Charter
The William and Rochelle Ghilotti Foundation
Preamble
We, William and Rochelle Ghilotti, establish this Foundation in the conviction that private wealth carries with it an obligation to public flourishing, and that the most enduring forms of generosity are those practiced patiently, with humility, and over the long arc of a life.
This Charter is the public statement of our purpose. It is not a constraint on what the Foundation may one day do; it is a compass for the direction in which we intend it to travel.
Mission
The Foundation exists to relieve suffering and expand human possibility, particularly for those whose suffering is hidden, whose voices are quiet, and whose circumstances place ordinary help out of reach.
We believe that the conditions of a flourishing life are not luxuries: sound mind, sound body, dignity in childhood, meaningful connection to others. They are the foundations on which everything else rests. Where these foundations are absent, no other gift can take root.
The Foundation's work will move toward wherever we believe these foundations can be most usefully strengthened, in whatever form that work takes, and wherever in the world the need calls us.
Values
Patience. The problems the Foundation addresses were not made in a year and will not be solved in a year. We choose partners and commitments that we can stay with.
Humility. We do not know more about a community's needs than its own people do. We listen first, fund second, and lead only where our leadership is sought.
Discretion. We pursue impact rather than recognition. The name on the door is a commitment, not an advertisement.
Rigor. We measure honestly, including measuring our own mistakes. We expect the same of those we fund.
Trust. Within the bounds of good stewardship, we trust those closest to the work to do the work. We give unrestricted support where we can, and we minimize the burden our grants place on the organizations receiving them.
Areas of Focus
The Foundation's initial work concentrates in two areas, chosen because they speak most directly to the founders' own experience of what matters most:
Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. We support organizations working to remove the stigma around mental illness, expand access to care, and reduce the prevalence of suicide, particularly among those populations where the burden of mental suffering is heaviest and the infrastructure of help is thinnest.
Child Health and Wellbeing. We support organizations delivering direct health services to children in under-resourced communities, beginning with sub-Saharan Africa and extending, as our capacity grows, to other regions where the basic conditions of childhood health are insufficiently met.
The Foundation reserves the right to take up additional causes that the founders judge to be aligned with this Charter's deeper purpose. The two pillars above are starting places, not boundaries.
How We Work
The Foundation makes grants to other organizations rather than operating its own programs. We believe the world is rich in capable people who know how to do this work; our task is to identify them and to support them well.
We prefer:
- Multi-year, unrestricted, or lightly restricted general operating support over short-term project grants.
- Established partners with clear track records, alongside a small, deliberate allocation each year to newer or less-proven work that shows unusual promise.
- Direct relationships between the Foundation and those it funds, without intermediating layers where they can be avoided.
- Cross-border collaboration where it makes the work better, conducted through the appropriate legal channels in each jurisdiction.
We do not:
- Make grants to individuals (other than through established scholarship or fellowship programs we may from time to time support).
- Fund political campaigns, partisan advocacy, or sectarian religious activity.
- Lend our name to fundraising efforts undertaken on the Foundation's behalf without the Board's written consent.
Governance
The Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees, the membership of which is established by the founders and may grow over time to include others who share its mission and to whom the founders entrust the Foundation's continuity.
Decisions of consequence are made by the Board as a whole. These include the addition of focus areas, the appointment of trustees, material changes to this Charter, and grants exceeding thresholds the Board shall set.
The Foundation will maintain transparent financial records, comply with all applicable laws in every jurisdiction in which it operates, and publish annually a summary of its grants and activities.
On Continuity
It is our hope that this Foundation will outlive us, and that the people who carry it forward will read this Charter not as instructions from the dead but as a conversation continued among the living. We trust them, in their own time and circumstances, to interpret these purposes faithfully and well.
Established 2026 by William and Rochelle Ghilotti, co-founders.