Woods Fund Chicago

What Woods Fund Chicago does

Woods Fund Chicago is a private grantmaking foundation headquartered at 200 West Madison Street in Chicago, Illinois, operating from a hybrid work model with 11 employees. The foundation was originally established by Nelle and Frank Woods and their three sons and has transitioned from its origins as the Woods Charitable Fund to its current form as a private foundation that has awarded more than $90 million since 1993 to support community organizing and public policy advocacy in Chicago. Grantee partners are predominantly BIPOC-led and BIPOC-centered community-based organizations working on racial, social, and economic justice, with named recipients spanning community organizing, immigration rights, youth development, housing, cannabis reform, and gender-based violence initiatives.

The foundation's core offering is grantmaking services built on a trust-based philanthropy model, which provides general operating support and multiyear grants rather than project-restricted funding, with an increased annual grantee payout of 11%. Supporting programs include the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund (a collaborative of 13 foundations targeting $3M in pooled resources to Black-led movements), the Capacity Building Initiative for BIPOC-led organizations, and the Cultivate Leadership Program for women and nonbinary leaders of color. The foundation operates the GivingData grants management platform as its core technology for application and award workflows, and distributes funds directly without intermediaries.

The foundation does not generate commercial revenue; instead, it distributes capital from its endowment and pooled fund contributions to eligible nonprofit organizations. Funding flows are sourced from the foundation's endowment, collaborative pooled funds such as the CRJPF, and multi-foundation initiatives. Recent cycles have included $7.5M to 96 grantees in 2022-2023, $4.7M+ to 96 organizations in 2024, and $1.6M+ to 45 organizations in Fall 2023.

Name

Woods Fund Chicago

Legal name

Woods Fund Chicago

Website

https://woodsfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1940

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Woods Fund Chicago is a private grantmaking foundation that distributes general operating and multiyear grants to BIPOC-led community organizing and public policy advocacy organizations in Chicago, having awarded more than $90 million since 1993 using an 11% annual payout trust-based philanthropy model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Corporate Foundations & CSR Grantmaking (BPAGAKAC)

Keywords

• Community grantmaking
• Philanthropic foundations
• Trust-based philanthropy
• Racial justice funding
• Capacity building grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Endowment/Distribution: Woods Fund Chicago operates as a private grantmaking foundation distributing funds from its endowment to support community organizing and public policy advocacy organizations. The foundation provides general operating support, multiyear grants, and capacity building support to BIPOC-led organizations advancing racial, social, and economic justice.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Woods Fund Chicago is a private grantmaking foundation that distributes funds from its endowment to support community organizing and public policy advocacy organizations in Chicago. It provides general operating support, multiyear grants, and capacity-building support to BIPOC-led organizations advancing racial, social, and economic justice through a trust-based philanthropy model.

Product overview

Woods Fund Chicago is a grantmaking foundation that provides financial resources and programmatic support to community organizing and public policy advocacy organizations in Chicago. The organization's core offerings include its grantmaking services built on a trust-based philanthropy model, the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund, capacity building initiatives for BIPOC-led organizations, and the Cultivate Leadership Program for emerging women of color leaders. Together, these programs support social, economic, and racial justice through community empowerment and systemic transformation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Grantmaking Services Woods Fund Chicago provides grantmaking services to support community organizing and public policy advocacy focused on social, economic, and racial justice in Chicago. The foundation distributes general operating support, multiyear grants, and capacity building resources to eligible nonprofit organizations.
• Trust-Based Philanthropy Approach A grantmaking approach that shifts power back to communities, allowing grantee partners to determine where grant dollars are needed most through general operating and multiyear grants. The foundation increased its annual grantee payout to 11% as part of this approach.
• Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund (CRJPF) A shared initiative launched in 2020 by Woods Fund Chicago and 13 other Chicago-area foundations to raise and move $3M to organizations building movements for justice that center Black lives and address anti-Blackness.
• Capacity Building Initiative Programs to strengthen the infrastructure and organizational capacity of BIPOC-led and BIPOC-centered community-based organizations to ensure their sustainability, leveraging Woods Fund's convening power in the philanthropic sector to highlight issues impacting communities of color.
• Cultivate Leadership Program A leadership development program for women and nonbinary leaders of color working in social, economic, and/or racial justice movements, featuring executive coaching.

Quantifiable outcome

• $90M+ awarded since 1993 to support organizing and advocacy sector
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• LISC Chicago (Local Initiatives Support Corporation)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 30 October 2024Partnership for the Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards (CNDA), including the Power of Community Award that recognizes organizing campaigns achieving sustained community victories.
• Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund (CRJPF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 October 2020Launched in 2020 as a shared project from Woods Fund Chicago and over a dozen other Chicago-area foundations. Commitment to raise and move $3M to Chicago organizations building and sustaining movements for justice that center Black lives and address anti-Blackness. Woods Fund serves as a founding partner.
• Morten GroupminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 October 2020Collaboration on READI Symposium (Racial Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion) with proceeds going to Black-led Chicago organizations Affinity Community Services and i.c.stars. Woods Fund President Michelle Morales participated as a panelist.
• TRHT Greater Chicago (Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017TRHT Greater Chicago was housed at Woods Fund Chicago for three years. A comprehensive, national, and community-based process to address historic and contemporary effects of racism. Under Woods Fund's hosting, grew from 48 to over 300 trained healing practitioners. Program has outgrown Woods Fund and is transitioning to a new home.
• Healing to ActionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrantee partner focused on gender-based violence initiatives that prioritize survivor-leaders. Featured in December 2024 newsletter discussing how funders can support such initiatives.
• Just Chicago CollectivecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRecipient of $500,000 Movement Building for Racial Justice Fund. Made up of six co-applicants: Resist. Reimagine. Rebuild. Coalition, ChiFresh Kitchen, TRACC4Movement, Action Now, BYP100, and Equity And Transformation. Working to build progressive Black agenda in Chicago through base building and political education.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Chicago Community Trust: The Chicago Community Trust is the largest community foundation in the Chicago region, pooling donor-advised and discretionary funds for racial equity, economic inclusion, and place-based giving. It is a direct peer in Chicago-focused grantmaking but operates at substantially greater scale across many issue areas beyond Woods Fund's organizing focus.
• Open Society Foundations: Open Society Foundations is one of the world's largest private grantmaking organizations funding racial justice, migration, and democratic participation globally. It is a comparable private foundation funding community organizing and advocacy but operates at vastly larger scale and broader geography.
• MacArthur Foundation: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest US private foundations with major Chicago presence, funding racial justice, community organizing, and policy advocacy. It is a comparable private foundation operating in the same Chicago organizing ecosystem but at a much larger scale and broader issue portfolio.
• Crown Family Philanthropies: Crown Family Philanthropies is a Chicago-based private foundation with multi-generational giving across Jewish community, education, economic development, and racial equity. It is a comparable legacy Chicago private foundation with overlapping grantee networks but a broader thematic portfolio.
• Robert R. McCormick Foundation: The Robert R. McCormick Foundation is a major Chicago-area private foundation funding civic education, veterans, and community development. Woods Fund's VP of Programs previously led a place-based initiative there, and both funds operate in overlapping Chicago geographies and grantee networks.

Direct peers

• Chicago Beyond: Chicago Beyond is a Chicago philanthropic organization funding youth of color and equity-focused work with trust-based grantmaking practices. It is a direct peer in the Chicago BIPOC-led organizing and advocacy space with similar trust-based approaches to grantee relationships.
• The Joyce Foundation: The Joyce Foundation is a Chicago-based private foundation funding racial equity, economic mobility, and democracy/civic engagement — closely overlapping with Woods Fund's organizing and policy advocacy thesis. It is a direct peer in the same Midwestern racial-justice grantmaking niche with a comparable trust-based orientation.
• Lloyd A. Fry Foundation: The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is a Chicago private foundation focused on education, health, and economic opportunity for low-income communities. It is a direct peer in Chicago place-based grantmaking with overlapping BIPOC-led grantee organizations.
• Polk Bros Foundation: Polk Bros Foundation is a Chicago family foundation focused on education, arts, and community development with strong support for community organizing and racial equity. It is a direct comparable in the Chicago private-foundation grantmaking space serving overlapping BIPOC-led grantees.
• Field Foundation of Illinois: The Field Foundation of Illinois is a Chicago private foundation funding social justice, civic engagement, and arts with explicit racial-equity framing. It is a direct peer in the same Chicago racial-justice grantmaking niche with similar multiyear grantmaking practices.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WoodsFundChi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/woods-fund-of-chicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/woodsfundchi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Woods Fund Chicago