Over the past six months, the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation instituted a new “trust-based” philanthropic process for our Community Grants program.
“Our community is interested in promoting the health, safety and belonging of our young people,” says President and CEO Carrie Summy. “Because this focus was new for us, we first went through a broad, traditional application process to understand who was doing what in the field of mental health. We received an unprecedented amount of applicants for one issue area, and funded 18 outstanding organizations in January 2025. Since that time, we have worked internally to develop a new approach to our Community Grants program that builds on those partnerships and supports our nonprofit sector in a way that best suits the needs of today.”
Based on feedback from grantee recipients and members of the West Cook community, including mental health practitioners, our Grants and Programs Committee reviewed and revised the Foundation’s grantmaking processes.
“It was time for us to do things a different way in order to align our practices with our mission,” said John Borrero, chair of the Grants and Programs Committee. “So we leaned into a framework called ‘trust-based philanthropy,’ which is a sort of leveling of the playing field. It emphasizes advancing equity, shifting the power dynamic and building mutually accountable relationships. And the first step was to meet with our existing partners to have an open-ended conversation about what was working and what obstacles they were encountering. The response was overwhelmingly positive.”
We decided to first focus our 2025-26 funding cycle on the existing cohort of grantees. Through three weeks of in-person conversations, staff and committee members checked in with each grantee on what was working, what wasn’t, and what their goals were for the near future. These more informal meetings significantly reduced administrative burden for the organizations, centered their voices and stories, positioned the Foundation on a more equal and compassionate human level, and created transparency of our process and goals. The conversations also exposed additional challenges that could be addressed through funding and support – such as organizational needs like board development and strategic planning, and the impacts of reduced government funding and ICE – that would not have likely been mentioned in a traditional application.
“We’re in a moment where the need is greater than ever, and our best response is to see how we can be authentic and appropriate in helping them meet these dire needs,” said Ana Garcia Doyle, a board director who serves on the Grants and Programs Committee. “I think nonprofit leaders want to see less emphasis on clearing hurdles and more emphasis on time spent enacting their mission in the context of great need. So whatever we can do to unencumber them in that work is helpful.”
“We are committed to our community’s well-being, and look forward to continuing to build partnerships to solve our most complex problems, together.”
– Carrie Summy, OPRFCF President and CEO
Using recordings, reporting tools and AI, committee members captured the conversations and overlaid them with key criteria to provide additional quantitative analysis and reasoning for funding. The Grants and Programs Committee also examined its own internal processes and developed new, more expedient and collaborative workflows.
As a result of this process, the Community Grants program now includes such practices as giving multi-year, unrestricted funding; removing unnecessary steps in the application process; being transparent, open and honest; ensuring equity of voice; and offering “support beyond the check.”
“Support beyond the check is important. We know nonprofit organizations need funding. They need a lot of it and they needed it yesterday. We’ll do our best in that regard. But what else can we provide? The Foundation is uniquely positioned to bring attention and additional resources to our area. We need to get creative and think about the vitality of our nonprofit sector holistically,” said Summy.
The Foundation is revitalizing programmatic offerings, like training and peer-learning and networking opportunities for the nonprofit community as a whole, reinvigorating the Nonprofit Excellence program after a five year hiatus. Our staff will be developing an online tool for the social impact sector to submit concerns and community needs to be responsive to current situations, and to provide a feedback loop for future training and sector priorities.
Additionally, we will continue to engage with the broader community to decide which issue areas and specific targets to focus on. The Foundation belongs to everyone, and should reflect the values and shared goals of those who live, work and play in the area. Sourcing community data on a regular basis will inform clear goals and metrics for our grants and programs and, ultimately, the community will determine what success means.
“We are committed to our community’s well-being, and look forward to continuing to build partnerships to solve our most complex problems, together, ” Summy says.