Woods Fund Chicago

Woods Fund Chicago Woods Fund Chicago is a bold grant-maker that draws on the power of communities to fight the brutality of poverty and structural racism.

Vision

The Woods Fund of Chicago seeks to help create a society where people of all racial and ethnic groups, across all levels of social and economic status, are empowered and have a voice to influence policies that impact their lives, and where all communities are free of poverty and racism. Core Principles

The Woods Fund strongly believes in the need for and effectiveness of including communi

ties that are most impacted by economic and racial injustice in the entire process of addressing issues that affect them. To this end, the Woods Fund encourages and supports organizations and initiatives that promote community driven solutions. Woods Fund values:
Community organizing and public policy advocacy efforts that lead to comprehensive, authentic, relevant, and sustainable solutions. Woods Fund believes:
Systemic change is the only way to eradicate poverty and structural racism. People most affected by economic and racial inequity should be the leaders and participants in the process of addressing issues that impact them. Woods Fund asserts:
Communities have greater strength, authority, and power through collaborative practice and collective voice. Woods Fund commits:
To be an active partner and catalyst with organizations that share our mission and values. Woods Fund recognizes:
Structural racism is a root cause of many challenges facing communities and serves as a significant barrier to eradicating poverty. Dismantling structural racism in society is a means to right social and economic injustices. This page is for anyone interested in learning more about the work that we fund, and sharing information on how others are working to eradicate poverty and structural racism. To that end, we will not allow derogatory comments, insulting language, and/or otherwise offensive communication. We will monitor this page for misuse, and bar anyone deemed to have violated what we consider reasonable conduct.

📢 Grantmaking Update! Woods Fund Chicago funded 101 partners this July. We continue to center multi-year awards, for lon...
08/20/2026

📢 Grantmaking Update!
Woods Fund Chicago funded 101 partners this July. We continue to center multi-year awards, for long-term partnerships that match the time horizon of the fights grantee partners are engaged in: 97 of these awards are to returning partners. This year so far, we've been proud to contribute $5,283,800 to organizing and advocacy in Chicago!

What we're reading: Data centers are becoming a key target for organizing across the country, and Chicago’s ‘Quantum Cam...
08/18/2026

What we're reading: Data centers are becoming a key target for organizing across the country, and Chicago’s ‘Quantum Campus’ has been embroiled in parallel fights, as environmental and housing organizers raise concerns about water and energy use, pollutants, and displacement. Here, the Chicago Reader offers a comprehensive look at a broader strategy from political and corporate interests to make the midwest an epicenter of quantum computing. The piece provides a strong background and wide-lens look at an emerging fight shaping the city and region.

Read via Chicago Reader at our link in bio, or at: https://chicagoreader.com/news/quantum-crossroads/quantum-pritzker-illinois-iqmp/

What We're Reading: Vietnamese Association of Illinois, Alliance for Community Services, and The Kenwood Oakland Communi...
08/12/2026

What We're Reading: Vietnamese Association of Illinois, Alliance for Community Services, and The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization are among the organizations pushing for government intervention after the mismanagement and closures this year of two key hospitals in Austin and Uptown.

The story is one of many highlighting the deadly impact when safety net hospitals fail, whether by mismanagement or lack of funding, and the ways communities are demanding care. In response to organized pressure, Governor Pritzker will meet with community leaders later this month. Lilly Le, the community organizing director for Vietnamese Association of Illinois told Block Club: "We are calling on the governor to treat this like the public health emergency that it is.”

📸: Chicago Sun-Times — Read coverage via the Sun Times and Block Club Chicago at our link in bio.

This piece by leaders from ONE Northside, Grassroots Collaborative, and The People's Lobby is a masterclass on what it t...
08/06/2026

This piece by leaders from ONE Northside, Grassroots Collaborative, and The People's Lobby is a masterclass on what it takes to win just legislation in the face of widespread repression and a growing wealth gap.

A digital advertising revenue tax passed this summer could raise over a billion dollars to resource Illinois. Organizers credit a growing coalition of working class and immigrant organizations and unions, years of building and holding accountable a progressive legislative bench, and a return to direct action to frame this fight for the public. Worth a close reading!

Read via Truthout or at our link in bio: https://truthout.org/articles/taking-on-the-rich-is-possible-our-illinois-coalition-won-a-tax-on-tech-giants/

June and July have marked a clear and violent escalation of immigration enforcement. But as immigrants, refugees, and th...
08/03/2026

June and July have marked a clear and violent escalation of immigration enforcement. But as immigrants, refugees, and the people and coalitions that support them know, ICE never left Chicago.

Immigrant rights organizers are building on the infrastructure they created ahead of and during last year’s Midway Blitz to continue to protect their communities. Philanthropy must step up with efficient, informed, and steadfast support to ensure they can build a movement equal to the threat at hand.

Our July newsletter includes lessons learned in and after Midway Blitz, grantmaking updates, and job opportunities across the sector. We are proud to be in this work with you.

Find it at: https://t.e2ma.net/webview/9yr4pk/cd84a17b5e6d2dcbdb3b068a7b997c89 and our link in bio.

📸: Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression

Multiple grantee partners are in search for new leadership this month! Learn more about open opportunities to join organ...
07/31/2026

Multiple grantee partners are in search for new leadership this month!

Learn more about open opportunities to join organizations, coalitions, and nonprofit sector peers that are making an impact, including Alliance for Community Services, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, HANA Center, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Mujeres Latinas en Accion, Northwest Center, and Southwest Organizing Project.

Learn more about job opportunities with our grantee partners and peers at linktr.ee/woodsfundchicago or the link in bio.

Why We're Listening: In late spring, In the Loop hosted a conversation on intersectionality with leaders from three just...
07/16/2026

Why We're Listening: In late spring, In the Loop hosted a conversation on intersectionality with leaders from three justice organizations across the city, including grantee partners HANA Center and SOUL - Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation. The fifteen-minute segment has no wasted moments — it covers concrete tactics (Hana Center’s intergenerational Peoples Academy) and broader, long-held reminders.

Listen via WBEZ:
https://www.wbez.org/in-the-loop-with-sasha-ann-simons/2026/05/28/chicago-community-leaders-on-building-intersectional-solidarity-across-the-city

What We're Reading: In a moment of heightened surveillance and criminalization, the anarchist libraries highlighted in t...
07/13/2026

What We're Reading: In a moment of heightened surveillance and criminalization, the anarchist libraries highlighted in this piece from Truthout offer stories of ordinary people seeing a gap and building a piece of the world they want to live in. An autonomous library in Su Casa, a former Catholic Worker house on Chicago’s West Side, is featured. “People need to be able to meet, share ideas, strategize, plan, learn from history, in conversation with elders,” organizer Lulu says. “That can happen here.”

Read via Truthout: https://truthout.org/articles/as-censorship-expands-autonomous-libraries-are-springing-up-to-fill-the-gaps/

Grants Manager Brittany Ward marks one year with Woods Fund Chicago — and challenges the sector to live its values. "Wha...
06/30/2026

Grants Manager Brittany Ward marks one year with Woods Fund Chicago — and challenges the sector to live its values.
"What would it look like for every foundation to be rooted in the same principles and practices we search for in applications? And can we? Is the system set up to allow us to?"

Find her full piece in our June newsletter, at https://t.e2ma.net/webview/taetnk/30a3d3167e0f199760c45c808f4ac3b6 and our link in bio.

Our grantee partners and peers are hiring!Learn more about open opportunities to join organizations, coalitions, and non...
06/26/2026

Our grantee partners and peers are hiring!

Learn more about open opportunities to join organizations, coalitions, and nonprofit sector peers that are making an impact, including Alliance of the Southeast - ASE, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Chicago Community and Workers' Rights, Enlace Chicago, Latino Policy Forum and Mujeres Latinas en Accion.

Learn more about job opportunities with our grantee partners and peers at linktr.ee/woodsfundchicago or the link in bio.

Address

200 West Madison Street, 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL
60601

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(312) 600-0948

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