Aristotle wrote that anyone can give money away; doing so well is the challenge. What he didn't tell us is that the social, political and economic context is constantly changing, dictating that those who give money away must continually ask what we affectionately call the "so-what" question.

In anticipation of this 25th year of the Fund's grantmaking, we set out on an eighteen-month journey to answer that question, learning from the people at eligible organizations who have been working to meet needs in their communities and the larger society.

We began by asking anew who they are and who we are and followed that inquiry by literally drawing a picture that conveys our understanding of the complex environment in which the independent sector operates.

In addition, we read ten years of reports reflecting on $100 million worth of grants, and asked ourselves what the work has been about.

We often talk about helping religious judicatories create loan funds, helping churches deliver social services, and creating church-based efforts to advocate for better schools and better housing. We talk about moving the research abilities of colleges and universities into what Woodrow Wilson called "the nation's service." We talk about helping nonprofit agencies deliver food, health services, job training, foster care services and violence prevention activities for children. Nonetheless, we have known at some deeper level that, for all the goodness of this work, communities require something more. The grant reports taught us that these grant purposes are more properly understood as strategies. They do not describe what the work is about.

Indeed, the work - when taken as a whole - is actually about investing in people working to nurture and sustain healthy and just democratic communities.

We also understand better how successful investments can most effectively support eligible organizations as they continue to work toward this end. And given our penchant for drawing pictures of how things work, we developed an image from what eligible organizations told us works.

Healthy communities benefit from investments that strengthen the independent sector; organize and nurture philanthropy; build assets of people, families, and communities; build organizational capacity; stimulate community problem solving; and help people hold their communities accountable to ensure that public resources and public policies promote the common good. The best investments support work that is based on excellent research and data. These investments encourage civic engagement, develop networks of engaged people, and build the capacity of local citizens to participate in decision making. Investments that nurture and sustain a healthy and just democratic society encourage people and organizations to take risks, help organizations develop measures of success and track their progress, encourage public investment, and create a place for the independent sector at the policy-making table. All this we have learned from the work of our eligible organizations.

We will and should always wrestle with what our obligations are under the dictates of Mrs. duPont's will, but particularly so given the current landscape: where public dollars for maintaining a "social safety net" for our most vulnerable citizens have been reduced; where a sagging economy weakens nonprofit organizations that support vulnerable people, stretching them beyond their capacities to respond well; where local demands on organized philanthropy are growing and deepening; where philanthropy often is too small to provide all the leadership expected of it; and where our public leaders seem to be listening to other voices, if they're listening at all.

It's difficult to talk about how a citizenry should respond to the human needs of the citizenry, to its societal needs. And it's difficult to encourage financial investment in the development of what some call human and social capital - what we think about as people and communities and the human infrastructure required to ensure civilization.

It's difficult to keep your mind's eye on what the family, the neighborhood, town, community, state, nation and world will look like in another generation - some 20 years in the future. But another 20 years will pass almost in the blink of an eye. The world will be much sadder and more pathetic if we do not imagine a more humane, more hospitable and more loving place - this is our obligation. And that vision, we are convinced, depends as much upon private philanthropy and the independent sector as it depends upon capital investment in money-making and physical infrastructure.

We look forward to the years ahead, endeavoring to use our stewardship responsibilities to continue to strengthen organizations Mrs. duPont cared about. We look forward to helping those of you who persist with creativity and courage to make your communities healthier places. We look forward to funding research on local issues. We look forward to helping organizations work together across institutional boundaries - church, school, nonprofit - to understand the challenges facing their communities and discover responses to those challenges. We look forward to making investments in your participation as community problem solvers. We look forward to encouraging you in the tough work of local advocacy and participation in the public policy conversation.

In sum, we look forward to continuing, deep relationships with you, the organizations that bring life to the dreams of Jessie Ball duPont.

Sherry Magill, Ph.D.
President

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©2003 Jessie Ball duPont Fund. All rights reserved.