Chicago Foundation for Women Turns 25

A look back at the forward-thinking organization

Chicago Foundation for Women supported CLAIM from our earliest years. At a legislative hearing in Chicago in 1994, Warnice Robinson, one of our most active members, spoke up about being shackled to her bed during labor while serving time for shoplifting. Her courageous testimony led to our victory in making Illinois the first state in the nation to ban the shackling of women in correctional custody during labor. The recent violations of this law and women’s human rights in Cook County illustrate the need for continuous advocacy. Chicago Foundation for Women still supports our struggle, and we continue to engage formerly incarcerated women in the struggle for justice.
Gail T. Smith, Executive Director, Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM)

CFW was one of the first foundations to support Amigas Latinas, awarding us $5,000 in 1999 to hire a consultant who helped us not only envision our mission and goals, but more importantly, what our role as a women’s organization needed to be. This was especially significant because our direct service and advocacy work was with and on behalf of Latina lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women and their families and children. CFW’s support helped us leverage additional foundation dollars to strengthen our capacity and build a solid infrastructure. We just celebrated 15 years of organizing and serving our community – and in the ‘dog years’ time frame of LGBT nonprofits, it’s like we've been around forever! That's what CFW’s belief and continued support of our mission and vision has done for us.
Evette Cardona, co-founder of Amigas Latinas and co-chair of the Lesbian Leadership Council

The Chicago Foundation for Women has provided a unique and invaluable resource for groups serving women and girls. This work is not just desperately needed in Chicago, but it is also something that women and men in other cities and states could use as a model for their own donations. So many foundations ignore the specific needs of women and girls, and CFW fills this gap on a wide range of issues. They do so with an eye toward diversity, another quality lacking in mainstream foundations. I wish there was not a continued need for separate foundations for women, but until the larger foundations provide a more balanced portfolio of giving, CFW will continue to provide important resources for many organizations.
Tracy Baim, Publisher, Windy City Times

I will never forget the thrill of pride the first time Literature for All of Us received a grant from the Chicago Foundation for Women in 1999, a stamp of approval from women who looked closely at where their funds were going. I had attended CFW annual luncheons even prior to starting Literature for All of Us in 1997, and will never forget the thrill of hearing Maya Angelou sing her poetry and Isabelle Allende tell stories that had thousands of women (along with me) in tears for their beauty and love. At that same luncheon, my own daughter Meridel, along with a few other young women, took the same stage as Ms. Allende as CFW honored winners of its writing contest about making the world a better place. This truly is a groundbreaking institution for Chicago, and I am proud to have been a part of it for many years, both as a grantee and as a donor.
Karen Thomson, book group leader and Founder and Executive Director of CFW grantee Literature for All of Us

My favorite memory about being on the Board at CFW is that the women were all so really interested in making life better for agencies that were not receiving money from traditional funders. As a not for profit Executive Director with programs that did not always appeal to the mainstream, I was grateful and impressed.  Audrey Peeples, Alumnae Council co-chair

A most memorable moment from my involvement with the foundation was bringing my then 3-year-old daughter to one of CFW's races for a safe state to raise awareness for violence against women and girls and witnessing her excitement at receiving a t shirt slightly too large. But she wanted to wear it and she did - while I walked the 5k and she sat in her stroller surrounded by the energy of other women and girls. Women are the gatekeepers, actually the gateway, to the health and welfare of children, families and communities.

My own experience has shown me how necessary and valuable it is to create safe, just and healthy environments for women and girls because with that you enable a society and generations to continue understanding, caring and doing. I am proud to have found this community that values what I do and what I intend on instilling in my own daughter. To be able to introduce and bring my daughter into the fold already is incredibly meaningful to me; it's continuing on a path of discovery, strength, action and accomplishment that was shown to me by my own mother.

The other day, my daughter told me her classmates were asked share what their parents do. I was humbled as my eyes swelled with happy tears at hear her description: “My mom helps people who need help, she helps girls get books and learn and families to have money so they can live in a house and eat and go to work.” I thought to myself: she gets it.
Sharmila Rao Thakkar, Board member, Asian American Leadership Council member 

An early grantee of CFW was the Young Women’s Action Team. It started as a group of girls who were tired of being harassed by men on the street, so they decided to form a group. They started from grassroots beginnings and, with the help of the Chicago Foundation for Women, are still present today. That’s a perfect example of the Foundation’s good work.
Gail Ludewig, Board chair