Welcome from the Chair and the President
September 2007

Dear Friends,

Synergos has historically operated as a bridging organization, bringing people together across divides to address issues of poverty, equity and social justice.

Throughout 2006, Synergos has brought together networks of individual philanthropists, community-based organizations, foundations, government agencies and businesses -- all of whom share a commitment to helping people who are denied the most basic of rights: the opportunity to build a better life. At the same time we've sought to clarify how we could best be of service to our partners in the years ahead and have launched initiatives aimed at strengthening our own operations, culture and organization.

We are happy to report that this was a year of progress on all of these fronts. It has also been a time of considerable learning for us.

Working with the Bhavishya Alliance, an NGO Synergos helped to establish in India, we have launched pilot programs to reduce child malnutrition in a group of rural villages and a large, underserved neighborhood in the state of Maharashtra. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, 20 community foundations in both countries are working together on vital regional issues such as youth leadership development, family asset building, and public health. In Southern Africa, Synergos staff members have helped promote social justice philanthropy, convened and facilitated networks of local grantmakers, and supported organizations working to secure the constitutional rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

In Brazil, we have strengthened newly formed community foundations in Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis and supported groups promoting philanthropy and the rights of women, children and slum dwellers. We took members of our Global Philanthropists Circle on learning journeys to Lebanon and India, helped them to become more strategic in their giving, and organized important workshops on evaluation and social justice philanthropy. Our Senior Fellows have launched an initiative to work in teams, addressing regional, global and topical issues of importance to civil society leaders.

For more detail on these and other accomplishments, please see our 2006 Annual Report (PDF).

We have also been doing a lot of listening. Our goal was to learn how we could more effectively support those who are denied basic human rights or services, or who lack the opportunity to participate in civic life. As a result of these conversations, we have crafted a new vision statement for Synergos, codified our organizational values and identified the organizational strengths we wish to build on and acquire in the future.

All of this work culminated in early 2007 when Synergos decided to emphasize the importance of our global networks, promote and support cross-sector approaches to changing the systems that impact poverty and equity, and create a knowledge resource center. We also plan to establish an internal unit focused on program evaluation to help us be more accountable. Internally, during 2006, Synergos developed better financial and management systems and disciplines that have significantly improved our balance sheet. We've enhanced our information technology, moved into space that has facilitated greater internal communication and collaboration and have begun to take greater advantage of the considerable talents of our diverse staff.

We are taking steps to make Synergos a more transparent and accountability-focused organization. You'll see more progress on this front in the years ahead.

It's not possible to talk about Synergos without making explicit reference to the extraordinary group of people from every part of the world and all walks of life that constitutes the "Synergos family." These innovators, social investors, communitybased leaders, business executives and social entrepreneurs, government officials, thought leaders and friends care about this organization, inspire and inform its work, teach us, criticize us and make it possible for us to be of service.

Sincerely,

With best wishes,

 
Past Messages
Chair and President's Welcome July 2006
Chair's Message July 2001
Chair's Message 1999