Carol Goodman

Carol Goodman

President
Mount Vernon Club

Most Significant Accomplishment:

I feel blessed to have participated in so many worthy projects and endeavors, both professionally and in a volunteer capacity. However. mv most significant accomplishment was building a new headquarters and thrift store for the Junior League of Baltimore (JLB) because it represented the financial future of the Junior League of Baltimore and because it required a significant capital campaign that was heretofore never attempted by the JLB and represented a considerable stretch for me personally. I assumed leadership of this task in 2005, when I was president and when, for the seventeenth time in 95 years, the Junior League of Baltimore (JLB) found itself looking for another place to call home. Instead of going for the quick answer. finding another rental, after 95 years of moving I wanted to figure out what the best solution would be for the long-term health of the organization.

So, I began by engaging a lot of people in the process, including real-estate, architectural, financial experts and members, to review the available options. We brainstormed trying to find the most cost effective and best long-run alternative. In the end. we decided to build the new headquarters and thrift store on existing property the Junior League owned.

We created a vision about what a new home could mean to the Junior League and articulated our vision to the membership and the community: the JLB Headquarters would be a significant
presence in the Govans community and make a substantive contribution to the community. while the new Wise Penny thrift store would re-invigorate our major fundraiser for the next decade. We had to work with many different constituencies to get the new headquarters built and operational. This project encountered many problems, but we never gave up and acquired immeasurable knowledge of construction, loans, fundraising and Congress. We raised an unprecedented $1.8 million from a myriad of sources including members, foundations and Maryland bond bills. And the new thrift store is now generating twice the income becoming the largest fundraiser in the history of the League. This experience was a five-year labor of love were led a diverse group of members, sustainers, community people and construction workers to achieve a common goal. I hope that I inspired people to dream, to believe in the project, learn new skills, contribute manpower or financial resources, and to imagine what we could do together. After this experience, I understood John Quincy Adam’s words that “If your actions lead others to dream more, learn more, and become more, you are a leader.

This is an honoree profile from The Daily Record's Top 100 Women awards. Information for this profile was sourced from the honoree's application for the award.