Donor Opportunities
What matters to you most? We can help you achieve it.
Every day, we work closely with individuals and families just like you, as well as with your trusted financial advisors, to ensure that your charitable giving gives you the control, the flexibility and the impact you’re looking for.
Donor Quick Links:
Log into Instant Impact
Make an online gift
Meet the Team
Our expertise and service help transform your vision of change into powerful, meaningful philanthropy. Contact us to learn more about your options.
Philanthropic Services
The Trust can help you translate cash, bequests or other assets into lasting community impact. There are a variety of options, and the Trust can work with you to create the giving vehicle that is right for you.
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Donor Advised Funds
Donor advised funds make your grant making simple and effective. Donors create a personal, named fund at any level, then make grants from the fund to charities of their choosing. The Trust provides administrative support and oversight of the investment of your assets.
Fund holders have the option to access their account online, adding money or making grants from anywhere in the world, 24/7, through our online portal called Instant Impact.
In addition to awarding your charitable grants, a donor advised fund also gives you access to easy ways to get involved in the community—like locally-focused impact investing, or joining together with neighbors in shoring up our community safety net through the Unity Fund.
Learn more:
Comparison Chart: Donor Advised Funds, Supporting Organizations & Private Foundations
Donor Advised Fund Application
To add to your donor advised fund, contact your Philanthropic Advisor for Gifting Instructions.
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Supporting Organizations
A supporting organization can be an alternative to a private foundation. It is recognized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. You may select board members to govern your investments and grant making policies. With a gift of $5 million or more, the supporting organization becomes an affiliate of the Trust.
Learn more:
Comparison Chart: Donor Advised Funds, Supporting Organizations & Private Foundations
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Private Foundation Conversion
For many donors, the administrative and other burdens of managing a private foundation can overshadow their primary desire to do good. A donor advised fund with the Trust offers a welcome alternative.
Learn more:
Private Foundations Services at the Trust
Comparison Chart: Donor Advised Funds vs. Private Foundations
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Planning an Estate Gift
A planned gift through The Chicago Community Trust can create lasting support for the charitable areas that matter to you. A planned gift can also reduce your income tax liability. Working with your advisors, the Trust can offer you several options to create a lasting philanthropic legacy for yourself and your family. We provide expert counsel on charitable gifts that include:
- Bequests
- Life insurance policies
- Retirement accounts
- Charitable trusts or charitable gift annuities
Learn more about each of these options and how to get started in our fact sheet, Benefiting Charitable Causes in the Future.
For more insight on these services, contact Tim Bresnahan, senior director of gift planning, at tbresnahan@cct.org or (312) 616-8000 x158.
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Corporate Philanthropy
The importance of corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility resonates with corporations, their employees, their clients and their shareholders more than ever. The Chicago Community Trust can partner with companies in a variety of ways to help facilitate and administer their corporate philanthropy—and partner with individual corporate executives on ways to give with impact and ease.
Learn more in our Connecting Corporate Purpose to Impact fact sheet, or contact Joan Garvey Lundgren, senior director of resource development, at jgarveylundgren@cct.org or (312) 616-8000.
Community Impact
The Trust offers a number of opportunities to direct your charitable giving into our local community—from impact investing, to giving circles that unite likeminded donors for greater philanthropic power.
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Giving to the Trust
Unrestricted funding allows the Trust the flexibility to mobilize grant dollars that advance equity and provide relief to the region’s most pressing needs. Give to our unrestricted fund today and help us achieve our vision of a thriving, equitable and connected Chicago region where people of all races, places and identities have the opportunity to reach their potential.
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Unity Fund
Strong communities are built on our humanity and readiness to help our neighbors in their time of need. Donating to Unity Fund ensures that funding reaches nonprofit organizations that serve as lifelines in the community for so many individuals and families seeking the basic needs of life: shelter, food, clothing, health services and job training.
Since 2009, generous donors like you have helped Unity Fund award nearly $14 million to benefit 200 nonprofits providing critical services in our community. Please join us.
- Quick link: Donate to Unity Fund
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Identity Focused Funds
Identity-focused funds are groups of donors united by a shared heritage or common interest. They offer an efficient way to support a specific group of people and the nonprofits that aid them by leveraging contributions by giving collectively. Minimum contributions vary by group, starting as low as $250. Learn more about our identity-focused funds:
- Quick link: Donate to the African American Legacy
- Quick link: Donate to the Asian Giving Circle
- Quick link: Donate to the Disabilities Fund
- Quick link: Donate to the LGBTQ Community Fund
- Quick link: Donate to Nuestro Futuro
- Quick link: Donate to The Young Leaders Fund
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Geographic Affiliates
The Chicago Community Trust is affiliated with regional community foundations whose objectives align with those of the greater metropolitan area. Through their affiliation with the Trust, these foundations allow donors to leverage contributions by giving collectively, gain hands-on introduction to grant making and enjoy greater economies of scale. Learn more about our geographic affiliates:
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Our Great Rivers
Imagine a river system in Chicago where communities, habitats and industries prosper together. In 2015, The Chicago Community Trust secured the approval of Mayor Emanuel to work with partners on the city’s first-ever vision for its complex river system, made up of 150 miles of land along the Chicago, Des Plaines and Calumet rivers and tributaries.
The Our Great Rivers Fund will support sustainable development projects to make this bold vision a reality, creating a river system in the future that is as vibrant and beloved a resource as our signature lakefront is today.
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Impact Investing
At The Chicago Community Trust, we believe that impact investing, with its ability to generate social returns alongside investment gains, amplifies the transformative power of the philanthropic capital entrusted to our organization. We invest in impact – and provide opportunities for donor advised fund holders to join us – in the following ways:
- Impact Investing Program for Donor-Advised Funds: For donor advised funds exceeding $250,000, we offer an impact investing platform. Using this platform, donors can access a curated list of impact investment options and request that their donor-advised fund be invested for impact in one or more opportunities. We offer a range of impact investment options including ESG-focused equity funds and loans to local CDFIs.
- Investment Manager Diversity: We believe it is important to consider racial and gender diversity in the management of our investment portfolio, and we are committed to retaining a diverse pool of investment managers while achieving our investment objectives. Through our growth pool, donor advised fund holders access this diversity. We also engage with our investment managers to advocate for strong and effective diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) practices.
- Investment in Benefit Chicago: Our pooled portfolio for donor advised funds is invested in Benefit Chicago, a $100 million place-based impact investment fund launched by The Chicago Community Trust, The MacArthur Foundation, and Calvert Impact Capital. The goal of Benefit Chicago is to create jobs, build wealth, and tackle other social and economic challenges, with a special focus on communities of color, low-income households, and historically marginalized communities.
- Custom Impact Strategies for Individually-Managed Funds: We work in collaboration with a select number of donors and their advisors to approve and implement custom impact investment strategies for funds held at the Chicago Community Trust that are greater than $1 million.
Contact your philanthropic advisor or Kristin Carlson Vogen to learn more about how you can achieve greater impact through your donor advised fund, and maximize your commitment to a thriving, equitable and connected Chicago region.
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Giving to Field of Interest Funds
The Trust houses and administers funds for a number of charitable and civic initiatives that address our region’s most pressing needs. Supporters of the following funds can make their donations online:
The Fund for Equitable Business Growth
American/Illinois Business Immigration Coalition Fund
Education of our Children Fund
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Giving to Special Funds
Supporters of the following funds can make their donations online:
Billie S. Booth and Beverly A. Strellner Memorial Fund
Charlie Sullivan Scholarship Fund
Jill Landau Triple Negative Breast Cancer Fund
Forms & Resources
Our staff provides personalized service for your giving needs. In addition to helping you choose a giving plan, we are here to help with making sound investments, maximizing your tax benefits and handling the paperwork along the way.
We offer donor advised fund holders online access—add money or make grants from anywhere in the world, 24/7 through our online portal, Instant Impact.
We also host donor events throughout the year on timely topics in philanthropy and community.
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Forms & Downloads
Comparison Chart: Donor Advised Funds, Supporting Organizations & Private Foundations
Donor Advised Fund Application
To add to your donor advised fund, contact your Philanthropic Advisor for Gifting Instructions.
Newsletter Signup
Sign up for the Trust’s quarterly email newsletter, created just for donors—you’ll find practical tools for giving through the Trust, plus insights into community impact and the business of philanthropy.
