From Stand Together CEO Brian Hooks: Forbes Exclusive – Carrying on a Principles-Based Legacy  

Colleagues –

I want to share three articles published today in Forbes that feature Stand Together founder, Charles Koch.

• Exclusive: Charles Koch Has Given More Than $5 Billion Of His Stock To Two Nonprofits
• Profile: Billionaire Charles Koch Shares His Secret Plan To Pass On His Fortune And Influence
• How Four Aging Billionaires Are Making Sure Their Money Doesn’t Go To Uncle Sam

Each of the articles tells the story of how Charles has applied the Principles of Human Progress in all aspects of his life to help empower people to live lives of meaning and contribution. The story is a familiar one to all of us who know Charles. And to all of us in the Stand Together community who work every day to apply these principles to tackle some of the biggest challenges in our society.   

One of the key takeaways from the Forbes articles is that Charles has lived these principles in his leadership of Koch Industries and through his longstanding support for the Stand Together community – helping build significant organizations that are prepared to continue to grow and contribute for many decades to come.

In recent years, Charles has shared with many of you and many of Stand Together’s partners his belief that we have accomplished more in the past few years than in all the preceding decades combined. This is progress he attributes to our more intentional application of the Principles of Human Progress – and the dedication of our incredible team. And this article reports what he has told our community for the past several years, that he intends to contribute significant additional resources to help advance our vision.

It shares the latest in a series of actions he’s taken as part of that commitment – the creation of a new grant making organization, Believe in People, with $4.3 billion in assets. The article also reports that Believe in People has already begun making grants in support of the Stand Together community. The fact that Charles has had the foresight to do this while he is still actively partnering with Stand Together speaks volumes about his commitment to our vision. 

I am grateful for the opportunity his support makes possible – and for the thousands of other donors and partners he has inspired who enable us to do our work.  And I appreciate and echo Charles’ confidence in the valuable work you do, building a principle-based organization to help all people realize their potential.

Brian Hooks

Chairman & CEO