| Form 990, Part III, Line 4a, Part 1: |
The Chicago Community Trust unites generous donors, committed nonprofits, and caring residents to effect lasting change that moves our entire region forward. In 2022, the Trust continued its commitment to strengthening the Chicago region by meeting residents' immediate needs, addressing the root causes of deep-seated issues, and creating equity, opportunity, and prosperity for all people who call it home. Key accomplishments in fiscal year 2022 The Trust's staff and Executive Committee members spent fiscal 2022 continuing to execute our 10-year strategic priorities aimed at closing the Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap, addressing critical needs, and connecting philanthropy to impact. This 10-year plan, launched in 2019, aligns the Trust's discretionary grant making and initiatives to overcome racial and ethnic wealth inequity. By growing household wealth, catalyzing neighborhood investment, building collective power, addressing critical needs, advocating for policy change, and connecting philanthropy to impact, the Trust believes it can realize a more prosperous future for the region. In 2022, the Trust made 448 discretionary grants totaling more than $63 million to advance its strategic priorities. That includes grants made through funding collaboratives in which the Trust participates. Following are some highlights of how the year's grant making embraced the Trust's aim to be a changemaker, addressed equitable economic recovery from the pandemic, and advanced its strategic priorities to grow household wealth, catalyze neighborhood investment, build collective power, address critical needs, and advocate for policy change. Growing Household Wealth The Trust's Growing Household Wealth goals are to increase the share of economic prosperity for Black and Latinx individuals and families by increasing incomes, building assets, and reducing delinquent debt through programmatic interventions and systemic policy change. The Trust made 12 grants totaling $1.1 million to organizations providing housing counseling and case management services to low-income- to middle-income Black and Latinx first-time homebuyers. The Fund for Equitable Business Growth, a funding collaborative that includes the Trust, made grants totaling more than $3.1 million to Business Support Organizations. Grant recipients are engaged in partnerships that improve and expand access to capital, specialized business consultation services, and other supports for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in the Chicago region. The Trust also made a $300,000 grant in support of deploying the GoLogics Platform among a subset of Business Service Organizations in service of small business development data. Together with Kinship Foundation, through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, the Trust provided grants totaling nearly $5 million through Bridges to Brighter Futures, which helps create equitable access to good jobs and continued career development. These grants are helping Black, Latinx, and low-income Chicagoans who have earned a high school diploma or GED take the next step in their career development. Included in the Bridges funding were grants totaling $900,000 to identify promising practices in what's known as "middle skills" career pathway development, such as education and workforce programs that help workers earn certifications that will increase their wages. Bridges to Brighter Futures also made a $350,000 grant to One Million Degrees in support of placing community college students on an accelerated career path to economic mobility by connecting scholars to the private sector and corporations that, in turn, connect scholars to career pathways and professional networks that provide access to a more inclusive economy. The Trust provided $1.7 million to support organizations working in coalition to advance equitable policies that promote wealth building. Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment The Trust's Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment strategy creates the enabling environment for communities to attract, retain, and own capital investment. The strategy has three interrelated areas of work: strengthening the neighborhood investment ecosystem, planning and development processes, and finance and policy solutions. Grants from the strategy typically have elements of at least two of these areas. That includes grants made through the Pre-Development Fund, a first-of-its-kind program that provides Black and Latinx developers with make-or-break funding during predevelopment--a phase of activities banks don't finance but are necessary for new development. Well-established developers typically pay for predevelopment activities out of pocket. The Trust's Pre-Development Fund covered the early-stage costs for 22 projects in 2022. The Neighborhood Developers Initiative is a collaborative effort of Community Desk Chicago to scale the internal capacity of neighborhood nonprofits interested in taking a more active role in the physical development of their communities. In 2022, Community Desk supported three nonprofits, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, South Shore Chamber of Commerce, and Teamwork Englewood, to offset costs for these organizations to participate in the Neighborhood Development Initiative. In 2022, the Trust began to pilot shared ownership of commercial real estate development. Grants included $100,000 each to TREND Community Development Corporation in support of Chicago TREND to broaden its Chicago portfolio of real estate ventures structured as Community Investment Vehicles and Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative in support of Vacancy to Vibrancy: Community Investment Vehicle. As part of the Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment strategy to revitalize under-invested Black and Latinx communities, the Trust is partnering with Kinship Foundation and the Searle Funds on a multi-year initiative to create a resilient local food economy in the Chicago region. In 2022, the Food:Land:Opportunity initiative made more than $2.2 million in grants to provide innovative ways to grow and distribute fresh produce and healthy food while conserving land. Building Collective Power The Trust's Building Collective Power goals are to strengthen networks, amplify community voice, and build local coalitions that support neighborhood vitality and action. The Trust awarded more than $5 million in grants to efforts that are building the power of People in under-resourced and under-invested communities. The People initiatives foster "communities of practice" in which individuals and organizations doing similar work--for example, with youth in the arts--regularly gather to exchange strategies, support one another, and identify collective efforts. "People" grants included more than $4.4 million to support community organizers through the Changemakers Network and $1.38 million for leadership development programs for underserved communities and populations. The "Voice" strand of the Trust Building Collective Power strategy supports journalism and media as a foundation for promoting civic engagement and democracy. In 2022, the Trust made nearly $1.7 million in grants to support citywide and hyperlocal media operations. That includes $300,000 to Field Foundation of Illinois to support Field's media and storytelling platform to invest in organizations that focus on telling stories from BIPOC neighborhoods in Chicago. Advocating for Policy Change The Trust's Advocating for Policy Change strategy supports organizations that bolster the policy ecosystem, and advance policy and systems change. In 2022, that included $75,000 to Change Illinois in support of efforts to educate residents in Chicago about redistricting/redistricting reform and ensure proper implementation of the law ending prison gerrymandering, $150,000 to the University of Chicago Urban Labs in support of research and evaluation of the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, a $31.5M monthly cash assistance program within the Chicago Recovery Plan, and $200,000 to Civic Consulting Alliance in support efforts to strengthen the city and county's internal capacity to use federal recovery funds for an equitable and inclusive recovery. Addressing Critical Needs Addressing Critical Needs grants address the emergent needs of the residents most in need of support in the region through targeted investment in quality service delivery, systems, and policy innovation, and timely partnerships for civic action. That includes a $200,000 grant to All Chicago to support the expedited housing project in advancing policy reforms and systems innovation to address housing insecurity and homelessness in the Chicago region and $200,000 to United Way of Metropolitan Chicago in support of 2-1-1, a coordinated system across the City and County connecting residents in need to essential community services. |
| Form 990, Part III, Line 4a, Part 2: |
Following is a summary of competitive grant making priorities of the Trust in FY2022. In fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021 - September 30, 2022), the Trust awarded 527 grants totaling more than $53 million to nonprofit organizations. The competitive grant process is designed primarily to select nonprofits whose work addresses the four priorities in the 2018 strategic plan and aligned to the Trust's mission and vision of a thriving and equitable region. ADDRESS CRITICAL NEEDS Support essential service organizations that are addressing the critical needs of individuals and families. Protecting immigrants' rights, ending homelessness, and preventing violence stabilize individuals, families, and communities throughout the region. TOTAL ADDRESS CRITICAL NEEDS GRANTS: $7,994,998 BUILD COLLECTIVE POWER Advance resident-led community organizing initiatives, strengthen local media and storytelling platforms to reflect and amplify authentic community narratives, and support community-inspired, resident-driven campaigns and activities that advance a community agenda. TOTAL BUILD COLLECTIVE POWER GRANTS: $12,381,000 CATALYZE NEIGHBORHOOD INVESTMENT Spark more financial investments in underinvested Black and Latinx communities by creating conditions for collaborative community investment, collaborating on community investment solutions that strengthen places, and leveraging finance and policy to sustain community investments, TOTAL CATALYZE NEIGHBORHOOD INVESTMENT GRANTS: $9,416,000 GROW HOUSEHOLD WEALTH Increase economic prosperity for current and future generations of Black and Latinx individuals and families by creating opportunities for households to increase incomes, build assets and reduce debts while addressing the systemic structures perpetuating economic inequality. TOTAL GROW HOUSEHOLD WEALTH GRANTS: $7,527,043 ARTS AND CULTURE Infuse arts organizations with the resources to truly reflect Chicago's diversity. To provide arts education to young people, in and out of schools. To become more sustainable, serving as enduring anchors in their neighborhoods. We support programs that make data and information more available to leaders and residents alike, providing common ground for conversation and change. TOTAL ARTS AND CULTURE GRANTS: $855,000 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENTS Support the Trust's geographic affiliates, affinity funds, and professional memberships. Sponsor programming and fundraising events for nonprofit organizations throughout the region, prioritizing organizations that align with the Trust's mission or work. TOTAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENTS GRANTS: $3,572,815 EDUCATION Increase opportunities to build career pathways through supporting completion of credentialing programs, post-secondary degrees, mentoring, coaching and job training to obtain, retain and advance in careers. TOTAL EDUCATION GRANTS: $5,832,775 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Enhance resources to create resilient local food economy that protects and conserves land and other natural resources while promoting market innovation and building wealth and assets in the Chicago region's communities. TOTAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS: $3,495,000 HEALTH Catalyze innovations to support health data equity across the region, medical research and to improve health care outcomes. TOTAL HEALTH GRANTS: $2,084,802 |
| Form 990, Part III, Line 4a, Part 1 (continued): |
The Trust made Addressing Critical Needs grants from the Unity Fund to 29 organizations providing essential services to residents in the Chicago region and renewal grants to 23 organizations through the Systems & Policy RFP released in 2021. Additional Grants The Trust made nearly $1 million in grants to support critical research. That includes $700,000 to the Financial Health Network to design and implement a local version of the FHN national survey. We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery is a coalition of public and private funders and communities accelerating equity in the Chicago region's economic recovery so everyone who lives here can reach their full potential. These partners share one common goal: accelerating equitable economic recovery for Black and Latinx communities by pooling and distributing philanthropic resources, re-envisioning business practices, and reforming policies to ensure our region invests more equitably. In 2022, We Rise Together invested $34 million in community-driven real estate projects, workforce development, and Black and Latinx-owned businesses and supported 32 resident-driven real estate projects valued at $328 Million to create an estimated 3,200 new jobs. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 2 |
Many of our board members serve on the board of organizations that receive grants from the Chicago Community Trust. Board members are required to review the conflict of interest policy of the Trust and complete a questionnaire annually which discloses any affiliations. Board members are required to disclose transactions that may result in or represent a conflict of interest. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 7a |
As of 9/30/22, the governing board of the Trust had 17 members and no vacancies. Of the seventeen members, two members are currently appointed by the governing board of the Trust (2). Ten members are appointed by public or quasi-public officials: the Mayor of Chicago (2), the Presiding Judge of the probate division of the Circuit Court of Cook County (2), the Chief Judge of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois (2), the Presidents of The University of Chicago (1) and Northwestern University (1), Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago (1) and the Lay Presiding Officer Of The United Way Of Metropolitan Chicago (1). The remaining five members are appointed by the Trustee's committee, which is comprised of the chief executive officers of the Trustee Banks which hold the assets of the Trust (5). |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 11b |
The Form 990 is prepared by the consulting firm RSM US, LLP. It is reviewed by the Vice President of Finance/CFO and General Counsel on staff. A review is also conducted by external counsel on alternate years. Prior to final filing, the return is presented to the audit and risk committee. Once accepted by the committee, it is signed and filed with the IRS. Prior to filing, the return is shared with the full Executive Committee/Board of Directors of the Chicago Community Trust and the Chicago Community Foundation. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 12c |
The General Counsel & Secretary request annually a written list from members of the executive committee and nonmembers of the executive committee who serve on committees of the executive committee, and key staff members that asks members to disclose the corporations, partnerships, proprietorships and other business enterprises of which the member or his or her spouse or legal partner is an officer, director, partner or substantial stockholder or owner and which have or might reasonably be expected to have business or financial dealings with the Chicago Community Trust. In circumstances where a possible business or financial conflict arises, the member of the committee should disclose the possible conflict at the meeting at which the action or business dealing is considered and shall abstain from voting. In addition, each member also submits a list of the tax-exempt, charitable and educational agencies of which the member or his or her spouse or legal partner is an officer, director trustee or employee. Based on such lists, the grant resolution sent to the executive committee would disclose the existence of any interrelationship. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 15 |
The compensation of the President and CEO (of the Chicago Community Trust) is reviewed annually by the Board of Directors, based on a recommendation from the nomination and governance committee. As part of the process, the committee prepares a written appraisal with input from all of the board members. In addition, the committee reviews various survey data and other comparable compensation data for similar positions. The committee reports the results of the written performance appraisal and their recommendation to the full Board of Directors during an executive session at the last committee meeting of the year. After review and discussion, the board of directors approves a compensation package for the president and CEO. In addition to reviewing the annual compensation of the president and CEO, the Budget and Compensation Committee of the Trust reviews the annual compensation of key employees comparing compensation with relevant comparable survey and compensation data. The committee reports the results of the written performance appraisal and their recommendation to the full board of directors during an executive session at the last committee meeting of the year. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, line 19 |
Documents are made available to the public as requested. |
| Form 990, Part XI, line 9: |
Loss in Beneficial Interest in Charitable Term Trusts -32,839,863. Loss on Beneficial Interest in Charitable Perpetual Trusts -11,469,922. Change in Value of Illiquid Assets -6,100,125. Change in Value of Charitable Gift Annuity and Life Insurance Policy -33,022. |
Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.