2018 Annual Report

Download our 2018 Annual Report

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Letter from Sharon Prince, President & Founder

We invite you to read our 2018 Grace Farms Foundation annual report, illustrating our unique approach to catalyze change in the world through Grace Farms and our five initiatives—nature, arts, justice, community, and faith.

Our distinct interdisciplinary approach in addressing complex and difficult matters can accelerate action and progress. For example, our Justice and Nature initiatives built an effective wildlife protection training and advocacy model for combating wildlife trafficking and transnational organized crime, which contributed to dismantling two wildlife trafficking syndicates operating out of Central Africa.

These types of collaborations lead to hopeful progress, particularly when the matter at hand is painful and troubling – as it is when our Justice Initiative confronts the reality of human trafficking, even right here in our own backyard. It’s challenging to disrupt human trafficking, the second largest global criminal network. But once you know, you cannot un-know it.

At the beginning of 2018, it was encouraging to receive the Governor’s Patron of the Arts Award that recognized the River building as the first expression of art at Grace Farms—one that has inspired numerous other site-responsive works. The preeminent Meredith Monk and visionary Julianne Swartz were among the many visual, literary, and performing artists who incubated new works that generated new perspectives here last year.

In a time where government resources for not-for-profits are dwindling, we offered 32 Space Grants for not-for-profit organizations to benefit from our working space and intersectional roundtables. The Space Grants and roundtables serve as a forum for people to hear from experts, ask questions about the challenges they face, and discuss practical steps toward building positive change within their communities.

Opening up dialogue across faiths in our pluralistic society is paramount to creating grace and peace in the world. With Michelle Boorstein from The Washington Post and Wajahat Ali, a contributor to CNN and The New York Times, we created a discussion this past summer about how faith is portrayed in the media.

So, I invite you to support our work using your wherewithal and for those who have not yet visited Grace Farms, I invite you take a River Walk and join us in this hopeful, inclusive space where restorative work flourishes.

Strength together,

Sharon Prince
President & Founder, Grace Farms Foundation