Meet our Vice President of Development
Family Equality is thrilled to welcome Laura Goodwin to our Development Department!
Laura Goodwin
Vice President, Development
(She/Her)
Laura Goodwin brings thirty years of experience throughout the non-profit sector, having served in both leadership philanthropy roles and as a consultant for progressive social sector organizations.
Laura was the Executive Director of the Columbia-Greene Community College Foundation. Prior to that she spent fifteen years with the national youth-serving organization, Girls Inc., as a consultant, local board chair and member of the national team. During that time she led network-wide revenue growth initiatives and the inauguration of a comprehensive leadership and major gifts program. Laura has deep experience in training, coaching and leadership development, as well as board development and strategic planning.
Laura received her MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College and her BA in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from Johns Hopkins University.
Laura lives in the Hudson Valley with her wife, and visits their two grown daughters in New York City. Her dogs, Bear and Maya, have – thus far – kept her safe from delivery people. Laura also enjoys road biking and hiking – both in moderation – and cooking and making people laugh – not in moderation.
Top 3 favorite podcasts, books, or TV shows?
- “Mother Country Radicals” produced and directed by Zayd Ayres-Dohrn
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- …everything that Della Mae is playing right now
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Cooking, binging trashy TV, hiking in the Catskill Mountains
What drives you to do this work?
The story of Family Equality is the story of my own family. I know the trepidation we felt whenever we went on vacation, as we packed the gallon ziploc bag with all the legal documents we hoped would protect our family if something happened while we were away. I remember the ache in the pit of our stomachs when one of our kids had to deal with non-inclusive family projects or forms at school.
What does family equality mean to you?
Family equality means that all the things that we needed to worry about when we were forming and raising our family will be nothing but a nostalgic footnote when our kids are raising theirs.
Life motto:
Be enough.
