Dear Friends, 

There is a typical cadence to these end of year nonprofit letters. If we are playing to form, we would thank you for your support, share some of our accomplishments, preview the new year, and express our gratitude and hopefulness.

Yes, we are grateful.

Yes, we are going to share some of our accomplishments.

Yes, we are excited about the opportunities of 2020.

But these are not typical times, and 2020 will not be a typical year. Someone mentioned to me recently that they don’t believe in stasis. In a complex world, where every action has a reaction, it is impossible to maintain the status quo. People, projects, and organizations are always in flux. For more than six decades, The A.J. Fletcher Foundation has been reacting to the needs of our community. As we look forward to 2020, our organization and our community must adapt to the changing times. To that end, here is what you can expect from us in the new year:

First, we are going to talk less and listen more. There is an old saying that goes “we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.” While it is important for foundations like ours to tell our story, it is more important that we listen to the stories of others. You will probably see less of us on social media. But we are going to use the extra staff bandwidth to facilitate more face-to-face encounters. We are recommitting ourselves to dialog over monologue.

Second, we are going to dig deep into existing projects. In 2019, we were privileged to be a part of some of the most important and significant projects in our foundation’s history. We worked hard with the Southeast Raleigh Promise, YMCA, Wake County Public Schools, and DHIC to create a beacon site for innovative services in SE Raleigh. We supported the creation of Dorothea Dix Park; the launching of the Durham Food Pantry; the opening of  Oak City Cares; the expansion of Healing Transitions. And, of course, we were behind the Fletcher Academy as they sought to expand and improve their operations. These big projects extend well beyond Fletcher Foundation’s efforts, but we were happy to play our part. In 2020, we will continue to support these (and other) projects; with financial grants, technical expertise, connections to others, and opportunities to share.

Third, we are going to take our civic responsibility seriously. These contentious and polarizing times make us want to throw up our hands in disgust and walk away. While it might be tempting to exit the public square, it is incumbent on all of us to deeply engage in civic conversations. The nonprofit sector must be thoughtful and unrelenting. Nonprofits have a unique vantage point to see what is happening. We witness first-hand the results of public policy decisions.  A.J. Fletcher Foundation’s support for fact-based journalism and research from organizations like WUNC, The Hussmann School of Journalism at UNC, The NC Justice Center and others is one way we can contribute to a healthy information ecosystem and better civic discourse.

Lastly, we are going to laugh as much as we can. When your job is to improve human lives, foster education, and combat poverty the work can be very serious. While we never want to make light of the challenges we face; we will do our best not to take ourselves too seriously. Organizations (like the humans that create them) are contradictory, messy, wonderful, silly and constantly striving. We work hard. Sometimes we will succeed, other times we will fail. But through it all, we recognize that life is painfully short and ridiculously absurd. Sometimes it just makes sense to laugh. 😉

We all have much to do next year. I look forward to seeing you in 2020 and thank you for all you do.
 

Sincerely, 

Damon Circosta 
Executive Director