President's Letter from the 2008 Annual Report:

At the moment our country, and the Midwest in particular, face a host of challenges, many of which are rooted in the most serious economic downturn since World War II. Devastated communities, historically high unemployment rates, declining incomes, and spiraling foreclosures are painful reminders of these challenges. Under such circumstances, it would be easy to be pessimistic about our ongoing efforts to close the black-white achievement gap in our schools, reduce gun violence, save the environment, and retrain and find jobs for displaced workers. After all, one might ask, how can we hope to make progress on these and other tough issues when the deck seems stacked against us?

But there are good reasons for optimism. For example, Washington has become more open to new ideas and strategies; the national leaders are reaching out aggressively to the nation’s sprawling nonprofit sector for policy expertise and proposed solutions. At the state level too, governors and legislatures are turning increasingly to foundation-supported policy research and development groups in their efforts to balance budgets without further burdening those most in need of state services. In short, the idea that failure is not an option is very much alive, and that’s good news. More...