CEO Corner with Dr. Celine Coggins 


Marking progress and building connection at the 2nd Annual TGW Retreat


For just about two weeks, I’ve been basking in the glow of getting to see so many familiar faces and meet new friends at our second annual retreat. Almost 70 donors made the trip to the Deer Path Inn in Lake Forest, IL to be a part of the experience. Leaders from almost all of our grantee organizations attended and shared their work. Next year, I promise some sort of “triple crown” for people attending their third retreat! Our greatest affirmation as a staff team is seeing attendees return because they find value in the content and relationships in the room. If you couldn’t make it this year, we’ll be sending a save-the-date for next time soon.


Our founders, Jan and Rob Swartz and Gina and Mark Verdi, shared an exciting announcement to kick off the retreat: both families just made a multi-year, multi-million dollar gift to accelerate the progress of The Goodness Web! This catalytic investment from our founders is a resounding affirmation of the progress we have all made together to date, and call to action that we can and must do more to support young people. We will share wore in the coming months about what this means for the next chapter of TGW, but, today, we’re starting with gratitude for the founders’ unwavering commitment to this community.


I want to share a few more highlights that were particularly meaningful to me:


  • We presented new data on the cumulative impact of our grantees: ~2M young people with direct services to support their mental health. ~15.5M young people gained exposure to ideas, skills, and cognitive tools in support of their wellbeing. ~15M will be affected by policy changes supporting young mental health. This reach is thanks to our donors as well as other donors.
  • We debuted our Youth Advisory Council’s brilliance with two incredible members helping us to ground our day in youth experience.
  • Each donor got to ask questions of each grantee in a small group, roundtable format. I believe the richness of the dialogue at those tables was the best reflection of what we’re all about: coming together to drive toward solutions.


I hope you enjoy some pictures from the event below.