We are so excited to share this BIG news!

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is making a $1,000,000 (!!!) investment in SAADA to help us take this community institution we have built together to the next level!

In SAADA's early years, when traditional funding agencies declared our work "too niche," it was our community that supported us and made our work possible.

For the past thirteen years, we have been a small and dedicated team working toward a transformative vision—ensuring that South Asian Americans are included in the American story: past, present, and future.

Now, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is demonstrating their belief in our vision by handing us a key to unlock the full potential of what we have built together.

This $1,000,000 investment in SAADA is both a validation of what we have achieved and an opportunity for us to build something bigger and even more impactful. Today, we start that process.

In the photograph above, taken in 1971, Fazlur Rahman Khan watches as the Sears Tower is constructed in Chicago. Many people do not know that Dr. Khan, born in present-day Bangladesh, was responsible for two of the most iconic buildings on the Chicago skyline.

Our goal is to match the investment by the Mellon Foundation in SAADA over the next five years with support from our community. This year our goal is to raise $108,000 by year-end to support SAADA's work, inspired by the 108 stories of the Sears Tower.

Just as our forebears created the possibilities for our community today, we too are shaping the future for the next generation of South Asian Americans.

Thank you for being with us on this journey!

♥,
The SAADA Team