What we have achieved this year
As we begin to turn the calendar page, and our thoughts, to 2026, it is time to look back at 2025 and summarize The Anna Trust’s pathway these last 12 months of our creation and work.
2025 has been foundational, and, as with all foundations, pouring the cement is not always exciting. But without a strong foundation, any institution will ultimately fall. Therefore, we have focused on establishing a strong Board with members drawn from both the global North and the global south including 6 sisters and adopting clear policies and procedures for our own governance and our programs.
We cannot do our work alone. Collaboration is not just something that we want to encourage congregations of sisters to adopt, it is something we must adopt in our programs. Therefore, in these first months we have established partnerships with:
- Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
- The Avila Institute of Gerontology Inc.
- Maria College
- The Milken Institute on Aging
- International Brain Health Institute
- Gerontological Society of America
We have successfully expanded our financial base. From the initial investment of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Conrad Hilton Fund for Sisters, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and the Presentation Sisters, we have added financial support from 8 congregations of Sisters and two private foundations. We now have a clear 5-year fundraising plan that will drive The Anna Trust toward a significant endowment, thus ensuring that we are present to assist in developing elderly sisters care far into the future.
The Anna Trust is new. Hence, a key initial task has been to build our networks so that sisters know about us and so that we are part of the global community of practice of elder care and therefore bring scientific and practice excellence to sisters. We now have a website and materials in 4 languages (English, Italian, Spanish and French), over 1000 subscribers to this newsletter, a YouTube channel with about a thousand views and a growing follower community on LinkedIn.
Programs of service are the work of The Anna Trust. With the December newsletter we are issuing our first Request for Proposals, to help congregations of sisters develop the data and plans that are needed for building capacity for formation, spiritual programs, and elder care services within collaborations of congregations that will ensure the sustainability and excellence of caring for elder sisters.
We have initiated our education programs, with 350-400 participants in each of our initial webinars on cognitive impairment and on the methods for planning for elderly sisters’ care. We have lifted awareness of the importance of Catholic sisters in the elder care with speeches to the:
- UISG Plenary Assembly
- 2nd World International Conference on Ageing and Gerontology
- Latin America Convening of the Catholic Sisters Initiative of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- Annual meetings of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Resource Center for Religious Institutes.
We are exhausted! But the coffee pot is aways full, so we rededicate ourselves to 2026 and creating even more opportunity for Catholic sisters to craft a future of dignity and vitality for their future.
We hope you will continue to walk with us on this path to the future.