Annual letter to supporters

January 2006

Dear Friends,

We are happy to report that the Dewan Foundation had an extremely active and very successful year in 2005.

Spending for grants and contributions totaled $120,264 for the year, the largest amount for any year since the inception of the Foundation. We made grants to 32 different organizations. Fifteen of these received a Dewan Foundation grant for the first time. Grant spending increased by over 35% from 2004 in large part because of our Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort. With the generous financial support of friends and colleagues, the Foundation identified and initiated a relationship with two schools and two other educational organizations working in the Gulf Region impacted by the hurricane. We made grants of $35,500 to help them re-supply, re-build, re-open and address the long-term literacy and development needs of children in the area. We hope to conclude the project with two additional grants early this year.

The Foundation actively assisted inner-city Catholic schools in Chicago. Through our Special Project for Spanish Language Children’s Books, we negotiated the purchase of 1,100 books at a deep discount and arranged for their distribution to four elementary schools that have dual language programs or wanted to involve non-English speaking parents in reading to their young children. St. Pius V School in the Pilsen neighborhood completed the Reading Challenge Project. The 216 students there read 4,000 books for the project and impressed staff with their stellar mathematical skills at an impromptu “baseball arithmetic quiz” at the project’s concluding celebration. Working through long-time friends of the Foundation, we connected Our Lady of Grace School to a corporate donor that installed 30 newer computers in the school’s aging technology lab. We reached out to Catholic educators on the Archdiocesan Development Council through a presentation on the Dewan Foundation’s work at a session convened in March at Dominican University. As we have done each year since 2001, the Foundation participated in the Lend a Shoulder Day activity of the Chicago Archdiocese Big Shoulders Program.

Three groups participated in the Take Me Out to the Ball Game Project. With the generous support of the Chicago White Sox, we were able to provide an incentive trip for young people who were persevering in summer school or being rewarded for their diligence throughout the school year. Groups from Family Matters, Cornerstone Academy and Horizons for Youth each enjoyed an all expense paid trip to the ballpark and received a small grant from the Foundation.

We coordinated arrangements to utilize the facilities at Camp Dewan for two groups during the year. The MercyWorks Volunteer Program at the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls held a fall staff retreat. Breakthrough Urban Ministries held a three-day youth development summer meeting for their Extra Mile College Preparation Program.

It was an active year for our in-kind support of Mission Honduras. The Foundation developed the script for the mission’s annual fundraising video. We assisted mission staff with weekend fundraising appeals at three churches over the summer. The Foundation coordinated scheduling and arrangements for the Mission Honduras Volunteer Program. Over the course of the year, 27 mission teams (representing 400 people) made the trip to Central America for short-term project work. Forty individuals also went to Honduras, some for extended service commitments of several months. We produced an evaluation report on the volunteer program drawn from a survey developed by the Foundation and collected from returning teams throughout the year. In conjunction with mission staff, we planned and organized the first strategic planning retreat for the Mission Honduras Advisory Group. This weekend meeting at Camp Dewan drew in a dozen key supporters from coast to coast to determine an action agenda for financial support and improved communications for Mission Honduras.

Our grant writing work in support of a few select organizations had mixed results. Although funders declined several of our proposals, awards for funded projects totaled $47,500. We will try again in 2006.

In 2006 we plan to continue grant support of agencies that help the homeless re-connect with employment and stable housing in Chicago. We will also provide funds to organizations helping people in poverty overseas to help themselves through various educational and economic development efforts. With an increasing number of requests for assistance, grant decisions are sure to be a challenge.

We are anxious to take on this work. We are most grateful to our friends and supporters for their ongoing encouragement and interest.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors
John and Susan Dewan Foundation