Dear Partners, Colleagues, and Friends,

When I arrived here two years ago, I was amazed at the great work the Surdna Foundation had supported and the important achievements accomplished with the Foundation's investments in areas as diverse as climate change, transportation, arts training, youth organizing, public media, and community development. I came to Surdna after spending more than 15 years focused on international learning and exchange, which meant that while I'd worked on many of the same issues Surdna had been investing in, I hadn't had the good fortune to work closely with Surdna. It really was a revelation to learn just how powerful and effective the Foundation had become over its more than nine decades of grantmaking. However, I also realized that my arrival allowed us to take a fresh look at what the Foundation could do to extend this run of excellent philanthropy.

As we thought about the next chapter in Surdna's work, we decided fairly early on that we wanted to focus on just and sustainable communities, a theme that had been present in our previous work, but not raised up as a central point of emphasis. We saw an opportunity through this sharpened focus to align our work, bringing all of Surdna's considerable assets to bear in fostering the development of communities where all residents can thrive. We wanted to see cities where high-speed rail and buses connect people to good paying jobs. We wanted to see communities where culture is celebrated as a core asset at the heart of a community's identity and not an afterthought. We wanted to help find ways to make the theory of a carbon-free society into a practical and achievable reality for communities across the United States.

Surdna Foundation board and staff have worked for more than a year on the development of an updated Foundation mission and new grantmaking strategies that reflect the vision of creating just and sustainable communities. As we applied this vision to our work, we came to see a sustainable community as a place that uses innovation to secure a sustainable environment over the long term, a place that enables the establishment of a strong and resilient local economy, and a place that celebrates a vibrant cultural life for all community members, regardless of background. We also affirmed the importance of social justice and of youth empowerment and engagement in service to the mission as core concepts to apply to our work going forward.

Our confidence in this way of thinking about our work was bolstered by what we were seeing out in the field. For example, our concerted efforts in older industrial cities over the past several years has helped us see how critically important it is to initiate change from several angles-be that helping those who are building community voice in an impoverished neighborhood, or working with the mayor to see a new vision for transit-oriented development, or being an ally to local foundations who want partners to help build momentum toward change. Or in New Orleans, a place where we have been working intensively for the past several years, and where we have seen that the incredible cultural roots of the city have galvanized interest in the city's social, economic, and political renewal at a level that simply isn't possible in most places. Or even in our longstanding work on national transportation reform, where we've seen a remarkable uptick in interest and support because people are beginning to see that transportation systems really are the backbone of the community, and that if we get transportation wrong we will never be able to achieve the kind of equitable, vibrant and economically prosperous community we aspire to build.

To reflect our understanding of a just and sustainable community as one that must be built on an interconnected set of systems, we are launching three new program areas-Sustainable Environments, Strong Local Economies, and Thriving Cultures. These programs replace the five programs that have been in place at Surdna over the past decade, though we will be integrating several elements of our former programs into these new programs. While reflective of the accomplishments of the Foundation over the past 92 years, the new programs represent the start of an exciting new era in our work.

While many of our longstanding grantees will continue to be important partners in our work, we will be exploring work with many new grantees through these new program areas, and all of our grantmaking recommendations will be guided by our new mission to foster just and sustainable communities. In addition, we will continue to make a series of grants to support the important non-profit community infrastructure that serves foundations and non-profits alike.

Work is ongoing at the Foundation to sharpen our grantmaking strategies within and across the new programs, and as new grantmaking guidelines are developed over the next several months, they will be posted on our revamped Web site, www.surdna.org.

The work we have chosen to undertake at Surdna, helping those who are building the communities of tomorrow, is essential to the future prosperity of our society. We will not sit by and watch as our atmosphere is forever altered due to our unfettered consumption of fossil fuels, as the poor in our communities get left farther behind, or as innovation is stifled by the interests of the status quo. But overcoming these challenges will take much more than the efforts of the Surdna Foundation. Our success depends on the highly effective institutions and people we work together with. We look forward to facing the future with partners like you at our side.

Sincerely,

Phillip Henderson
President

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