Since our founding, NewKnowledge has focused on applying transdisciplinary social science to help organizations achieve their social good missions more effectively and efficiently. Whether we’re helping to shape programming for refugees and immigrants, increase STEM and financial capability, or gin up support for conservation activities, our goal is to identify evidence-backed solutions that effect meaningful change first locally and then on a global scale.

In the process of doing our work, we’ve also discovered that our strategy is rather unique. By situating ourselves as collaborators as well as experts, we’ve demonstrated that strong democratic process can help nurture a better world. There is a great deal of public media energy devoted to the coarsening of public discourse and hand-wringing that this problem is worse than ever before. We disagree. We’ve proven that a nonpartisan research team can work as engaged partners to gather evidence together and reason through useful solutions. On the following pages, we’ve highlighted projects that show what this approach looks like in action. These projects illustrate how our initiatives transcend projects, draw on multiple areas of expertise, and put the results to work.

This past year was also a time for forward thinking. In 2018, we welcomed new expertise to our Board of Trustees, brought in a new full-time Chief Operating Officer, and our pillar leaders articulated how our projects connect to a larger vision of social change. We were recognized by the Institute of Museum and Library Services as an official support organization for the museum and library sector, and received our first direct funding from that agency. We also convened our full staff and board at a retreat to take stock of our work to date, the risks ahead, and chart a new strategy for our future.

We have seen that across all of our work, there is one trend that keeps us going. With apologies to Emily Dickinson, our data has shown that hope is more than a thing with feathers. Hope is the rootstock of healthy communities – a shared resource that can be fostered, fed, and nurtured. Hope is the belief that valuing the contributions of each member of our society can make us more capable of facing the challenges ahead. This annual report is not the story of our organization, but rather is the reflection on the story we share with all of our partners, a variety of paths that converge on a single vision of a world where all people can live to their fullest potential in harmony with a thriving biosphere. Our research with the American Library Association’s Public Programs Office helped bring clarity to why we enjoy that work. Library program professionals from around the US reminded us that discovering our connections with others has value in itself.

As we reflected on our year, we saw that our ability to build integral, symbiotic relationships with partners is a hallmark of our success. Our commitment to one another is deeply rewarding. When our partners refer to us as part of their “we,” we know we’re on a path to success. Doing that work creates the right conditions for productive communal struggle, and that together, our answers get better.

We know that working on issues as complex as global social equity for girls or resilience for low-income coastal communities isn’t easy. But focusing on the collective solutions of everyone involved in these concerns bolsters stability. After seven years, we are proud to count organizations who have been with us from the beginning as part of us. The financial reports show that we’re stable and can pay our bills. The growing list of long-time partners using our work to make the world a better place is the real return on our investment.

Now that our roots are firmly established, just watch us grow together.

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Leonard Singh, Board Chair, Joanna Laursen Brucker, Chief Operating Officer, John Fraser, President & CEO