The Year That Was, and the Year That Will Be

By Lisa Pilar Cowan

Vice President

Over the last two years the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation has launched a network, grown our grantmaking, joined several national funding collaboratives, been a founding member of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, created an evaluation system, redecorated our office, brought on new board members, updated our website and started a blog. And, of course, survived the great broken air conditioner fiasco of 2019. It was a lot of work, which took a lot of effort from our staff of five and a group of trusted and valued consultants.

Also during the past two years, our five person staff has collectively lost two parents, had a baby, dealt with serious illnesses in close family members, sent two kids off to college, one to Kindergarten, applied to high school, bought a house, sustained burst water pipes, and seen good friends through crises. All of this all as we live through some of the most stressful political times on record.

We have done some great work in finding and supporting organizations, bringing committed New Yorkers together to address the issues that impact economic mobility, and advocating for trust-based philanthropy. We have also screwed up – missing deadlines, having to leave critical meetings in the middle, miscommunicating with grantees, and not getting back to allies in a timely manner.

All of us, and all of you, make our way through our work lives and personal lives at the same time – with intense demands coming from both places. The way we are making it work here at the Foundation is by trusting each other, trying to communicate about what we are dealing with at home and at work, making space for both, and admitting that we are not the most important people in the world – if we fail to make it to a meeting, no lives will be lost. And perhaps most importantly, we are trying to talk honestly about and learn from both our successes and our mistakes.

As we come to the start of this new year, and get a little sentimental about the end of the last one – we are grateful to each other and to all of you for the hard work, for the wins and for the mistakes that teach us.

The days are starting to get a little longer again, and we welcome the light, as we welcome all of you into our work and our lives. We look forward to a productive and collaborative 2020.

Happy New Year,

Daisy, Alicia, Brooke, Lisa and Phil