The Wainwright Foundation is a private non-profit foundation dedicated to cultivating leadership and civic responsibility. The Wainwright Foundation offers professional development opportunities by providing resources, organization and access to unique fellowships and non-conventional training opportunities that bring together civic, business, and military leaders to work on projects that serve the community and promote a sense of civic responsibility. The Wainwright Foundation is strictly non-partisan and secular.
The Wainwright Foundation is a private nonprofit organization pending 501(c)(3) status.
Here at the Wainwright Foundation, we view ourselves as a non-profit venture capital firm. Our investment is in leadership and our capital is time, talent and opportunity. Our profit comes in the form of an effective cohort of future leaders ready to lead our country. We are not judged on how much profit we generate, but in the success of the projects we support; projects led by young leaders working to improve their communities. In practice, we provide a leadership laboratory where active citizens collaborate to solve problems and develop their skills.
The directors of the Wainwright Foundation, Chris Case and John Schmitt, first met in 1996 at the University of California, Davis and commissioned together as second lieutenants in the United States Army in 1999. Having served together in many capacities since, including a shared combat tour of duty in Iraq, John and Chris have forged a lifelong friendship and cemented a common set of beliefs in service, leadership and the values of America. Strong in ideals but lacking a cause, they looked for a way to focus their shared energy and vision.
In 2008, when sorting through the effects of John’s recently deceased grandfather, he came across a letter given to him after serving in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The letter was simple, eloquent, and perfectly embodied the very soul of what Chris and John aspired to promote. From the desk of Headquarters Fourth Army, General J. M. Wainwright spoke frankly of the civic duty of military personnel who shed their uniform for the last time to stand up and lead their country, to speak out against intolerance and to take passionate interest in all levels of government. He very convincingly reminds us all of the consequences of nations who choose not to. Although the letter was written in 1946 and he spoke within the context of a world reeling from the horrors of the Second World War the ideas are clearly timeless, and the letter could not have been found at a more pivotal time for the establishment of the foundation.
Inspired by the words of General J. M. Wainwright, the Wainwright Foundation was established with the aims to cultivate and promote the leadership, civic responsibility and American values of outstanding citizens from all sectors of society. Uninterested in promoting anything but these aims, the Wainwright Foundation intends to achieve this through nonpartisan and secular projects, grants and scholarships.
LINK TO INSPIRATIONAL WAINWRIGHT LETTER
