Golden Rule Industries of Muskogee, Inc. was founded January 15, 1953 as a 501(c)3 non-profit agency by founding sponsors, Rev. Mark Burbridge, Tams Bixby, Jr. and Jim Egan. These men saw a need to assist adults with disabilities in gaining meaningful employment. In 1963, Golden Rule affiliated with Goodwill of America, a partnership which lasted until 1999, when Golden Rule resumed operations under its founding name. Now, over 70 years later, Golden Rule is more focused than ever on pursuing and fulfilling its mission. This mission is achieved by providing resources and support to adults with developmental disabilities as they lead productive fulfilling lives. Our key objective is to provide employment opportunities that meet the personal goals of our Working Partners.  We use the term Working Partner for employees who have developmental disabilities— Working Partners are valued employees at Golden Rule.  They have specific tasks, expectations and earn a wage but sometimes they need a little extra guidance, so they partner with job coaches who oversee and check completion of tasks.

Golden Rule works with the Developmental Disabilities Services division of Oklahoma Department of Human Services to provide careers to dozens of adults with developmental disabilities across Northeastern Oklahoma.  Many of these job opportunities are made available because of our partnership with the Oklahoma State Use Program.  Golden Rule is also an affiliate member of SourceAmerica, a federal non-profit agency that works to increase the employment of people with disabilities by facilitating relationships between the federal government and non-profit agencies like Golden Rule through the AbilityOne program.  The AbilityOne program works to satisfy the Javits-Wagoner-O’Day Act, which is legislation that provides employment opportunities for individuals who are blind or have significant disabilities.  Golden Rule has two AbilityOne contracts; one providing janitorial services for GSA since 1978 and one providing pancake syrup for DLATS since 2023.