Dear Friends,

Connections, Education, Activism, and Expertise have been the pillars of the Forum mission since the very beginning. The year 2020 – a challenging one for a variety of reasons – was an opportunity for us to reexamine what these four principles mean to us and ensure that we are delivering on all these fronts in all our programs and initiatives.

Moving the work of an organization based on face-to-face dialogue to an online format could not be a simple case of translation, but required a careful redesign in order to reach the same goals via different means. I am proud to say that thanks to the enormous work done by Forum staff and affiliates, and with the support of our friends and allies, we were very successful in this transition and came out of 2020 a stronger and more tech-savvy organization. I hope that as you leaf through the pages of the Annual Report you will see how much we achieved in this trying year, which was also possible thanks to your continued belief in what we do.

Whatever the successes and silver linings of 2020, this was also a year of great loss. Many have lost their loved ones, others suffered emotionally and economically, and yet as a global society we were able to coalesce around what is good and meaningful. For me, 2020 was the year I lost my dear friend and mentor, Henryk Wujec, the Chair of the Foundation Council, a hero of the Solidarity movement, and the person who taught me what real dialogue is. A man of great virtue and empathy, he was also School of Dialogue’s greatest fan. I will miss him greatly, and I hope that the Forum will continue to make him proud.

With this great task we have set for ourselves – making Henio proud – we are continuing on the path towards dialogue and meaningful connections that last. I hope that you will be with us every step of the way.

Yours,

Andrzej Folwarczny
President and CEO