Year in Review 2021

 

A first edition

As the McConnell Foundation celebrates its 85th year, we are grateful for the vision and generosity of J.W. McConnell, whose original gift has allowed us to continue to work in partnership with many organizations to advance a resilient, inclusive and sustainable society that can successfully address its complex challenges. With this privilege comes many responsibilities, including reviewing our vision and strategy on a regular basis and adapting to remain relevant to our times. We are still learning and evolving, and this publication is part of that journey. After more than eight decades in operation, we are trying something new. Welcome to our first-ever Year in Review!

In these pages, we shine a light on the work of our partners and share an overview of our finances for 2021, including both our charitable giving ($30M) and impact investments ($130M). The responsible management of our investments allows us to continue to disburse funds to support our partners each year.

Transparency and accountability are of growing importance for our sector; in that spirit, this review also provides an overview of our commitments and an update on targets we have agreed to meet.

A woman smiling with a girl on her back, wrapping her hands around her shoulders; the McConnell hub is in the background.

Shining a light on our partners

We are pleased to share spotlight stories of a few of the over 400 amazing organizations we partnered with last year. Some of these partnerships are new, others are in the later stages of multi-year projects. All are improving lives in their communities and addressing the root causes of some of the greatest challenges faced in our society today. We also encourage you to visit our funding database to learn more about the Foundation’s current and past partnerships, who are all having a positive impact in their communities across the country.

Finally, in our ongoing effort to be more accessible in everything we do, we have designed this report to be fully compatible with screen readers and compliant with accessibility standards.

We hope this review offers insight into the work of McConnell, serves to amplify the impacts of our partners, and provides clarity on the steps we are taking to bring our practices into even greater alignment with our mission and vision.

Read the Review