President's Message

As we head toward the end of 2025, we’re reflecting on where we are now, how far we’ve come and what’s ahead. Three years ago, we were like a small but hardy shoot peeking out of the earth after a long winter, wondering if it was okay to come outside again. We explored old and new ways of being together, met meeting space challenges as opportunities and learned a lot along the way. Over the past year, we sought ways to bust silos, cultivate interest of potential new leaders and invite all members to imagine what the seasons ahead for GOOD might look like. Growth isn’t always obvious at first. As Hemingway put it, change happens “gradually, then suddenly.” It feels like our garden is beginning to bloom. We received triple the number of Best Practice session proposals this year versus recent years and roughly a third of our 2026 Board slate are first-time GOOD leaders. With a plethora of new faces in leadership and committees working hard to bring your future vision of GOOD to life, we’re excited to see what’s next.

Vicki and Peggy

We are delighted to see the continued interest in being part of the team that makes this GOOD engine go. Our Committees have continued to grow, new COP leaders have stepped forward, and many of you have engaged as Visioneers. You are all bringing new growth to GOOD and making a difference. And, there is more room for all those who haven’t yet engaged but want to! We will soon enter our 2026 Election season. As the call goes out soon for nominations and committee interest, please consider how you would like to contribute to our success. Answer the call! Help make GOOD great in 2026!

Vicki and Peggy

We’re already halfway through 2025! The past six months have been exciting, with our Bi-monthly Programs team keeping things dynamic. We’ve had one hybrid meeting, one all-virtual meeting, and our upcoming June meeting will be entirely in person --- with dogs! This momentum is a continuation of the Visioning work we started last year. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes, and we’re excited about what’s next. To read our recent update on the Visioning work, learn about upcoming plans, and find out how to get involved, Click HERE.    

Vicki Bautista and Peggy Jackson, Co-Presidents

Your leadership team continues to focus relentlessly on integrating your ideas and preferences into plans for 2025 and beyond.  We came together in January to collaborate and build this year’s game plan incorporating the themes of engagement, inclusion, and curated experiences as vital to GOOD Network’s success.

As we navigate the year ahead, you have a dedicated team with an unwavering commitment to building engagement and inclusiveness by offering an array of top-notch resources - enabling each of you to curate an experience to meet your needs.  We invite you to take agency and choose how you will make the most of your membership.

We extend gratitude to all who are contributing their indispensable expertise, time, and value to keep GOOD great for many years to come, along with an open invitation to everyone in the community to get involved.  Whether you can volunteer one time or make an ongoing commitment by joining a committee, YOU can make a positive impact!

Vicki Bautista and Peggy Jackson, Co-Presidents

We begin 2025 with gratitude for this fantastic community of professionals. We have a robust leadership team and a full Board raring to carry out the work of serving you this year. We’re excited to build on the steps of our Visioning work in September and December, and to leverage your feedback on the Member Survey, taking insights forward into our annual strategic planning process. We look forward to sharing our commitments soon. 

Vicki Bautista and Peggy Jackson

As we near the end of another GOOD year, I’m reflecting on our wins and…lessons. Nearly 200 members across Central Florida (and beyond) are a part of this community, including many new members this year. We’re glad you’re here and find value in all GOOD has to offer. By year end, we’ll have held:

• Nearly 30 Community of Practice virtual meetings
•  4 in person Social events, from morning coffee to evening wine-tasting
• 1 GOOD Doing Good food-raiser
• 5 Bi-monthly workshops including 4 hybrid, 1 virtual and our annual Best Practices session
• 2 Immersive Design Thinking experiences

That’s over 40 events—that’s a lot of wins! Thanks to all the volunteers who made these possible, providing many touchpoints for our members.

Our many COP offerings includes the return of the External Consultants COP and Project Management COP. Thanks to our COP leaders for bringing so much value to our members. 

One of our biggest wins was kicking off our Strategic Visioning initiative, starting in September and continuing in our December bi-monthly meeting. And it’s thanks to the expertise and hours of dedicated effort that Damita Wright, Trevor Swanson, Dr. Stephnie Stern and Vicki Bautista have put in as well as all our Visioneers and facilitators.

As for lessons, we’ve learned that you can’t beat Mother Nature, or in this case, Hurricane Milton! We’re excited to reschedule the October workshop in early 2025. We’ve also learned the journey to being able to deliver high quality hybrid experiences isn’t always a smooth one. Thank you for your continued candid feedback as we assess each workshop. We are in search of a venue or venues in 2025 that will allow us to level up and provide an excellent member experience in our bi-monthlies, no matter where you sit. If you have a suggestion, please reach out to bimonthlyprogram@goodnetwork.us. 

One final win is that as a result of our recent election and Leadership Team nomination process, we have the largest team of Officers, Directors, COP leaders, and Committee members since before 2020 lined up for next year. We’re beginning the transition process now. Thanks to all who have committed your time and energy to serving this community in 2025. It’s going to be a GOOD year!  

Warmest regards,

Peggy

We are in the beginning stages of an initiative that will have a crucial impact on the future of GOOD—asking who we will be, who we will serve and how—over the next five years and beyond. And you are a key part of it! Thanks to our members who participated in the Strategic Visioning session held on September 20th.What a powerful day! This is just the first step, with more activities to come in October and December. Watch for these opportunities to let your voice be heard. Together, we are co-creating an exciting future. 

Peggy Jackson

We have two new volunteers to help take us from GOOD to Great!  Amy Jennings has stepped in as Director of Community Programs and Events on the Board.  Yanalee Tejera has volunteered to manage our social media Group LinkedIn account.  It's not to late to find your niche on our extended leadership team.   Let us know where your interests lie!

We’re delighted at the fantastic response to our 2024 kickoff event at Second Harvest with speaker Jim Knight. It was great to see so many faces in the room and on Zoom. We'll be returning to this location in April. We’ve also had a great response to our first social of the year at BJ’s Brewhouse. So glad to see you all re-connecting—and welcoming new members! Your leadership team, including committee members, is working hard to make GOOD work for you and I want to say thanks to them all for getting us off to a great start in 2024.