The Williamson County Institute for Excellence in Nonprofits, Inc., hosted its second annual speaker series event Dec. 5.

Goodwill Industries President and CEO Jerry Davis discussed success in nonprofit work at a Georgetown Chamber of Commerce meeting.

"Maybe you're not doing something as well as you could be," Davis said. "Dare to believe you're not perfect."

WCIEN hosts the event to encourage leaders of area nonprofit organizations to contact the institute, a nonprofit itself, to get help with their own operations struggles.

"The ultimate goal is to assist nonprofit organizations," WCIEN Board Vice-Chairman Ron Swain said. "To help them improve their governance and management and move toward performance excellence."

Davis shared success stories from Goodwill's various employment assistance programs and forward-thinking mentality to encourage even smaller nonprofits to aim for bigger goals.

Rita Handley, executive director of Faith in Action Georgetown, said she was interested to hear about programs Goodwill Industries were enacting. She said she would likely examine some aspects of her own nonprofit she could apply the Malcolm Baldrige Model, which the institute utilizes, relating to performance excellence to her own efforts.

"I took some notes about issues to look at," Handley said. "There are some aspects of Baldrige we haven't explored."

For more information about the WCIEN, go to www.wilcoinstitute.org.