A Year in Review: 2019 Annual Letter

Connecting the dots

In my last annual letter, I explained how FY2018  was a year of reflection. We collected our learnings of the past 15 years and dug deeper. Recently, we chose to share some of our insights via #TellMeMore letter series by Bob Conconi. Now, looking back to FY2019, it was a year of NEXTs. 

Insights

As a funder we want to drive impact. In the process of “impacting” how do we ensure we are solving for the pressing needs in our community and directing capital to where it can really make a difference? How do we check our own privilege, assumptions and biases? The questions we wanted to answer: How might we take our work forward? What to keep, what to fix and what to shed.

• Keeping: our identity, our origin story, our raison d’etre. After 15 years of operating as a Foundation, our WHY has become more grounded.
• Fixing: clarity and communication. We understand that our work carries a certain power dynamic and our intention is to hold ourselves open, aware and accountable. Our HOW is shifting more towards transparency.
• Shedding: being all things to all people all the time. Our WHAT has become more focused and clear.

What to Expect

We have a dynamic year ahead, and one thing in particular I’d light to highlight.  Coming up in October 2019 , along with our partners we will host the 3rd TransForm Conference here in Vancouver. The forum will bring together European and Canadian people with lived expertise, healthcare and social services organizations, community organizations, and policy makers. Our goal is to continue a dialogue on Integrated Community Care. How might we put to practice a better solution to challenges in our communities?

I also want to remind everyone that FY2020 will see us wrap up our current Grant Cycle focused on Children and Youth. It is a bitter-sweet feeling, and you will see us share more  of the journey and impact to date. At the same time, we are gearing up for our Next 7 Year Grant Cycle. This time we will focus our attention on the aging population. We are still in the listening and information gathering stage and will slowly be approaching organizations for potential partnering. 

If you are curious where our journey will take us, please follow us on Social Media.

All our best,

Sanja and the Conconi Family Foundation

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConconiFndn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertlconconifoundation/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conconifamilyfoundation/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-l-conconi-foundation