Successful business leaders know how to plan, lead and multitask, and Anne Campbell Goodman has all three skills down pat. She has to — her agency is larger than the vast majority of businesses in the six-county region it serves.
Goodman is the executive director of the Cleveland Foodbank.
The Foodbank focuses on alleviating hunger in the Greater Cleveland area, which is a massive undertaking. The Foodbank distributes 18 million pounds of food annually to more than 400 hunger programs in six counties; the task takes the efforts of 60 employees and 5,000 volunteers, and has a $5 million budget.
Since joining the agency in 1999, Goodman has streamlined hunger relief efforts in Northeast Ohio. In 2001, she managed a merger with Food Rescue of Northeast Ohio, another nonprofit food distributor working with local charities, eliminating the duplication of services and streamlining costs.
Last year, Goodman helped plan and execute the Foodbank’s merger with the Greater Cleveland Committee on Hunger. She was responsible for Harvest for Hunger, one of the largest drives of its kind in the nation — the 2003 Harvest for campaign was the most successful drive in its history, raising $1.95 million and more than 660,000 pounds of food for 19 counties.
It also reaped a $100,000 savings in administration overhead and took the Foodbank one step closer to its goal of putting fewer dollars into overhead and more into its mission.
The Foodbank’s current $10 million capital campaign for a new community food distribution center is near completion. The center will replace four separate Foodbank facilities and provide a $250,000 annual cost savings.
Goodman’s leadership of the Cleveland Foodbank impacts hunger relief efforts beyond its six-county borders. She coordinated Cleveland’s participation in the largest national hunger study ever conducted and serves on the board of directors of the national association of food banks, America’s Second Harvest.
Goodman’s passion, hard work and inspiration is manifested in the many successes of the Cleveland Foodbank, such as more than doubling its fund-raising revenue and feeding more than 14 million meals to hungry men, women and children in our community.
How to reach: www.clevelandfoodbank.org and (216) 696-6007
