Farewell Message from Jan Nicholson, President

Now that The Nicholson Foundation has closed, after 20 years in operation, I would like to share some reflections about our work, and how this journey has given me hope for America’s future.

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It was our sole and abiding goal to improve the social and human service systems in New Jersey, so they could do a better job of helping people. We explored ideas and found an array of partners to shape and execute the most promising possibilities. The success of these endeavors is truly thanks to our many colleagues in community nonprofits, policy/advocacy and affinity groups, hospitals, health clinics, early child care and education centers, universities, other foundations, and agencies of state and local government. Today, my view of American society is shaped by having spent a generation's worth of time working in this ecosystem and coming to revere it.

A handful of hallmarks define America:  We are a melting pot, a democracy, a market economy, and a flourishing civil society—that space outside family, market, and government famously extolled by Alexis de Tocqueville.

We face worrisome truths, however.

• Although we celebrate our melting pot origin story, we wrestle with the challenges in our growing cultural diversity.
• While we have been proud proselytizers for democracy, its frailty has been exposed by social media and the harmful ways it is used.
• Even though our largely unrestrained market economy has brought us innovation and wealth, it has caused grave harm, by, for example, by undermining our healthcare system, which often puts profit ahead of people, and by producing extremes in income inequality.

The glowing exception to this sad litany is the decency of our civil society. America’s soil is fertile with initiative and volunteerism, as evidenced by the resolve to help others that wells in countless people who band together to do it powerfully. They start, join, and lead a multitude of independent nonprofit enterprises that grow into strong organizations. Indeed, America is motivated not just by profit and power, but by the public good. 

This civil society will help us address our problems. On a national scale, I think of the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, and United for a Fair Economy, to name but three of thousands. They raise awareness, devise strategies, and press for vigorous action. On the state level, in New Jersey, The Nicholson Foundation came to know, depend on, and be inspired by scores of institutions, both big and small. Among the most significant to our work were the Center for Health Care Strategies, the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, Advocates for Children of New Jersey, the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, and the New Jersey chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. You can read more about these organizations and many of our other partners elsewhere on our website. Our heartfelt tribute to their significance lies within the stories you also will find here.

We believe that these organizations and many others like them have the capacity and momentum for continued improvement in service systems essential for the health and well-being of families and communities. Even more important, they represent a remarkable force within our society—working for the public good—that can prompt change, nurture progress, and inspire faith in a path forward. 

Thank you,

Jan Nicholson, President, The Nicholson Foundation