The Women Leaders in Philanthropy (WLIP) grant committee discusses the 2026 grant process and focus areas.
2025 was Women Leaders in Philanthropy’s (WLIP) 30th anniversary and its 10th year as a collective giving group, and it marked the occasion by granting out its largest total ever: $75,000 to causes important to the West Cook region. As they did so, then-vice chair Kristin Carlson Vogen also challenged her fellow members to keep the momentum going for 2026.
“I said, we really need to be able to grant out $100,000 that we contribute in our 10th anniversary year, and we accomplished that goal,” explained Vogen, who is now chair of WLIP. “It’s great to be able to say that we’re going to grant that significant amount into the community, all of which was raised by members of Women Leaders.”
WLIP is a volunteer-run giving group with the Foundation, and its ongoing mission is to support local social impact organizations and causes, provide philanthropic education for women, and reinforce connections and social networking for women. The group uses ranked choice voting to select causes to fund rather than specific organizations, entrusting the Foundation to identify nonprofits addressing those causes and inviting them to submit grant proposals.
“Notably, 64 of our members voted on our causes this year — the highest number participating since changing our model 10 years ago,” Vogen said.
Sixty percent of the funds collectively contributed by WLIP members will go to local organizations addressing food security. The remaining 40% will go to nonprofits in the following three areas:
Legal support for underserved, immigrant and/or low income populations
“Philanthropically, there’s just so much that women can do, and the movement of giving circles is growing exponentially across the country,” Vogen said. “Collective giving has been around for a long time, but the trend of being able to organize and make a difference not only by volunteering, which a lot of women do, but also by thinking about our monetary opportunities to make a stronger impact.”
“I think the opportunity to come together and learn about and support organizations you might not otherwise hear about is incredibly empowering.”
The Foundation recently announced a three-year commitment of funding and partnership with Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) to support PlanItGreen, the Foundation’s environmental sustainability program in the West Cook region.
“We’re grateful to the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation for their confidence and support in facilitating PlanItGreen,” said Gary Cuneen, founder and executive director of SGA. “This three-year commitment reaffirms the Foundation’s belief in this partnership to engage the businesses and institutions in Oak Park, River Forest and neighboring communities in relationship to climate, equity and sustainability.”
“Seven Generations Ahead has been an ideal partner on PlanItGreen, and we are pleased to continue to work closely with them as they implement several new and existing initiatives around clean energy and sustainability in the West Cook region over the next three years,” President & CEO Carrie Summy said.
Created in 2011, the PlanItGreen program is a collaboration between the Foundation, SGA and leaders from local governing bodies, public institutions and community organizations. Its aim is to enhance the sustainability, vibrancy and quality of life in Oak Park, River Forest and neighboring communities through strategies and practices ranging from food waste composting to renewable energy plans to electric vehicle infrastructure.
“This is another example of our shift to trust-based philanthropy. We value our long-standing partnership with Seven Generations Ahead. Providing multi-year funding is respectful and responsive to their consistent hard work. Participating more actively in the broad collaboration further builds our relationship with them and other civic and institutional partners, and ultimately generates the community-driven, collective solutions we all hope to achieve.”
– Carrie Summy, OPRFCF President & CEO
Cuneen echoed the sentiment. “Multi-year funding provides more of a sense of groundedness and gives us long-term security to make decisions and investments that may have some longer term impact,” he said. “It allows us to focus more time on the actual work, supporting the partnerships and initiatives that are essential to our collective vision.”
In 2026, the program will focus on six primary initiatives:
Equity in Sustainability: Engaging low and moderate income residents and residents of color in sustainability by connecting them with resources for reduced-rate solar energy and energy efficiency upgrades.
Clean Energy: Driving the development and procurement of solar array installations and other renewable energy options at the village level through a variety of tactics.
Expand C4: Continuing to develop and expand the Cross Community Climate Collaborative (C4) in West Cook County. C4 is a coalition of communities participating in joint sustainability and equity goal targets.
Youth Leadership: Developing the next generation of youth sustainability leadership through climate education, local advocacy and programs like a youth delegation to the UN’s COP31 Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye.
Cross Agency Sustainability Exchange (CASE): Creating a vehicle for collaboration across community school districts and the Village of Oak Park to enact green initiatives.
Education and Engagement: Educating community residents, youth and leaders on climate strategies; the interconnection between health, climate, jobs and equity; and replicable sustainability projects and strategies.
When the Living Room Oak Park opens at the corner of Oak Park Avenue and Harrison Street in the spring of 2026, West Cook residents will have a new mental health support resource, thanks to a pilot program currently being developed by NAMI Metro Suburban and funded in part by a Community Grant from the OPRF Community Foundation.
“The Living Room is designed to be an alternative to the emergency department for individuals experiencing an increase in their mental health symptoms,” says Shelly Lustrup, executive director of NAMI Metro Suburban. “When someone comes into the Living Room, they are met by a state-certified recovery support specialist who is a peer — somebody who has a mental health diagnosis themselves and is living well in their own recovery.”
The specialist performs a brief risk assessment to ensure the guest doesn’t need a higher level of care, and provides the guest with some direction to manage their condition, whether that’s community resources or just a calm space and a receptive listener.
“You don’t have to be in crisis to use the Living Room,” Lustrup says. “If you’re just feeling stressed out in the moment and need somewhere you can go, or maybe if you have a therapy appointment next week but something just happened that you need help processing, you can come get peer support.”
Before a guest leaves, they do an exit survey to capture any feedback they want to leave about the experience, and a support specialist will follow up 24 hours later to check in and see if they need anything. “We’ll also do a 30-day follow-up as well,” Lustrup adds. “Sometimes that’s a phone call, sometimes that’s a card — really trying to keep a link between the guest and the program to let them know we’re still here for them.”
NAMI Metro Suburban has operated Living Rooms since 2016. Two locations, in LaGrange and Summit, are open 24/7 throughout the year; the Oak Park location will initially be open from noon to 8 pm every day. It’s located next to NAMI’s drop-in center, which keeps similar hours.
“The drop-in center is a space where folks can go to socialize. There are groups and different activities driven by the participants in a sort of clubhouse model,” Lustrup says.
“I think it’s going to be really nice to have the Living Room right next door, so that it’s an easy kind of handoff, being able to help connect the dots for folks in need of additional support.”
Lustrup notes her organization has wanted to establish a Living Room in Oak Park for some time, and there has been more traction for the concept in recent years. In addition to the Foundation grant, the Village of Oak Park and RUSH Oak Park Hospital provided funding for the project. The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park is backing the program, and NAMI plans to collaborate with Thrive Counseling Center and the village’s Engaging Community for Healthy Outcomes (ECHO) program to develop a strong safety net for those in need. NAMI will collect data during the pilot period to assess the community’s needs and hopefully build a case to make the program permanent.
Lustrup says the Foundation’s support has been very encouraging. “We’re being responsive to the actual needs in the community, and the Foundation is really good at feeling the pulse of the community. I also really appreciate that the Foundation has a lot of trust in the providers they partner with, and as a provider, it feels really good that they say, ‘here’s the support we can give; if you need something, let us know.’ That goes a long way.”
To learn more about the Living Room Oak Park and monitor its progress, visit namimetsub.org and follow NAMI Metro Suburban on Facebook and Instagram.
On February 4, 2026, the Foundation launched the Second Cup, a new informal co-working event held at our offices. Coffee was served and ideas were exchanged between 15 professionals from nine nonprofits across the West Cook region. The first meeting centered around Project Management, and the conversation covered process improvement and team communications, helpful tips on tracking one’s to-do list, and the myriad of resources available to track ongoing impact.
Organized as part of our Nonprofit Excellence Program, this was the first in a series of planned gatherings for local nonprofit staff over the coming months. Participants were from a variety of organizations dealing with issues like food scarcity, mental health support and access, and youth advocacy. Foundation Development Director Brian Biederman was pleased with both the turnout and results.
“Everyone seemed very excited to participate,” he says. “I look forward to the group expanding over the coming months. We closed out the meeting by telling everybody their homework was to bring a friend next time.”
The co-working event is open to employees from every organizational tier at local nonprofits. Brian describes Second Cup as “crowd-sourced” sessions in which participants can share their individual knowledge and experience. This approach will continue with the second Second Cup event on March 18, which will address how to avoid burnout, and on April 9 when the subject will be teamwork.
“People are born from all sorts of different decades and all walks of life, but we are all here, you know, for the collective purpose of doing good, whatever that means to each of us,” Brian says. “These events highlight the things that work for our individual teams, so others can improve the processes back at their own offices.”
In addition to Second Cup, the Nonprofit Excellence Program will feature workshops tailored toward executive-level leaders and board members and led by consultant advisors presenting on subjects such as board development, building partnerships at the board level through grant writing, effective marketing and telling your organization’s story, and more.
The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum. Photo credit: MauraWen via Wikimedia
The OPRF Community Foundation is honored to announce the establishment of the Allan O. Baldwin Memorial Fund to benefit Oak Park’s Hemingway Foundation. Ms. Jan Baldwin of Oak Park created the endowment to honor her husband’s work as a volunteer and former chairman of the organization, and to sustain its mission.
“His role with the Hemingway Foundation led him to realize the significant contributions it made culturally and historically, not only to Oak Park but also to the world,” said Ms. Baldwin. “He was committed to its mission, which he generously supported during his lifetime.”
The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park was established in 1983, to promote arts and education, preserve the author’s literary legacy, and maintain the Ernest Hemingway’s Birthplace Museum.
“The main goals of starting this new fund are simple,” Ms. Baldwin continued. “Supporting in perpetuity the community which has given us so much, specifically The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, and to honor my husband’s values of generosity and social responsibility. The Community Foundation has a long history of over 65 years serving as a trusted, well-run organization with a proven record of successfully assisting donors like me to achieve philanthropic goals.”
This week we announced the recipients of our 2025–26 Community Grants, awarding $270,000 to 16 nonprofit organizations serving West Cook County. The grants provide ongoing support for our strategic priority of mental and behavioral health for youth and young adults, including increasing the mental health workforce pipeline.
“In the 2024–25 grant cycle, we focused our grantmaking on the intersection of safety and belonging and health, two of the priorities the community told us were most important in our Community Voices report,” said Carrie Summy, president and CEO of the Foundation. “Over the past year we have worked with a wide range of constituents, including grantee partners and community members, to develop a new approach to our Community Grants program that 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, the Grants and Programs Committee reviewed and revised the Foundation’s grantmaking processes through a framework called “trust-based philanthropy.” This approach emphasizes advancing equity, shifting the power dynamic and building mutually accountable relationships. As a result, 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. The Grants and Programs Committee also examined its own internal processes and developed new, more expedient, and collaborative workflows.
For the 2025-26 funding cycle, we started by visiting our existing cohort of grantees. Through three weeks of in-person conversations, Foundation 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 in its 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, that likely would not have been mentioned in a traditional application.
“Some of the feedback we received was that organizations are grateful for funding, but a limitation is that, because they don’t know if they’ll get the grant again next year, grantees were hesitant to commit staff and infrastructure in case the funding may go away,” said John Borrero, chair of the Grants and Programs Committee.
“We also heard from organizations that have been impacted by the recent militarization of immigration enforcement,” Borrero noted. “We have organizations that have to make costly adjustments to their buildings because they’ve never had a situation where they have to buzz people in. And we have organizations that are providing mental and behavioral services for young people who, all of sudden, are in an environment that’s militarized. We felt it was important, therefore, to offer some additional support around these issues.”
Additionally, we will facilitate a “community of practice,” a subset of interested mental health practitioners within the mental health grantee cohort, to further the goal of a robust workforce and provide peer learning and leadership opportunities.
Moving forward, we will continue to engage with the broader community to decide which issue areas and specific targets to focus on, whether to fill a gap or support an existing endeavor for exponential impact.
“It’s important we continuously reflect the community’s shared goals. The Foundation must actively listen and amplify the voices of those most vulnerable, and those working hard to make our community a place where everyone can thrive. This is the only way to ensure our work is truly collaborative, responsive, and impactful.”
Board member John C. Borrero presents the “trust-based philanthropy” framework upon which the Foundation’s new grantmaking process was developed.
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.
