May 2, 2023
The Annual Report you are about to read recaps the year that was 2022, and our team stepped up in remarkable ways - working together to emerge from a global pandemic, raising more than $75 million and making $84 million in grants to approximately 2,400 nonprofit organizations. We remain ranked among the nation's 20 largest community foundations by asset size, and in a year when the S&P 500 was down 18.1 percent, our endowment return was down only 10.6 percent, which ranked in the top quartile of endowments nationwide.Most importantly, in 2022, we were laser focused on ways to aid Rhode Islanders who have been historically marginalized, and those struggling to make ends meet - by battling inequity, hunger, surging housing prices, educational gaps, behavioral health challenges, economic insecurity, and more, through our grantmaking and civic leadership efforts.The year 2022 also launched the Foundation into an exciting time of transition. While our dedicated staff, under the inspired leadership of Neil Steinberg, stayed focused on fundraising and grantmaking, the Board of Directors took on the search for the Foundation's next President and CEO. After a thoughtful, thorough national search that included significant community input, our next President and CEO, David Cicilline, was unanimously appointed.Times of transition can be both exciting and challenging. Committed to continuity, we are stewards of a 107-year-old legacy of generosity and impact. We have flourished though more than one global pandemic, economic ups and downs, war times, and times of peace and prosperity, a continuous source of hope and a community resource. We will continue to be so.We are humbled by the generosity of our donors and the incredible dedication of our nonprofit partners, and we know you will feel the same as you read through these pages.
