This publication is a first. That is, a first for us. It is Humanity United’s first performance report. In it you will find many of the elements found in traditional annual reports issued by foundations, such as a listing of grants, how those grants were disbursed by geography and strategy, and lots of similar information intended to provide a quick snapshot of our work over the course of the year.

But we hope this report does more than state the work that we have done. As a philanthropic organization, we believe we have a responsibility to ourselves, our founders and board of trustees, and to the public at large to be as transparent and accountable as we can be about the impact we are having and the lessons we are learning about our work.

In undertaking this report, we tried to ask some hard questions of ourselves: Are we achieving what we want to achieve? What are we learning and how are we using that knowledge to alter course when necessary? Is Humanity United helping to lead the field of philanthropy? How are we perceived by those we work with? Is our financial health sound? What about our organizational management?

Answering such questions is inherently difficult and challenging. As a small philanthropic organization, and one that primarily gives grants to others to execute work, assessing our impact is tricky. This publication represents our best attempt to do so. Like everything we do, it is a work in progress—and an area in which we seek continual improvement.

It is also important to note that, in our effort to capture the social impact of our work, we recognize that change takes time—years, if not decades. As such, in this 2011 report, we have chosen to highlight some outcomes of work that was started in previous years, the results of which have recently come to fruition.

As always, we welcome thoughts and feedback by email at [email protected].

Thank you for your interest in Humanity United.