The Chicago Foundation for Women is a left-of-center grantmaking organization focused on efforts in the Chicago area. Echoing left-leaning rhetoric about systemic inequities, it offers liberal donors the opportunity to direct their contributions to organizations that serve LBTQ women, women of color, and young women and girls through its Giving Councils. 1
Originally founded to improve the lives of women and girls, 2 Chicago Foundation for Women now uses language that includes a focus on transgender and nonbinary people. 3
Marjorie Craig Benton, one of the Foundation’s four co-founders, served as President Jimmy Carter’s representative on the executive board of the United Nations Children’s Fund, commonly known as UNICEF. 4 Benton is also affiliated with Save the Children.5
Since 2019, the Foundation’s CEO has been Felicia Davis Blakley, who served as head of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s (D) Office of Public Engagement. 6 Davis directed that office during the Emanuel administration’s cover-up of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald and was included on publicly released emails that discussed the administration’s response to the scandal. 7
Activities
The Chicago Foundation for Women makes grants to left-leaning groups that promote abortion, transgenderism, and leniency for prisoners. 8
The group condemned the Trump administration’s immigration policies, 9 and sponsored Women’s March Chicago during the Trump administration. 10 In 2022, the organization’s board chair asserted that second-wave feminism had “historically excluded non-white voices.” 11
In 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Foundation announced $200,000 in grants to support abortion as part of a $3.4 million grant outlay. 13 In the fiscal year ending in June 2022, the Chicago Foundation for Women’s revenue was more than double what it had been in the previous fiscal year. 8 In 2023, the Foundation stated that it supported 66 organizations. 14
The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact women and communities of color at higher rates than other populations, and when added to systemic gender and racial inequality, the result was disastrous for far too many. CFW demands a true SHEcovery™ – focused on amplifying women’s voices, advocating for women’s needs; ensuring women emerge from the Shecession stronger than before. Through SHEcovery™, CFW works to ensure an equitable recovery by identifying, uplifting, funding, advocating for, and supporting nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and legislation with an aim to 1) Get Women Back to Work, 2) Address the Eviction Crisis, 3) Care for Our Caregivers, and 4) Demand an Anti-Racist Healthcare System. As we undertake the work outlined in the SHEcovery™ roadmap, increasing investments in and commitment to the Englewood Women’s Initiative is a central strategy in achieving each of these pillars. Through the EWI, CFW is building a place-based, community centered and holistic collectiveimpact model for addressing women’s economic mobility – one which harnesses the power and resilience of women and accounts for the complex challenges people – especially single caregivers – face.
General support -Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. We strive to empower, embolden, and educate each other through mutual aid, knowledge-sharing, and the creation of community-sourced resources as we build toward the liberation of all oppressed peoples.
3. “CFW Focuses on the Issues That Affect All Women, Girls, Trans, and Gender Nonbinary People.” Chicago Foundation for Women. Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.cfw.org/.
14. “Chicago Foundation for Women Invests over $1 Million in Organizations That Lift up Women and Girls.” Chicago Foundation for Women, January 12, 2023. https://www.cfw.org/news-releases/.
