On behalf of The Rider-Pool Foundation Trustees, we are pleased to provide this report to the region outlining the activities of The Foundation for the years 2009 and 2010. The late Dorothy Rider Pool and her husband, Leonard Parker Pool, were generous contributors of their time and talent to the Lehigh Valley. Since the passing of Mrs. Pool in 1967 and Mr. Pool in 1975, the Trustees have the privilege of carrying on their tradition of civic involvement and betterment of community. The Trustees continue this stewardship of the rich legacy of community service of Mr. and Mrs. Pool as outlined in this report.

The difficult economy has had an impact on The Foundation's resources and giving capacity. The Trustees had difficult decisions to make regarding the best use of The Foundation's limited funds and adopted short-term working principles: All outstanding commitments will be honored, no funding would be provided to capital requests, no new agencies would be considered, and no request would likely be able to receive 100% of funds requested. In the current environment, these strategies have proven effective and will remain for the near term.

The leadership and skill of the boards, management, staff, and volunteers of the not-for-profit organizations who communicate with The Foundation is impressive. We appreciate the contributions they make to improve our collective quality of life. The Trustees are unable to honor all requests from the fine not-for-profit organizations that seek financial support. More often than not, The Foundation can only provide some limited assistance to support the social sector of the Valley. We hope our involvement is of some assistance.

During this period, The Rider-Pool Foundation awarded 136 grants, totaling $629,150, in four broad funding categories: Education, Human Services, Culture and Art, and Community Development. For decades, we have explored the role of a small funding source and its contribution to improvement of quality of life. We aspire to be more than the sum of our individual charitable works. Increasingly, our work in health, human services, the arts, and education strives to be mutually supportive and interactive toward a larger goal of building community. To that end, we will seek the advice and suggestions of our colleagues on ways to strategically deploy available funds. We imagine a future where all residents of the Lehigh Valley may be contributing citizens: not merely consumers, not merely recipients, but contributors to our collective quality of life. Our aspiration for the evolving work in the Allentown Promise Neighborhood (previously known as The Old Allentown Youth Success Zone) is just that: The children in that community have every opportunity to grow healthy, strong, and able to succeed in life and contribute to the vitality of our region. Lessons learned in the Promise Neighborhood can be shared with our neighborhoods throughout the Valley.

After a career of extraordinary dedication and service, Mr. Edward Donley has retired as a Trustee of The Foundation. He has been referred to as a national treasure by close associates. His work to improve early childhood education and K–12 public education nationally, statewide, and locally is legend. One example: About a decade ago, the Allentown School District was at considerable risk of being placed on the Pennsylvania distressed list, which would lead to a takeover by the State Department of Education. Comparable test scores (PSSAs) were significantly lower than the state average. Ed Donley recognized this crisis and rallied the community. He committed considerable time and resources to identify best practices for education reform and recruited key leadership necessary to lead a revitalization effort. He encouraged The Foundation to commit resources to this improvement effort, all the while insisting on measurable, accountable results for the private investments raised. He served as honorary chair for a community-wide fundraising effort, which raised more than $2.5 million to support the work of the organization he founded: the Allentown School District Community Council. This led to the establishment of Education 2010 and the "costing out" study, which redirected considerable sums of state funding for poor school districts. For decades to come, the children of Allentown will be significantly better off than they would have been absent the citizenship and tremendous energy of Ed Donley.

With grateful thanks to the Trustees for their guidance and encouragement,


Edward F. Meehan
Executive Director