Our ten-year milestone leads us to reflect on what a season we have had – and just how much we have been seasoned in our first decade. Since the agreement in 2000 that established the Sunflower Foundation, we have worked hard to honor our founding principles and to fulfill our mission: to serve as a catalyst for improving the health of Kansans. We chose to embrace a broad definition of health and to serve those most in need of health care. We chose to be proactive, collaborative and complementary, to serve as an agent of change, to recognize the importance of research and development and to leverage foundation assets, reflecting our commitment to responsible stewardardship.

The Board of Trustees set funding priorities so that we could achieve greater impact with limited resources. Early on, we chose to focus on access to care and prevention. Later, in response to what we were learning about the state of the state’s health environment, we added organizational capacity building and advocacy to our priority list. In 2002, our first year of funding to organizations, we awarded grants across the state totaling over $2.5 million. By the end of 2009, the grand total of awards had multiplied more than ten-fold: $26.7 million awarded in support of healthier Kansans and Kansas communities.

Advocacy in support of effective public health policy is the foundation’s emerging area of interest. We are already seeing the positive results of educating community players through our recently-launched Advocacy Fellowship project. And, with the recent passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act, we are relishing a capstone to the collective work of many Kansans who helped set the stage for a grassroots campaign in 2010. Thanks to the Clean Air Kansas campaign, the result was an historic improvement to the health of Kansans that will benefit generations to come. What a welcome element to our tenth year celebration! And what a season! I am grateful to the many trustees and advisors who have helped shape the vision and work of the Sunflower Foundation during its first decade. And I know I speak for all who have been involved with the foundation in saying that it has been a great honor to be a part of this experience and to contribute to the health and wellbeing of our fellow Kansans.

Billie G. Hall
President & CEO