a message
from our founders

What does it take to change the lives of millions of impoverished kids? Heroism alone isn’t enough. Neither are dollars. But we know that transformation is possible. That’s why we started this work in 1999.

Since that time, we’ve partnered with more than 650 organizations working to improve health and educational outcomes for children worldwide. In our first year of operations, our giving totaled just over $580,000. In 2010, our grants and program-related investments totaled almost $96 million, while the foundation’s total committed giving since 1999 reached over $730 million. And as our grantmaking has increased, the global environment we work in has changed as well.

In the second decade of the 21st century, it’s no longer sufficient to fund established, low-risk or local institutions. Our philanthropic role in 2010 was to do what the market couldn’t. It was to incubate promising new approaches that needed time and support to prove themselves out and become self-sustaining. It was to extend the immediate impact of best practices from the field so we can help more children every day. And it was to foster cross-sector partnerships among non-profits, governments and businesses to achieve greater impact.

Above all, it was to hold all players, including ourselves, accountable for measurable results while also maintaining the long view of the ongoing efforts required to achieve lasting change.

We aren’t naïve about the challenges we all face in this work. We know that some efforts will fail, while others won’t grow as we’d hoped. But we also know that if we partner well, invest wisely, actively learn from our efforts and remain open to new ideas, we’ll continue to find far-reaching solutions in surprising places.

 Michael and Susan Dell