A message from Robert K. Goodwin, President & CEO, the
Points Of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network

While composing this final letter to you as the head of the Points of Light Foundation, I reflected upon my life of service and the many blessings that have come my way. Without a doubt, the past 15 years in a leadership role at the Foundation has been the highlight of my professional career and my greatest source of personal fulfillment.

During this period I have seen firsthand the ravages of homelessness and hunger, as well as the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Yet my spirit remains strong, my enthusiasm and optimism unchecked, as I continue to witness countless volunteers who selflessly make vital connections with others.

Many people have asked how I came to the Foundation, and my simple response has always been “providence.” I have been most fortunate that my avocation and my vocation powerfully coalesced in this opportunity to help shape and lead one of our nation’s most potent forces for good.

As I now segue to other pursuits in the private sector, I continue to believe that my steps had been ordained. I came to Washington, D.C., as an appointee with the Department of Education in the first Bush Administration, intersected with the White House Office of National Service and then began my career at the Points of Light Foundation in the spring of 1992. At that time, volunteering and community service were on the backburner of the nation’s mindset. My first assignment was to manage the final stages of the merger of the Foundation with the National Volunteer Center, which created the largest network of local resources focused exclusively on mobilizing effective volunteers.

The Clinton years followed, and the drum beat for more and better volunteering grew louder as influential voices joined the chorus. In 1996, leaders from government and the private sector convened in Philadelphia for the President’s Summit for America’s Future, a watershed event that elevated the importance of the voluntary sector in helping ameliorate the challenges faced by millions of our country’s youth.

Today, I take great pride that the Points of Light Foundation idea has been institutionalized and that volunteering and community service are now seen as strategies for helping solve some of our most serious and seemingly intractable social pathologies. From this vantage point, the vistas are compelling. Our work together has laid the foundation for future generations to serve as a joyful responsibility to the community that sustains us. I’m confident that Terry Williams, who will become the Foundation’s interim CEO on April 1, along with the Foundation’s staff and board of directors and all my colleagues of this affiliated System, will continue the truly significant work of our mission.