The Chicago Community Trust

Meet Kristin Carlson Vogen, our Associate VP of Philanthropic Strategies & Innovation. She leads the strategies and innovations that drive our efforts to bring funders of all kinds to the Trust and ensure they are supported and able to make the most philanthropic impact possible. She notes, “At the Trust, I can work with an individual, a family or other funder to help them achieve their giving goals—now and in planning for when they are not here.” Swipe to learn more from Kristin on planning ahead for #GivingTuesday and beyond. #Chicago #Philanthropy www.cct.org/give

#Chicago’s North #Lawndale community has a beautiful new gathering space called Starling (3243 W. 16th Street), recently completed by Duo Development, with support from The Chicago Community Trust and We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery. #Philanthropy Starling features a café run by locally owned Monday Coffee Co. with communal space that is free and open to the public. The building also offers a variety of spaces people can rent to host classes, events, pop-ups and more, including a terrace and sound recording studio. #WeRiseWednesdays Learn how you can make use of this fantastic new community amenity: https://lnkd.in/gXQvKjux

We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery, a funders collaborative led by The Chicago Community Trust, is excited to announce the #TogetherFund’s Community Advisors. This group of 20 #Chicago community members will play a vital role in allocating a total of $1.5 million in grants to support workforce and local business development in underinvested communities in Chicago, which are predominantly Black and Latine. Each advisory group will distribute $750,000 in 2025 to projects that uplift business development and workforce initiatives. Their collaboration and insights will be invaluable in addressing the economic needs of their communities. Congratulations to the Community Advisors—your contribution will make a meaningful difference in the Chicago region. #WeRiseWednesdays Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gxT8uye7

Meet Molly Rand, CAP?, our Senior Director of Philanthropy. In her role, she works with families and individuals to help guide their giving strategy and maximize their charitable impact while building and nurturing relationships with current and prospective donors over time. Her favorite conversations revolve around the question: “What keeps you up at night?” Swipe to learn more from Molly about why you can make a difference this giving season. #Chicago #Philanthropy www.cct.org/give

This Wednesday, catch Trust President & CEO Andrea Sáenz at the University Club of Chicago for "Empowering American Cities," a breakfast and conversation with expert economists Jeff Korzenik and Gerald Cohen. There, they will analyze local data, identify economic trends impacting #Chicago, and discuss opportunities for growth. This event is in collaboration with Fifth Third Bank, the University of North Carolina's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, and Crain's Chicago Business. Tickets: https://bit.ly/3YBXC5K

As our #Chicago region’s community foundation, The Chicago Community Trust serves as a platform for change, connecting #philanthropy to impact. Let’s work together to increase opportunities and well-being for every Chicagoan, because when our neighbors do better, we all do better. As #CommunityFNDWeek comes to a close, consider ways you can give back to your community. For example, the Trust’s Unity Fund is a collaborative effort that gathers contributions from various donors to support nonprofit organizations addressing our region’s most urgent needs—including providing emergency food, clothing, housing, health care, legal services, and more to individuals and families. At the same time, giving directly to the Trust’s Unrestricted Fund allows us the flexibility to mobilize grant dollars that advance opportunity and address our region’s most pressing needs. Explore ways to give this holiday season: https://lnkd.in/ghw_rm6r

What does it take to mobilize charitable dollars? For a community foundation like the Trust, that’s where our incredible Grants Management and Accounts Payable teams come in—facilitating impactful grants through overseeing grant applications, ensuring rigorous compliance standards are met, and executing each payment. In Fiscal Year 2024, our teams managed 16,700+ grants totaling $1.6 billion. The work we do at The Chicago Community Trust would not be possible without them and the extra time they put in each holiday season to make sure our discretionary grant dollars go out the door and our donors’ charitable giving is complete before the New Year. This #CommunityFNDWeek, we’re grateful to work alongside dedicated team members in our shared commitment for a better #Chicago region. www.cct.org

Since 2019, The Chicago Community Trust's discretionary grantmaking has been largely focused on narrowing the #Chicago region’s racial and ethnic wealth gap. While income is important because it helps people meet their daily needs, wealth allows people to invest and plan for their future. It’s about options and opportunities—or lack thereof—that can make a huge impact on the trajectory of a person’s life, future generations, and the larger community. In 2024, we honed in our focus and are prioritizing two areas where we have expertise and can move the needle: (1) helping people increase income and assets and (2) improving homeownership and home equity. Research shows that historically underinvested communities that are suffering from a lack of wealth equity are largely home to Chicago’s Black and Latine residents. Our work to grow #wealth and well-being in underinvested communities—and improve the region for all Chicagoans—requires long-term commitment and can only be successful in partnership with donors, nonprofits, community members, business leaders, and local government. We work toward a day when everyone in the Chicago region has enough wealth to care for their family and invest in the future. #CommunityFNDWeek Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gdw6puS5

At The Chicago Community Trust, we believe policy-driven inequities require policy-driven solutions. Effective policy reforms are grounded in evidence, the real-life experiences of community residents, and the expertise of the many #Chicago-based nonprofits that have worked for years to find and advance ways to create opportunity across the region. We advocate for policy reforms that advance our goals of increasing household wealth, building community wealth, and addressing Chicagoans’ critical needs. For example, the Trust contributed to the victory of Public Act 103-0555, which went into effect on January 1, 2024, and closed loopholes in the Illinois Property Tax Sale system that prevent blighted properties from redevelopment and allows local governments to intervene to save abandoned properties. This #CommunityFNDWeek, learn more about how we advocate for policy change: https://lnkd.in/g6Nqp5C4

Interested in joining us? Our Finance team is looking for a Director of Impact Investments. The role encompasses all aspects of mission-aligned investing at the Trust, ranging from ESG investing to catalytic capital. #Chicago Details: https://lnkd.in/gczAPqhk