2025 Trustee Letter

Dear Friends, Family, and Future Trustees,

This year marks the founding of the Back 40 Foundation, a family-led effort rooted in the belief that young people thrive when given space to explore, fail, create, and grow on their own terms.

The Back 40 Foundation expands opportunities for young people to grow into independent, confident, and capable individuals. By funding transformative experiences, we help kids build resilience, discover their strengths, and shape their own futures. We invest in the courage to explore, the freedom to create, and the knowledge to navigate the world with confidence.

The foundation’s name is a tribute to two meaningful influences. The first is a plot of undeveloped land bequeathed to Camp Jewell YMCA on the condition that it remain wild. As campers, those woods and trails offered us space to explore, test ourselves, and grow. As the plot comprised about forty acres, it was nicknamed “The Back 40.” That brings us to the second influence: the historical “back forty,” a term from the Homestead Act of 1862. It refers to the most remote 40 acres of a settler’s 160-acre land grant and came to symbolize a place of untapped potential: wild, undeveloped, and full of possibility.

Our foundation draws inspiration from both meanings. We believe in investing in the potential of places and people often overlooked—supporting young people as they claim their own stretch of unmarked land and discover what they can grow there.

In our inaugural year, we seeded the foundation with $50,889.04 and apportioned about 4% of its assets for two grants:

• $1,300 to Camp Jewell YMCA, providing a summer camp experience  for approximately 1.5 campers who otherwise could not attend.
• $700 to the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University, supporting youth writing labs for two students.

These grants reflect our core belief in giving kids a chance to “try on” different versions of themselves—whether through cabin life, lake swims, or putting their imaginations on paper in a supportive writing environment.

As the fund grows, so will our grantmaking. We’ll continue refining our approach through conversation, experimentation, and reflection. In the future, we hope this letter serves not just as a record of transactions, but as a window into our values. To future trustees: as you take the reins of this foundation, we offer a few core principles:

• Start with people, not programs. Relationships matter. Trust and invest in those doing the work, and listen with humility.
• Seek the “Back 40.” Don’t be afraid to fund the bold, the unpolished, the overlooked. Look for sparks of potential in places others pass by.
• Think long-term. Let the fund grow alongside your understanding. Adapt, but stay grounded.
• Give with joy. Philanthropy is a privilege. Approach it not with obligation, but with imagination and heart.

Thank you for carrying this forward.

With excitement,

William L. White & Emily L. White