founding beliefs

While Mertz Gilmore’s focus areas have shifted over the decades, our driving beliefs about supporting change have not. The Foundation has always believed that emergent ideas that come from community–when supported through grantmaking and other means–can change the course of history. We have supported the cutting edge over the course of our history, investing in the ideas and solutions devoted to bringing us forward into a more just world, despite not yet being in the mainstream. This leading edge place that addresses both current and future needs is often where change begins to be be possible, and where many of our grantees devote their creative energy.

As the Foundation considered future grantmaking, the founders recognized that no one could foresee the future. As LuEsther put it, future generations “should not be led by the dead hand from the grave.” When the founding members passed, this sentiment allowed the organization’s leadership to respond to urgent concerns of the day–from supporting early global warming data and responding to the AIDS crisis, to the Oslo Accords and immigrant rights movements.

In 1994, the Foundation’s Board of Directors built on the founders’ expressed beliefs with the following statement:

“ … the foundation has been fortunate to have a founding legacy, which the current board and staff understand, that change rarely comes in neat packages. While recognizing the need to be clear about desired ends, we also know that there may be unexpected problems and unanticipated consequences, as well as surprising victories. Efforts aimed at improving the human condition take time, experimentation, and a willingness to accept the unpredictable. Real work, worth doing, requires a patient and humble devotion to learning and adjusting alongside the grantees.”

Over the decades, the Foundation has sought to honor the legacy of the founders by maintaining commitments to core values and priorities while also consistently seeking to adapt in order to address present day needs and opportunities. The foundation has always held true to Robert Gilmore’s progressive Quaker ethics of equality and integrity, believing that no individual is more deserving of rights and respect than anyone else