Getting Outside & Going on Sabbatical

Joseph Gutierrez

Every January, I set a theme for the entire year as a way for me to nicely package my resolutions, goals, and intentions for personal and professional life.  After a bit of thought, I decided that my theme for 2026 would be “get outside.”  This meant a few different things for me.  On the most basic level, it’s just a reminder to get out fishing  more often, spend more time on my bike, and to enjoy the outdoors.  For my work at Maddox, it meant focusing more on the environmental grant portfolio which I took over at the start of the year.  This theme directly led to the Get Outside Grant Program that we started this year to get more young people into nature.  I also took this as a push to make time to get out of the country on an international trip, which is something I’ve put off for a few years because I’ve been too busy.  Most importantly though, I’m trying to get outside of my current patterns of behavior so that I can start imagining something new,

The last bit has been something I’ve been reflecting on for a while as I enter my tenth year at the Maddox Fund.  Maddox has been in a process of slow transformation over the past few years.  If you look at  just this year, you’ll see that we have new staff and board members in place, a new 2-year grantmaking cycle, and a bold strategic blueprint to guide us over the next three years.  In a lot of ways, this all has left me feeling like I’m the oldest thing at Maddox, so I’m grateful for this opportunity to take a sabbatical to find time for rest, reflect on my work, and reconnect with nature.

 I will officially be on sabbatical starting September 16th and will not be back in the office until January 4, 2027.  Here is a rough itinerary of my trip:

  • Finding some time to rest and meeting my wife’s extended family in Indonesia
  • Cycling around Taiwan while fishing off the coast and some of its mountain streams
  • Reflecting on professional life while riding across South Korea, where I began my career as an English language teacher
  • Thinking about the future and my own role in making the world a place where people and planet flourish together while making a Buddhist pilgrimage around 88 temples in Japan

While gone, please reach out to my colleagues at the Maddox Fund:

  • jen@maddoxfund.org for environmental grants and inquiries
  • shun@maddoxfund.org general grant administration, including MOUs and reporting
  • or call the Maddox office at 615-385-1006

I am looking forward to coming back in 2027 with a renewed perspective on work and continuing to support our partners as they tirelessly fight to  improve the lives of young people and protect the natural environment. If you’re interested in following me on my journey, you can find me on Instagram. Be forewarned though, it’s mostly going to be pictures of my bike in different places and fish I caught.

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Jen Bailey is the Executive Director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, bringing her deep experience in community-based leadership, philanthropy, and movement-building to the organization.

Jen is the Founder of Faith Matters Network, a national Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually-grounded leaders on their journey to heal themselves and their communities. Since its inception, Faith Matters Network has served over 25,000 leaders through its programs and initiatives. She is Co-Founder of The People’s Supper, a global initiative that has hosted over 2,000 gatherings in 135 communities to foster conversation and collective healing across lines of difference.

Committed to advancing social change through philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, Jen serves on the boards of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Fetzer Institute, and The Healing Trust, where she is the Board Chair.

An Ashoka Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, and Truman Scholar, Jen holds degrees from Tufts University and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where she was awarded the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize for accomplishments in the study of theology. Her work has been featured by On Being with Krista Tippett, CBS This Morning, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She is also the author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope (Chalice Press, 2021).

email Jen: jen@maddoxfund.org