Archived Biennial Reports

 It can be useful for an individual to take a good, hard look in the mirror every so often, and evaluate the physical manifestations of the passage of time. While such an exercise can be painful, it also can be enlightening if we consider the reasons for each hard-earned gray hair.

Over the past two years, as the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation entered its second decade of active grant making, it took several glimpses at itself in the metaphorical mirror. The "grays," while few and far between, provided valuable insights into where the Foundation has been, and where it can go.

The Foundation's exercises in self-evaluation led to the implementation of several changes during the course of these two years.

First, we made a commitment to using the Council on Foundations Stewardship Principles for Family Foundations to ensure that we do the very best we can for our grantees and our family. As part of that commitment, we conducted an internal assessment of our practices and policies, learning that though, as a family, we came "wired" for many of the best practices there was room for some improvement.

We also conducted Grantee Perception Surveys that both reaffirmed our strengths and offered ideas about how we could better serve our grantees and their fields.

Two years ago we completed an evaluation of the Foundation's learning disabilities program. Insights we gleaned through that exercise prompted us to shift to a new strategy focused on teacher training and early childhood education.

We recently wrapped up our assessment of the Foundation's environment program, and have made refinements to our global warming and open space work. At this time we are evaluating the results from the Grantee Perception Survey, and will be making further improvements to the environment program as that information becomes available.

With the Marketplace Empowerment for Artists (MEA) program in its third year and the fifth round of Exhibition Awards underway, the Foundation's arts program is just entering its period of evaluation, which along with its Grantee Perception Survey will inform its future work.

Through the work of our Associates Program, our next generation has deepened its engagement in the work of the Foundation and the world of grantmaking. Over the past two years, an increasing number of Third Generation Associates (G3s) have begun participating actively on committees, bringing their expertise, energy, and insights to our work. In this regard, the G3s have moved from training to transition, as they gain the experience and knowledge necessary to assume leadership roles in the future.

Three G3s are beginning their second year as Associate Board members and bring a very important perspective to the discussions and decision-making process. As we move forward with plans to grow their board responsibilities while increasing the number of G3s on the Board, communication will be crucial to our goal of moving ahead together with strength.

Recognition of our staff's excellence is much more important to me than its position at the end of this letter might suggest. We are extremely fortunate to have four highly capable, nimble, curious, and flexible staff members who all take our work very seriously -- an observation echoed in the results of the Grantee Perception Survey. Under the steady guidance of Stewart Hudson and with sound fiscal management and a lean administrative budget we have been able to both meet and increase funding for our programs while doing the research and reflection with staff, committees, and board to broaden, deepen and refine our grantmaking.

Return to the 2004-2005 Biennial Report Table of Contents.