Leadership Letter

We are driven by an intent to connect our learning to our actions while keeping the needs of our partners and communities we serve at the core of all we do.

Our focus this year revolved around the fundamental principles that guide our work. We took a close look at how we were living out our new core strategic approaches to assess how well we are advancing our mission and vision. We reflected on our programmatic work and evaluated our effectiveness in driving progress in our intended systems. We examined our key capabilities, ensuring our internal practices and competencies enabled our organizational and programmatic strategies. We sought to understand not only how we performed but also the impact we made and the positive changes (or lack thereof) experienced by the communities we serve.

A significant highlight of 2023 was the transformation in our learning and evidence approach. We made strategic changes that enabled us to better understand and apply knowledge and data as a funder and community partner. Our approach to data collection and analysis was multifaceted. We conducted learning sessions internally and externally, fostering increased collaboration and shared insights across our teams and partners. We also engaged in ongoing conversations with our partners and utilized data from surveys, including ones conducted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy, to understand our effectiveness and ongoing community needs.

That data confirms that our partners are overall pleased with how we are showing up in partnership with them. While we are celebrating the progress and achievements noted in this report, we also acknowledge the need for continuous improvement. We received helpful feedback on how we can be more effective partners. We plan to implement partner recommendations such as additional multiyear funding and more frequent interactions in the year ahead.

We understand that our work is not static. It must evolve alongside the needs of our partners and communities we serve. We are taking steps to refine our approaches to capture, understand, and apply our learnings and outcomes more effectively. We are committed to remaining adaptable, centering our proximity experts, and collaborating with them to identify sustainable solutions. In the coming year, we will therefore build upon our learning efforts to ensure that our impact as a funder leads to meaningful outcomes for young children and their families.

We know that this data offers just a snapshot of our progress. In the year ahead we intend to engage and share more as we go. Please therefore join us in continued learning and conversation by following us on social media and subscribing to our news alerts (www.bainumfdn.org). We look forward to working with all of you to further our mission and create lasting, positive change in the lives of those we serve.

Warm regards,

David Daniels
President and CEO