CHAIR’S MESSAGE
CHRIS HILDRETH, ROOSTER MEDIA
This past year has been one of significant challenges, and The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has admired how nonprofits have responded with creativity and innovation to the hard realities created and exposed by the pandemic. As COVID-19 took hold, the foundation realized we, too, needed to change to be a better partner with the diverse communities we support, through adapting to the circumstances and changing our grantmaking. In the early weeks of the pandemic, we began looking for ways to help. I’m proud we could pivot and provide critically needed operating funds to help organizations survive. Increasing our impact has been my driving goal as chair—and this year gave us a huge opportunity to do that. You can find details on our COVID-19 response and new grantmaking processes in the pages of this report. As I step down from four years as chair and six on the board, I am reflecting on how much we changed. We redefined our brand, clarifying both our role within the community and our direction. We created a new website that gives grantees and partners greater insight into our impact and goals. We welcomed new organizations to the fold, such as El Vínculo Hispano/The Hispanic Liaison, NorthStar Church of the Arts, and Women’s Theatre Festival. Most important, we transformed our grantmaking, zeroing in on the Triangle and launching multi-year grants—a radical shift in how we work.
MDBF Trustees and Administration: Left to right: Lois Deloatch, Ben Jones, Chris Harris (Chair), Mimi O’Brien (Executive Director), Todd Walker, Allison Haltom, Russell Bryan and Joe Lucas.
We also expanded our impact by partnering with the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust on several important grants. Together we supported the innovative, three-year “Reimagining Arts Education” project at Duke University. While COVID-19 prevented performances and residencies from taking place as planned, the initiative has engaged local dancers, musicians, and filmmakers as well as K-12 learners. This collaborative,
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