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Letter from the CEO

While we cannot control the volatility of the worldwide financial markets, we are serious about taking ownership of the future of our community. Thus, we begin a new era in philanthropy with the creation of The Fund for the San Joaquin Valley.

For those of you who may have missed the Fresno Bee articles and editorial the week of October 24, 2011, The James Irvine Foundation announced a $3 million grant to the Fresno Regional Foundation. With this grant, we have created The Fund for the San Joaquin Valley.

Each year we will make substantial grants from The Fund to a few organizations who we believe can bring about positive changes for the Valley’s most critical issues. More importantly, we plan to grow The Fund into a $20 million endowment. Such a fund will be large enough to sustain annual grantmaking of at least $1 million a year forever.

I am attaching Partnering for a Stronger Valley, a speech delivered by James Canales, CEO of the James Irvine Foundation, at our 45th anniversary luncheon. It is worth reading because Jim’s comments capture so much about the challenges and hopes of our Valley.

In conclusion, all of us here at the Fresno Regional Foundation are pleased with what has been accomplished. And we are extremely confident that, with your continued support, we can fulfill our mission of improving the quality of life in the Central Valley through philanthropy, far beyond any previous expectations.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Dan DeSantis, CEO
Fresno Regional Foundation

40-year Reflections

• Letter from the CEO
• 1966-1972: Reflections of Integrity
• 1973-1997: Reflections of Vision
• 1998-2000: Reflections of Inclusion
• 2001-2004: Reflections of Stewardship
• 2005-Present: Reflections of Excellence

History in multimedia

Watch our new online video and learn more about the Foundation.