From the Chair
The term “foundation” refers to a charitable or nonprofit organization that makes grants in support of causes and activities that contribute to the public good. More generally, of course, the word describes the durable structure upon which something can be built.
The Teagle Foundation is indeed a “foundation” in both senses of the word. We are a nonprofit organization that makes grants, mostly though not exclusively to colleges and universities, to help strengthen liberal education and the teaching of the humanities. But we also aspire to be a strong base of support upon which the future of higher education and indeed of democratic society can securely rest.
The initiatives we fund grow out of our belief that important ideas well taught can change the lives of students for the better and help create a stronger civic culture. As our president, Andrew Delbanco, notes in his annual report, the work of the Teagle Foundation has never been more important because the challenges facing colleges and universities in the United States have never been greater. Some of these challenges—high cost, slowness to change, disconnection from local communities—are of their own making and should provoke serious self-examination. Many others have been created either by exogenous events like a global pandemic and a catastrophic war in the Middle East or by federal and state governments that have threatened both the finances of higher education and the principle of academic freedom central to teaching and learning.
While a foundation of Teagle’s size of course cannot solve these problems, it can, in small but meaningful ways, contribute to their solution. We believe that creating opportunities for students to engage with challenging texts and diverse perspectives, guided by skilled teachers, is at the core of a rigorous liberal education. We seek to make such an education more accessible to more students. And we believe that students exposed to such an education will not just benefit personally, but will in turn benefit the local and national communities of which they are a part.
Programs including Cornerstone: Learning for Living, Knowledge for Freedom, and Civics in the City are efforts to turn that belief into effective action.
In the end, it is not the Teagle Foundation, but its many extraordinary grantees who are enriching every day the lives of students. To all of them, I want to express my gratitude, and to all who read this note, I want to offer the reminder that change often happens not all at once, but gradually through many small acts by individuals and groups that cumulatively build to a powerful, even unstoppable force.
--Brian Rosenberg, Chair