On the eve of our 4th anniversary, the Valparaiso Foundation seems destined to achieve heights that even its founder's couldn't have imagined. The foundation has now consolidated 3 departments of action: culture, heritage, and tourism, with almost US $2 million dollars invested in approximately twenty projects.

The range of these projects is as diverse as the talent that imagined them, encompassing neighborhood renovation, cultural administration, preservation of the city's architectural treasures, job training for the poor, waterfront development, and pubic safety. In the cultural area, our foundation now runs one of the continent's most innovative film festivals, a budding jazz festival, and a national contest for emerging painters, just to name a few.

Who would have guessed, in 1998, that the foundation would be publishing an award-winning magazine for cruise ship passengers, training tour guides, intervening in public spaces, or championing new models of civil society in seminars and presentations all across Chile?

The list goes on and on.

Over a hundred articles in the Chilean and international press have highlighted to two major accomplishments: First that the foundation has played a pivotal role in transforming the way Chileans view Valparaiso; and second that our administrative model of pro-active sustainable civil society is contributing to a major cultural shift nation-wide.

Such accomplishments require the joint effort of a unique team of project managers, volunteers, consultants, corporate partners, and friends far and wide. Long gone are the days when the Valparaiso Foundation was seen as "the whimsical fancy of a romantic gringo." While maintaining a slim and efficient administrative core, today's Valparaiso Foundation has succeeded in reaching deep into the heart of the community, with partners all over the world, and institutional support from the private sector to the Presidential Palace.

Contrary to popular belief, such success is no accident. Nor is it the result of any special privileges available only to gringos. It is based on 5 basic principals:
1) A civic passion that refuses to subject the community's well being to political and ideological motives,
2) The diligence to import successful models of civil society from the 4 corners of the globe,
3) The audacity to create new programs in Valparaiso that bring the best of these technologies together in new ways,
4) The ability to create real, lasting friendships with donors, volunteers, employees and both corporate and public partners,
5) The discipline to maintain the highest standards of ethical transparency.

Unlike large international foundations, the Fundación Valparaiso has never been endowed with multi-million dollar grants. We have constructed our asset base the hard way, piece by piece, project by project, with both successes and failures. During the next 40 years, we hope to continue this trend with bigger and better projects that achieve the highest standards of social, cultural, civic prosperity.

With your help, the best is yet to come.