Citizens of the World

At World Monuments Fund, we stand united with you and all our peaceful friends around the globe, as defenders of the places that define our shared human history.

We recommit ourselves to looking outwards, to reaching across boundaries, to welcoming ideas and people of all cultures into our lives, and we invite you to continue to do that with us.

Thanks to your friendship and generosity, our organization is defined by 50 years of international partnerships, based on mutual trust, respect, and understanding.

When you help our teams conserve a temple in Nepal, a church in France, a monastery in Myanmar, a Maya site in Mexico, a garden in India, or an ancient city in Iraq, you help us collaborate with local communities, artists, scientists, NGOs, and governments to protect and conserve our most treasured places. You help us forge friendships, create knowledge, and celebrate the world’s astounding cultural diversity. Thank you.

The soul of a culture is embedded in the hearts of its people and in the stones of the structures it builds. When storms, floods, and earthquakes destroy a community’s treasured places—or when these places become targets for those who seek to conquer, to erase history—we make it our mission to partner with communities in rebuilding, in preserving the connection they feel with their temples, homes, and marketplaces. We help repair tears in their social fabric and restore their livelihoods. You make this possible, and for that we are deeply grateful.

A cathedral in Italy, a temple in Thailand, a synagogue in Romania, or a Shaker village in New York State holds unique powers for the people who built it, and offers something precious to us all: an understanding of what it means to be human and create vibrant, tolerant societies.

As we have for 50 years, World Monuments Fund will continue to apply for visas, get on planes, and cross national borders and international datelines, in an effort to preserve and protect all that is meaningful in this world. We will continue to welcome friends, new and old, from other nations and cultures, into our offices to work together and around our tables to share food and conversation.

An organization, or a community, or a country, is only as strong as the friendships it makes. Thank you for the beauty you make possible. I hope you will always stand with us, our staff and partners, as citizens of the world, and help us care for the vessels of our common humanity.

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Photo: Earthquake response work in Nepal with our partners at Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust. World Monuments Fund / Scott Newman