In 2003 a foundation with a statewide mission set out to build a strong network of partners. Community foundations around the state took up the challenge. And everything changed. From isolation to collaboration McHenry County Community Foundation Grand Victoria Foundation DeKalb County McHenry County Nancy Fishman Community Foundation Community Foundation Evanston Community Foundation 230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2530 Dan Templin Kate Halma The DuPage Chicago, Illinois 60606 The Atrium Office Center P.O. Box 1844 Community Foundation 312 609-0200 2600 DeKalb Avenue Woodstock, Illinois 60098 Grand Victoria Foundation Community Foundation DeKalb County grandvictoriafdn.org Sycamore, Illinois 60178 815 338-4483 of the Great River Bend Community Foundation 815 748-5383 mccfdn.org Oak Park-River Forest The Moline Community Foundation dekalbcountyfoundation.org Community Foundation Foundation of Central Illinois The Moline Foundation Mark Roberts The DuPage Joy Boruff 331 Fulton Street, Suite 310 Community Foundation 817 11th Avenue Peoria, Illinois 61602 Dave McGowan Moline, Illinois 61265 Community Foundation of Grundy County 309 674-8730 104 E. Roosevelt Road, Suite 204 309 736-3800 communityfoundationci.org Wheaton, Illinois 60187 molinefoundation.org Community Foundation 630 665-5556 of Kankakee River Valley Community Foundation dcfdn.org Community Foundation of East Central Illinois of Grundy County Community Foundation Joan Dixon Effingham County Julie Buck of Central Illinois 404 West Church Street Community Foundation 102 N. Liberty Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 and Mattoon Area Morris, Illinois 60450 217 359-0125 Community Foundation 815 941-0852 The Community Foundation of cfeci.org Joedy Hightower cfgrundycounty.com Decatur/Macon County 300 East Washington Community Foundation of the Quincy Area Community Foundation The Community Foundation of P.O. Box 1211 Oak Park - River Forest Sangamon County of East Central Illinois Decatur/Macon County Effingham, Illinois 62401 Community Foundation Community Foundation Lucy Murphy 217 342-4988 Effingham Sophia Lloyd to collaboration 125 North Water Street, Suite 200 effinghamfoundation.org 1049 Lake Street, Suite 204 Decatur, Illinois 62523 217 235-2500 Mattoon Oak Park, Illinois 60301 Mattoon Area 217 429-3000 mattoonfoundation.org 708 848-1560 Community Foundation endowdecatur.org oprfcf.org Southeastern Illinois Evanston Community Community Foundation Community Foundation Foundation Sangamon County Effingham County of the Great River Bend Sara Schastok Community Foundation Community Foundation Susan Skora 1007 Church Street, Suite 108 John Stremsterfer 852 Middle Road, Suite 100 Evanston, Illinois 60201 One West Old State Capitol Plaza, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722 847 492-0990 Suite 816 563 326-2840 evanstonforever.org Springfield, Illinois 62701 cfgrb.org 217 789-4431 Community Foundation sccf.us Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley of the Quincy Area Norm Strasma Southern Illinois Jill Blickhan 105 East Court Street Community Foundation P.O. Box 741 Kankakee, Illinois 60901 Pat Bauer Quincy, Illinois 62306 815 939-1611 201 West DeYoung Street Southern Illinois 217 222-1237 endowthefuture.org Marion, Illinois 62959 Community Foundation mycommunityfoundation.org 618 997-3700 sicf.org Communityworks. The change so far. Communityworks Phase I Financial and technical support to build leadership, Five years ago, the Grand Victoria Foundation May 2003–May 2005 communications, and capacity to raise and manage funds: was a young Illinois foundation with limited assets $50,000/year, two years operating support, part of which could be used for salary and an ambitious statewide agenda for improving $50,000 2:1 challenge grant for Communityworks early childhood care and education, workforce endowment development, and land use and protection. To develop Participation in Learning Support Network thoughtful, place-based programs and attract local resources, Grand Victoria decided it needed partners. Communityworks Phase II Financial and technical support to deploy It launched Communityworks, a $12 million, five- June 2005–May 2008 capacities on one or more target issues: year initiative to expand the capacity and influence $60,000/year, three years general operating support of Illinois community foundations and collaborate $200,000 1:1 challenge grant for Communityworks endowment with them. Drawing on interviews and reports Community convenings from seventeen community foundations and Grand Development of community impact plan Victoria, this report examines how it worked, what Participation in Learning Support Network lessons emerged, and what comes next. The thinking changed. What do private foundations do? The traditional answer is, give away money. By this Grand Victoria offered them the opportunity, and the resources, to change that model. logic, a statewide foundation like Illinois’ Grand Victoria Foundation would give away It would help them build their capacity and their endowments, if they would consider money around the state. But Illinois is a big state: nearly 13 million people, organized expanding their role, listening to their community, and creating and implementing into 102 counties and hundreds of local governments, with dramatic upstate/downstate plans to address those three issues locally (see grant details on p. 2). In launching and rural/urban disparities. Grand Victoria wanted to take on big issues, including early Communityworks, recalls Nancy Fishman, executive director of Grand Victoria, “I was childhood care and education, workforce development, and land use and protection. hoping that if we all agreed that we care about the same things, and that our solutions How could one grantmaker, with $50 million in total assets, possibly make a difference must be placed-based, and we all worked together, however different our strategies might on those issues in Illinois? be, it would make a much bigger difference to folks in Illinois than if Grand Victoria just Grand Victoria started by rethinking its role. Instead of going solo, suppose it could made its grants and community foundations focused on donor services.” be part of an ensemble? Instead of struggling to figure out needs and opportunities in Eighteen community foundations took up the challenge (one later dropped out). Decatur, Carbondale, and Quincy, suppose it found local partners who could share The operating support alone was irresistible. But many, especially brand-new foundations their knowledge? Instead of simply making its own grants, could it expand philanthropic or those with recently hired executive directors, were attracted by the chance to step resources in Illinois, especially outside the Chicago metro region? up to a new, more professional level of operations. “Communityworks was the first big Recent years have seen many foundations rethinking their role. They are moving idea that came our way,” said one executive director. A trustee said: “It came at just the beyond grantmaking to convene stakeholders, invest in research and capacity building, right time. It gave us direction; it gave us a focus; it gave us a story.” build networks, and share information. Grand Victoria made those ideas central to its approach. Grand Victoria also picked up on the increasing interest in community philanthropy, But not everyone was so sure. energized by a new generation of donors, new financial instruments, and new technologies. “We thought our job was to create permanent endowments for beloved local Other private foundations—notably Lilly, Kellogg, Mott, and Irvine —were investing in nonprofits,” not compete with them for resources, said one executive director; their states’ community foundations. Grand Victoria decided to seek partners among “Communityworks wanted to take us in a different direction. That was a community foundations in Illinois. At the time, in 2001, Illinois community foundations problem.” Another likened Communityworks to a giant slalom course: “We could (except in Chicago) were a largely underdeveloped sector. Some had just gotten started. see the finish line, but the slope was enshrouded in fog—we had no clear idea Others had been around for decades but were inactive. Only a handful had assets above how we would get there.” A few were downright suspicious. As one executive $10 million. director put it: “A foundation from Chicago says, ‘we’re here to help you?’ And then there was another definition problem: What do community foundations Nobody south of I-80 believes anyone from Chicago is going to help them.” do? The traditional answer has been, they manage the assets and carry out the wishes of local donors and work with the local nonprofits they wish to support. Several Illinois foundations acknowledged the importance for their communities of the issues Grand Victoria was raising. Communities in the Chicago metro area struggle with growth and land conservation issues; aging industrial cities know that they need a better trained workforce; and everyone recognizes the importance of early childhood learning. But community foundations generally did not see tackling such issues as their role. Their role was to work with local donors and help them support local organizations. 5 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks From one tool to a toolbox The people changed, and so did the places. Before Communityworks, most Illinois community foundations were very small operations. Some had never had a full-time staff person or an office; others relied on one or two people to do everything. The operating