Woods Fund Chicago

In Woods Fund Chicago's newly released Biannual Report, we reflect on 2022-2023 and what it takes to put a strategic plan to action. We look at our strategic plan goals announced in 2022 and report our progress — as well as where there is still work to be done. This newsletter, we're sharing these reflections and celebrating the recent achievements of WFC leadership, from Board Member Kimberley Rudd being named a Crain's 2024 Notable Black Leader to President Michelle Morales receiving the 2024 Professional Grantor Award. Read now: https://lnkd.in/ghcYFFXm Photo credits: CHICAGO WORKERS COLLABORATIVE, SOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION

What We're Reading: As funders, we are monitoring the administration’s possible impact on our grantee partners’ ability to organize and safely carry out their missions. This article lays out the known potential threats that nonprofits — particularly those involved in social justice — may face, and strategies for fortifying their protections. ➡️ Read more from The Chronicle of Philanthropy: https://lnkd.in/eDiefHjP

Our grantee partners and peers are hiring! Learn more about open opportunities to join organizations, coalitions, and nonprofit sector peers that are making an impact, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Enlace Chicago, HANA Center, Mujeres Latinas en Acción, and PASO - West Suburban Action Project. Learn more about job opportunities with our grantee partners and peers at linktr.ee/woodsfundchicago. #JobOpportunities #NonprofitCareers #CommunityOrganizing

Woods Fund Chicago joins many of our grantee partners, philanthropic peers, and community members in feelings of trepidation and concern regarding the new administration. In our latest newsletter, we share how our grantee partners are prepared for the work ahead through issues such as immigration, housing, and economic justice. ➡️ Read our first newsletter of 2025: https://lnkd.in/gwr-g8cF Photo credit: Chicago Coalition to end Homelessness

#GrantOpportunities: Woods Fund Chicago is now accepting new applicants for the 2025 grantmaking cycle through Monday, March 3. Please note: This application window is for *new applicants only.* Returning grantee partners, save the date! 📆 Your application window will open on Tuesday, April 1. The deadline for returning grantee partners is Wednesday, April 30. Learn more about our grants, what we're looking for, and how to apply at https://lnkd.in/gWPBeUEm or the link in bio.

📚Our top readings from last year demonstrate the collective power of our grantee partners as they support their communities. Starter pack: Community Advocacy and Safety 🫂 Systemic disinvestment — particularly of communities of color — create cycles of violence and homelessness that can be challenging to disrupt. Community advocates across several of our grantee partners and their coalitions are calling for systemic change that ends these cycles. Explore 2024's top readings that embody community, including pieces from WBEZ Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times, and The TRiiBE, and featuring WFC grantee partners Housing Action Illinois, KENWOOD-OAKLAND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION, Lugenia Burns Hope Center, GoodKidsMadCity-Englewood, Southside Together, and Chicago Freedom School. ➡️ LinkTree in bio. #CommunityOrganizing #CommunityAdvocacy Photo credit: Kenwood Oakland Community Organization

#GrantOpportunities: Applications for the Woods Fund Chicago 2025 grantmaking cycle are opening soon! To continue streamlining our application process, please note that Woods Fund Chicago will have separate application windows for new applicants and returning grantee partners. ➡️ New applicants: The application portal will open on Monday, February 3! The deadline for new applicants is Monday, March 3. Returning grantee partners, save the date! 📆 Your application window will open on Tuesday, April 1. The deadline for returning grantee partners is Wednesday, April 30. Learn more about our grants, what we're looking for, and how to apply at https://lnkd.in/gWPBeUEm or the link in bio.

Join our grantee partner TRHT Greater Chicago for the #NationalDayOfRacialHealing on Tuesday, January 21! Let your imagination run wild as Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) and Little Black Pearl explore the power of art in bringing love, peace, and human connection to our lives. This event is all about exploring creative outlets and social platforms as vital tools for sharing our narratives and sustaining our stories for future generations. The event will collectively lean into our shared humanity — listening deeply, sharing authentically, and holding space for healing. TRHT believes that art, as a powerful tool for storytelling and narrative change, has the ability to transform policies toward racial equity, helping to close the persistent wealth and health gaps in Chicago and beyond. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to nurture your heart space and express yourself through various art forms, in community at the heart and soul of Bronzeville. Learn more and RSVP at https://lnkd.in/gCAR2cZr

Opportunity: WFC grantee partner Chicago United for Equity is accepting applications for the 2025 CUE Fellowship through January 21, 2025. The Fellowship is a yearlong experience for leaders committed to catalyzing civic change in Chicago. Each cohort of 15 - 20 Fellows serves as collective strategists for each other, sharing their diverse perspectives from working in government, media, research, advocacy, organizing, and philanthropy. Together, they build a shared analysis of the city we love, where it must grow to meet our communities' needs, and develop action plans for their own organizations informed by this wider collaboration. Learn more and apply by January 21: https://lnkd.in/gZqCV3By

We are starting to the new year with a crucial call to action from Karla Altmayer, co-founder and co-director of WFC grantee partner Healing to Action. Karla's guest feature identifies the disparities in how gender-based violence (GBV) impacts various communities, as well as how GBV is addressed and combated. "The impact of this hyper-individualization of gender-based violence and overreliance on carceral responses perpetuates a disproportionate erasure of Black and brown survivors.... In light of these systemic failures, the most impacted survivors have forged their own strategies that focus on addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, and creating alternative responses to the current carceral model." Read Karla's powerful piece, which includes key questions for the philanthropic sector to consider in our approach to GBV: https://lnkd.in/gkjQdUhE Photo: Healing to Action (HTA) survivor-leaders and staff at HTA's first Solidarity Mercadito held at the National Mexican Museum of Art.