By Sarah Bonk and Chip York
America turns 250 this year, and we're marking it by doing what we do best: telling the stories of the people who build this country.
That's the idea behind A Birthday Letter to America, a project from Business for America inviting companies, chambers of commerce, and business leaders across the country to write directly to the nation they've helped build. No script. No required message. Just an honest reflection on what this milestone means, and what comes next.
More than 100 organizations have written letters so far, from all 50 states, from national companies to small-town chambers of commerce. They reveal real common ground, in the words of the people building this country every day.
Starting this week, AllSides is partnering with Business for America to publish a seven-part article series, one article a week, each built around a question pulled straight from the letters: about opportunity, community, resilience, and what still unites us. Every article features real voices and quotes from business leaders in every corner of the country.
We're proud to have added our own letter to the collection, from AllSides CEO and co-founder John Gable:
What I want for America's next chapter is a culture where authentic human connection and free, open, and productive conversation are the norm, not the exception.
I imagine a future where the important conversations that are actually shaping communities and solving real problems don't mostly happen in Washington or on social media. They happen closer to home. In person, and in virtual spaces built to solve problems instead of spaces that elevate the most extreme ideas. Spaces where people with genuinely different backgrounds and perspectives come together not to win, but to understand — and from that understanding, to build something better than either side could have built alone.
That's what American business can stand for today. Not growth for the sake of growth, but growth that comes from the innovation and trust that improves people's lives, and restores our democratic society.
At AllSides, that's what we're building. We're not done. But we're closer than we've ever been.
Happy birthday, America. The best conversations, and our best days, are still ahead of us.
— John Gable CEO & Co-founder of AllSides
And this is bigger than just a good read.
Every letter submitted becomes part of a permanent time capsule, set to be handed over to a major university (to be announced) at the end of this year and opened again in 50 years. Once the year closes, that opportunity closes with it.
Getting started is easy. Sign up now to have your logo added as a Birthday Letter to America partner, and you'll get free resources and instructions to help you write yours. Send your letter whenever it's ready before the end of the year.
Read the first installment in the series: “Are we Really as Divided as we Think?”
You can also read the full collection so far, or sign up as a partner to get your logo added and free resources to help you write yours.
Sarah Bonk is a civic entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of Business for America. She spent over 20 years leading strategy, design, and organizational change at Apple and American Electric Power. Today, she works with business leaders to help fix what’s broken in American politics.
Chip York leads marketing and communications for Business for America, building coalitions across the business community. His 20+ years in global marketing and creative communications span agency leadership at Ketchum and in-house work at The Coca-Cola Company.
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