For immediate release (May 12, 2009)
For information contact: Nancy Fishman, 312.609.0200
Grand Victoria Foundation Honored for Collaboration
with Illinois Community Foundations
A groundbreaking project to strengthen local philanthropies has received national recognition for its impact on Illinois communities.
Communityworks, a collaboration between Grand Victoria Foundation and seventeen community foundations in smaller Illinois cities, was honored with the Critical Impact Award from the Council on Foundations at its annual meeting this week in Atlanta.
From 2003-08 Grand Victoria Foundation invested $12 million in Communityworks, which sought to strengthen Illinois community foundations by building endowments, supporting high-performing operations, and encouraging collaboration with local leaders around important local priorities. Over the five years, the community foundations more than quadrupled their assets and created promising ventures in early childhood care and education, workforce development, and land use and protection. The effort is continuing, with up to $42 million in new grants along with new collaborative initiatives announced last September.
The initiative is one of four winners of this year’s Critical Impact Award.
“We believe community foundations can be the civic hubs of their communities, and through Communityworks we supported them in taking that kind of leadership,” said Grand Victoria Foundation Executive Director Nancy Fishman. “We’re delighted that the work has received this recognition from the Council, but even more we’re delighted with the partnerships and collaborative ventures created as a result of Communityworks.”
Local foundation leaders praised the program for strengthening community leadership as well as organizing statewide collaboration among the foundations. “CommunityWorks helped move us into a new direction in terms of community engagement and a proactive approach to grantmaking,” said Dan Templin, Executive Director of the DeKalb County Community Foundation, a CommunityWorks partner. “CommunityWorks has brought significant charitable dollars into DeKalb County and gives us an opportunity to attract more local contributions, which will benefit our citizens forever,” added Jesus Romero, CommunityWorks Chair and DCCF Board Member.
Other participating foundations include Community Foundation of Central Illinois (Peoria), the Community Foundation of Decatur/Macon County (Decatur), Sangamon County Community Foundation (Springfield), Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley (Kankakee), Community Foundation of East Central Illinois (Champaign), Community Foundation of the Great River Bend (Bettendorf, IA, funding in Rock Island), Community Foundation of Grundy County (Morris), Community Foundation of the Quincy Area, the DuPage Community Foundation (Wheaton), Evanston Community Foundation, McHenry County Community Foundation (Woodstock), The Moline Foundation, Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation (Effingham, formerly Effingham County Community Foundation and Mattoon Area Community Foundation), and Southern Illinois Community Foundation (Marion).
The Critical Impact Award was created by the Council on Foundations in 2006 to honor foundations for “innovative leadership, bold visions, and significant impact in advancing the common good through effective grantmaking which can serve as a model for others in philanthropy.” The Council is the national trade association representing the nation’s philanthropic sector.
Grand Victoria Foundation provides strategic funding to Illinois organizations working for long-lasting economic, educational and environmental change. Since it was established in 1996 by the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois, the Foundation has provided more than $100 million in grants to help communities across the state become vibrant places to live and work. Through grantmaking and leadership initiatives, Grand Victoria Foundation supports five elements of great communities: good jobs, a healthy environment, great places for kids, capable organizations and homegrown philanthropy. It launched Communityworks in an effort to build local partnerships around these issues. The Foundation has offices in Chicago and Elgin. More information about the Foundation and Communityworks is on Grand Victoria Foundation’s website, www.grandvictoriafdn.org. For specific information about DeKalb County Community Foundation’s CommunityWorks initiative visit www.dekalbcountyfoundation.org. See www.cof.org for information on the Council on Foundations.