As we reflect on 2025, we are deeply grateful for the positive outcomes that perseverance made possible. From new research products to advocacy milestones and moments of solidarity, your support made these achievements possible in service of those for whom we advocate.
Here’s a summary of the highlights that defined our year:
JANUARY
A Joyful Homecoming
We began the year celebrating the release of Ryan Corbett , wrongfully detained by the Taliban since August 2022. His freedom, secured through a prisoner exchange, was a testament to tireless advocacy, diplomacy, and his family’s hope that never wavered.
Six Americans were released from captivity in Venezuela just ten days later in the earliest days of the Trump administration.
FEBRUARY
Strengthening Our Team
We welcomed three new Board members – Roger D. Carstens, Ashley Daniel Bell, and Ryan P. Fayhee – each bringing invaluable expertise to advance our mission.
The Foundation was grateful for the release of American Keith Siegel, who had been held 483 days as a hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Sagui Dekel-Chen’s freedom was similarly restored just over two weeks later during a brief ceasefire and negotiated exchange of prisoners.
Also in February, American teacher Marc Fogel returned from Russia after being detained for 1,277 days.
MARCH
Research & Advocacy
We released the Bringing Americans Home Quantitative Landscape Report covering calendar 2024, calling for reforms to speed repatriation and improve transparency. The next day, we marked the occasion with multiple events in Washington, D.C. including an official event hosted by the U.S. Department of State that welcomed hostage families and returned hostages.
Later that month, we celebrated the release of George Glezmann, held by the Taliban for over two years.
APRIL
Freedom Awards & Hostage Week
At the National Press Club, we honored leaders including Joshua Geltzer, Christiane Amanpour, Pari Ibrahim, Judy Woodruff, and Sandrea Hwang. Family members of the Bring Our Families Home Campaign unveiled a wheat paste mural of their American loved ones unjustly held captive abroad, and held a live-streamed press conference. Coverage by Jake Tapper of CNN amplified their reach during Hostage Week. That same month, two hostages featured as part of the mural, Ksenia Karelina and Youras Ziankovich, wrongfully detained in Russia and Belarus, respectively, were freed from captivity.
MAY
Continuing Momentum
We celebrated the release of Edan Alexander, held hostage for more than 500 days. Veteran Joseph St. Clair, whose family was a part of the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, was released from captivity in Venezuela after 184 days of unjust captivity.
Executive Director Benjamin Gray represented the Foundation at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where global advocates focused on strategies to combat hostage-taking and wrongful detention by authoritarian governments worldwide.
JUNE
10th Anniversary of Hostage Policy Reform
We co-hosted a webinar with the McCain Institute marking the 10th anniversary of Presidential Policy Directive 30 (PPD-30), the U.S. framework for hostage recovery, highlighting progress and remaining gaps in prevention and family support.
June also featured our participation in the DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival, showcasing films on journalist safety and hostage recovery. The latter featured the Bring Our Families Home Campaign. And the world premiere of American Mother, an opera based on Diane Foley’s book by the same name took center stage in Hagen, Germany.
JULY
Keeping Journalists Safe
The Foley Foundation received a $250,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to develop a self-guided journalist safety toolkit. The project is led by Tom Durkin, the Foley Foundation’s director of safety education, and Lauren Walsh, Managing Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives.
Ten additional Americans—the last known to be held captive in Venezuela—were released in July and reunited with their loved ones. Eight of these Americans were represented by the Bring Our Families Home Campaign with their advocacy supported by the Foundation. This release included Lucas Hunter, Wilbert Castaneda, Jorge Vargas, Lorenzo Castillo and Erick and Ronald Oribio Quintana.
AUGUST
Expanding Outreach
We completed interviews with hostage families and prepared our annual qualitative research report, ensuring families’ voices directly inform policy reforms aimed at bringing American captives home more quickly and better addressing the needs of victims and survivors of hostage-taking.
Diane served as the Closing Plenary Keynote Speaker at the 7th World Journalism Education Congress in San Francisco. WJEC seeks to improve journalism worldwide through better professional and academic education.
SEPTEMBER
Bringing Americans Home Report Launch
In mid-September, we joined RIGHT Coalition meetings to strengthen global advocacy for those wrongfully detained by governments for the purpose of hostage diplomacy.
On September 18, we released the 7th annual Bringing Americans Home qualitative research report, featuring insights from Foley Foundation Founder and President Diane Foley, Director of Hostage Advocacy & Research and the report’s author Elizabeth Richards, and Global Reach CEO Mickey Bergman . Aleksandra Glezmann, wife of former wrongful detainee George Glezmann, shared her family’s experience, underscoring the human cost of captivity.
Later, we welcomed Alsu Kurmasheva, an American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty formerly detained in Russia, to our Board.
Between August and September, Foley Foundation Founder and President Diane Foley was invited to participate in several events associated with the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. Among others, she spoke at the Jubilee of Consolation in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome.
Diane’s powerful speech can be viewed here.
OCTOBER
Foley Freedom Run
Thousands joined the 11th annual Freedom Run in Rochester, NH, Washington, DC, and virtually worldwide to honor James Foley’s legacy and advocate for press freedom.
This month, American U Pyinya Zawta a Buddhist monk wrongfully detained in Myanmar was released to his community in New York State after 351 days of captivity.
NOVEMBER
Gratitude and Reflection
In November, two families—after more than two years of waiting—finally received the remains of their American sons, Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, who had been held captive by Hamas in Gaza, allowing them to hold dignified burials.
Joyfully, Saad Almadi was released from captivity in Saudi Arabia and reunited with his family after nearly four years of imprisonment followed by an exit ban. Within days, Saad and his family met with National Security Council officials and presented them—on behalf of the Bring Our Families Home Campaign—with a thank-you letter from the Campaign and a commemorative Hostages and Wrongful Detainee Flag as a gift for President Trump with a request to keep up the momentum by returning all captives represented by the Campaign.
Diane Foley received the 2025 Lantos Human Rights Prize alongside Rachel Goldberg-Polin , honoring their courageous advocacy for hostages and families after both of their sons were killed during hostage-taking events.
DECEMBER
Rounding Out Our Board and the Year
We welcomed Hanna Siegel, a nonprofit leader and strategist with deep experience in journalism, public policy, and organizational growth, to our Board.
Together, these milestones reflect the power of your commitment to freedom and human dignity. Thank you for standing with us.