President’s Letter
from 2024 Annual Report

2024 was marked by evolution and advancement. The Foundation continued to integrate recent growth, making new investments in research-practice partnerships in education and expanding our fellowships in scientific research. A major highlight of 2024 was the successful launch of the Brinson Exploration Hub, and we look forward to sharing updates about those exciting exploratory projects in future annual reports.

In addition to significant grantmaking in education and scientific research, this past year the Foundation’s Board of Directors developed a new mechanism to address pressing needs and to pursue unique opportunities through targeted Catalyst Grants. These one-time, Board-directed grants “catalyze” both key initiatives and, ideally, attendant support from other funders. By adding this category, the Foundation further demonstrated its ability to drive impactful initiatives and foster collaboration within the funding community.

While the 2024 annual report covers the Foundation’s activities over the past year, it would be remiss of me not to address the uncertainty currently being felt throughout the nonprofit sector. We continue to be dedicated to listening to our grantees, meeting with peers, and doing what we can to help. We strive to be flexible and responsive by providing general operating support, awarding multi-year grants, and allowing grantees broad discretion where possible.

We are proud to support the work of our grantees and remain committed to a belief in the expertise of nonprofits as well as the importance of science, data, and evidence in guiding decision making. We believe a strong and healthy civic culture is one in which nonprofits that do effective work are able to thrive, and we also believe universities and other high capacity institutions that conduct independent research are essential to advancing knowledge. As we move through another year, we remain steadfast in our grantmaking commitments to the organizations that drive innovations and improvements across our priority areas and that create lasting positive change in the communities we serve.

Christy Uchida
President