For Those Who Come Next: Launching the FIUTS Annual Campaign 2026
Alex and Era with Mandela Washington Fellows
For those I have not yet had the opportunity to meet, my name is Alex Radi, and I am FIUTS’s new Executive Director. It is a tremendous honor to introduce myself to you in this role.
FIUTS is not new to me. I was the FIUTS Manager of Student Programs from 2019-2023, working closely with student leaders, volunteers, and community partners. Those years showed me how meaningful this community can be, and how a single welcome, friendship, or opportunity can stay with someone long after their time at FIUTS.
Returning as Executive Director feels both familiar and new. As I reconnect with people I knew during my earlier time here and meet other members of the FIUTS community for the first time, I have been struck by how many people have helped shape this organization, and how deeply FIUTS has shaped them in return.
That brings to mind a Chinese proverb I have always found meaningful:
前人栽树，后人乘凉
One generation plants the trees; the next enjoys their shade.
Over 78 years, generations of students have arrived in Seattle and found friendship, community, and a place to belong. Host families have opened their homes. Volunteers and student leaders have shared their time and experiences. Donors have invested in opportunities for people they may never meet.
Every FIUTS experience begins with something someone else planted.
A student finds a welcoming community because others helped create it. A friendship begins at an event that volunteers and donors made possible. A young person discovers their confidence as a leader because someone believed that opportunity was worth supporting. Long after a program ends, these relationships continue to shape how people understand one another and the world around them.
This year’s annual campaign, For Those Who Come Next, is an invitation to continue that work.
The students who will be impacted by FIUTS in the years ahead may never know the names of the people who made their experiences possible. But they will feel the results in the friend who helps them feel less alone, the host who opens their home, the opportunity that helps them find their voice, and the community waiting to welcome them when they arrive.
Supporting FIUTS is one way to plant something today that another person will carry into the future. No contribution has to create an entire program on its own. Every gift joins with the generosity of others to help the next connection, the next friendship, and the next FIUTS story take root.
This year, our goal is to bring together 500 donors this year who believe in creating welcome, connection, and opportunity for those who come next. Whether this would be your first gift to FIUTS or one of many you have made over the years, I hope you will be one of them.
Together, we can help this community continue to grow, not only for those of us who are part of FIUTS today, but for all those who will come next.
Plant today. Welcome tomorrow.