This letter from our co-leadership opens Connect Humanity’s 2025 Impact Report. Read the full report online or download the PDF.

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In a turbulent year for efforts to close the digital divide, we are proud of what we accomplished together in 2025.

After four years of promises made and hopes raised, many communities are watching public funding meant for local infrastructure redirected toward distant satellite providers, while support for programs that help people get online quietly disappears. The BEAD program that was supposed to deliver internet for all is proving to be the new floor, not the finish line.

And while public investment wavered, attention in philanthropy shifted to the next wave of frontier technologies. AI captured headlines and budgets, even as millions of Americans remain shut out from the digital present — unable to work, learn, or access healthcare online because they don’t have a good enough connection, or in some cases, no connection at all.

These challenges have only made our mission more urgent.

At Connect Humanity, we’re building a long-term, community-first approach to finance internet access, so that every person has the connection, skills and tools to make use of it. And even in a difficult year, we made real progress. We became an emerging CDFI through a new award from the U.S. Treasury, partnered with values-aligned investors like Mission Driven Finance to bring more capital to the table, and convened digital inclusion leaders to start shaping sustainable financing models for adoption programs.

Each step brings us closer to a future where communities don’t have to depend on unpredictable federal cycles to secure the connectivity they deserve.

And even as national headwinds picked up, communities kept moving forward.

In South Texas, the Rio Grande Valley Broadband Coalition continued charting a digital future designed by and for local residents. Across Appalachia, graduates of our Digital Accelerator turned their broadband plans into real projects — from new networks to public access initiatives. And communities like Macon County in Alabama showed what’s possible when local leaders have the partners and capital needed to shape their own solutions.

We’re deeply grateful to every partner and funder who stood with us this year. Your support makes it possible for communities to take control of their digital futures.

In this year’s report, you’ll find a snapshot of what we’ve built together in 2025 — and where we’re headed next as we work to bring sustainable capital to close the digital divide for good.

Thanks for your on-going support,

Brian, Erica, Marco