“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” -John Wooden
To all of our VNA Foundation partners,
During these alarming times, we wanted to reach out with a message of solidarity.
We are listening to you. We recently concluded 34 reporting conversations with our grantee partners, and in each of those discussions we asked how the changing priorities at the federal level are affecting you and the people you serve. We have compiled a record of these responses, which we’ve called “Timely Challenges,” since they are occurring in addition to the ongoing challenges that all of you face to meet your critical missions, regardless of the changing political landscape, and you can find that list here. We have scrubbed the names of the reporting organizations from this list, but if you read through the commentary from dozens of human service providers, you will see the recurrent and disturbing themes that we are hearing directly from you, our partners. We take any threats to your work, and the people you serve in our community, very seriously, and we stand arm-in-arm with you as we navigate this chaotic time together.
We are lifting up your stories. Like many of you, we have been involved these past several weeks in a litany of emergency meetings to learn about and discuss funding freezes, executive orders, and proposed and actual cuts. If your heads are spinning, you’re not alone. We are sharing what we’re hearing from you (see “timely challenges” list above) with other funders in the region through our involvement with Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, and we are lifting up these issues in outreach to legislators, including in a message today strongly discouraging cuts to Medicaid.
We are changing as little as possible. As many of you know, we launched our Spring 2025 Grants cycle last month, with a due-date of March 31. We left the application form virtually unchanged from last year in order to reduce your workload in the grantwriting process, not because we think the issues you are facing are the same. We know that you are facing innumerable challenges in this environment, and that those challenges are evolving every day. We are a small foundation, so our funding is not sufficient to replace large government contracts, but we are dedicated to making every grant dollar flexible and useful to your actual needs. We want you to be assured that we are tracking the threats to your work and the people you serve, and we are trying to remain a consistent and trusted partner to you in the midst of all this chaos and confusion.
In all, we just offer at this moment a message of concern, commitment, and deep, abiding appreciation for the incredible work that you and your teams do every day. You show care and compassion to those who need help, setting an example that is sorely needed right now in our society. You have our respect and our support, and we thank you for persevering through these troubled times. We are with you.
Best,
Diana, Joanne and the Board of VNA Foundation