentair, P&H, Morris Material Handling, and Oshkosh Truck to name a few.
Wiscraft is ISO 9001:2008 certified and utilizes lean manufacturing processes to insure the highest quality in our products and services. We make a significant commitment to employee training. Our employees have a feeling of success, an increased awareness of the importance of a job well done, and a heightened level of pride and independence.
The challenges recently presented as a result of uncertain and often alarming economic conditions were felt worldwide, and Wiscraft was not spared, but we confronted the economic downturn head-on. During the past year Wiscraft has achieved milestones parallel in magnitude with any achieved during its 107-year history. As a mission-driven social enterprise, Wiscraft must measure our success by metrics beyond financial indicators; at Wiscraft it is also critical to measure success in achieving the mission. It is with great pride and excitement Wiscraft can proclaim financial success in the past year, and a significant expansion of its mission.
During fiscal year 2009-2010 Wiscraft increased its total employment by 32% and increased the number of hours worked by blind employees by 28%. Concurrently, Wiscraft increased its revenue by 11% and projects a 22% revenue growth during 2010-2011.
In late 2009 Wiscraft embarked on a significant fundraising initiative. Since then more than $300,000 has been raised through individual, corporate and foundation contributions. We are very grateful as this additional funding helps to advance Wiscraft’s mission as well as pay for vital improvements and programs necessary for us to be competitive in today’s marketplace. Wiscraft is also involved in two major friend-making and fund raising events each year.
Wiscraft is currently working to rebrand itself with a new name and tag line more descriptive of its mission and purpose. In the July 2010 edition of the newsletter I expounded upon the many reasons we feel a rebranding effort would benefit our organization. Since that time we have evaluated several iterations of the brand name and logo and plan to introduce the new brand and a redesigned website in the first half of the coming fiscal year. You’ll find articles in this Annual Report Edition of the Wiscraft Newsletter detailing each of the subjects discussed briefly in this column.
We are grateful to all customers and supporters of Wiscraft and every one of our very special employees. We are also grateful to our volunteer board of directors who devote their valuable time each year to help us fulfill our mission. We look to the future with hope and inspiration.