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Full Circle Fund’s Board of Directors with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus
November 2008 | Photo by Gene X. Hwang, Orange Photography

As we reflect on Full Circle Fund’s 2008 milestones, we can’t help but look forward to another successful year in 2009. Our communities need strong, inspired, leaders as they face new challenges, and our nonprofit grant partners need our support more than ever. Now is exactly the time when our model can be the most effective because it leverages time and talent. To this end, we welcome a year focused on impact and cultivating a strong community of leaders as well as focusing on our own long-term sustainably during these tough economic times.

In 2008, the nation gathered together under a banner of change and innovation; here at Full Circle Fund, we were no different! Most significantly, we expanded beyond the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time with the launch of our Global Economic Opportunity Circle at our 2008 Forum and welcomed two new circle co-chairs, Sarah Wigglesworth and Pamela Hawley. With the leadership of our Circle Chairs, Vice Chairs, Coordinators, Project Leads, Grant Cycle Coordinators and our effective engaged philanthropy model, we also had three successful grant cycles and added ten new grant projects in our Education, Environment, and Technology Circles. The Environment Circle, launched in November 2007 at our Forum with Al Gore, has now ramped up to 55 members. To boost our capacity for community impact, we added 52 new members, 12 Community Fellows, and three new staff (now a total of 6) – Amber Milner, Kari Nathon, and Wendy Wittmann, all since January of last year. Also in 2008, we welcomed two new board members - Robin Joy and Stephen Dodson – both long-time members and project leaders within the Education Circle.

Continuing our mission of cultivating community leaders, we energized a crowd of 550 leaders to make a difference at our 2008 Forum. The evening featured keynote speaker Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. Also, Full Circle Fund continued our tradition of excellent member programming throughout the year featuring high-caliber speakers: Angel Investor Ron Conway, Premal Shah - President of Kiva.org, Elizabeth Funk - Board Chair of Unitus, Peter Sims, author of New York Times bestselling book, True North, and many more.

In 2008, The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund recognized Full Circle Fund as a leader in the cultivation of the next generation of philanthropists and awarded us a $150,000 capacity building grant. Full Circle Fund is in a strong state ready to continue to take on new challenges in 2009 thanks to the incredibly generous support of our many investors, including but not limited to, Geoff Yang, the Legacy Works Foundation, JaMel and Tom Perkins, John Morgridge, Dick Levy, and Linda and Jon Gruber as well as corporate partners such as PG&E, Deloitte, Cooley Godward Kronish, Wachovia, Morgan Stanley, Union Bank, and California Teachers Association. We realize that 2008 was a time of great economic turmoil and can’t thank our partners and investors enough for their continued support. We also want to express our sincere appreciation to Full Circle Fund members who stepped up their contribution in 2008: Kirsten Green, Mark Jacobstein, Michael Millman, Scott Pofcher, Brian Rogers, Fred Schnider, Marco Sgroi, Mark Sugarman, Bob Tinker, Sarah Wigglesworth, and Michael Wolfe.

It’s now more important than ever to continue our work as a strong community of leaders coming together under a common commitment to lasting social change as we ride out these turbulent economic times. Please stay tuned throughout the year, as we plan to bring you more measurable results, community events, and organizational milestones as we work towards solving pressing social problems in the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and continued support,
The Board of Directors of Full Circle Fund

Posted in Board, special announcement