CHILDREN FIRST FUND: THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
The Chicago Public Schools Foundation
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Children First Fund: The Chicago Public Schools Foundation (CFF) is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization in support of Chicago Public Schools (CPS). While CPS has made tremendous progress over the past ten years, there remains more to do for students who have been historically marginalized. CFF's mission is rooted in the idea that talent is equally distributed but opportunity, access, and resources are not. We seek to leverage all of our city's resources in support of CPS' mission to provide every student with the education they need to be successful in college, career, and civic life.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Highest Priority Needs
Funding to support the organization's highest priority needs includes general operating funds to ensure that CFF is able to cover more ground working with more schools and leaders to understand and serve their needs, cast a wider net with the community at large to guide their contributions, provide detailed fiscal management, and execute quality original programming that will ensure more students can be positively impacted.
Compassion Fund
This initiative provides critical resources to schools, students, and families facing adverse circumstances through the Compassion Fund Network Gift Card program and promotes safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments through supports such as hygiene care closets, calm classrooms, and student experiences.
School Partnership Program
The School Partnership Program is a customizable opportunity for philanthropic partners interested in building a multi-year, 1:1 partnership with a school. We match organizations with a school aligned with their goals and work with the organization to create a mutually beneficial partnership tailored to the needs of the school.
Partnership Elements
* $25,000 a year for three years
* Experiential opportunities
* In-kind donations
College & Career Success
This area includes postsecondary success strategies such as Career & Technical Education, the Chicago Roadmap, the CPS Dream Fund and other scholarship funding as well as additional postsecondary programming through the Office of School Counseling and Postsecondary Advising.
Safety, Wellness, and Supportive Learning Environments
This area includes initiatives such as Social Emotional services for students and educators, violence prevention efforts like Choose to Change, whole child health initiatives, nutrition supports, and LGBTQ+ supports.
Academic Success & Educator Development
This area includes support for academic programming like STEM, Computer Science, literacy, as well as support for district programming to prepare, train, and retain educators and principals.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Families
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollars received in contributions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Families
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Children First Fund is aiming to promote the growth and success of Chicago Public Schools through philanthropy and partnerships. We serve as a knowledge hub and liaison between CPS and its community of partners, including businesses, foundations, hospitals, higher education and cultural institutions.
By matching resources provided by external donors and partners with the students, schools, and staff that need them most, CFF maximizes the impact of CPS partnerships, aligning Chicagos generosity to furthering the CPS Vision and advancing equity.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our fundraising centers around CPS vision-aligned strategic initiatives and system-level efforts, as well as funding and in-kind resources for direct school, student, and family support. CFF works closely with the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Education Office's Offices, Department Chiefs, Network Chiefs, and School Personnel to determine the initiatives where we put our capacity for proactive fundraising.
CFF raises philanthropic funds and stewards partnerships for both district-wide strategic priorities and direct to school, student, and family support, focusing on these priority areas:
* College & Career Success: This area includes postsecondary success strategies such as Career & Technical Education, the Chicago Roadmap, the CPS Dream Fund and other scholarship funding as well as additional postsecondary programming through the Office of School Counseling and Postsecondary Advising.
* Safety, Wellness, and Supportive Learning Environments: This area includes initiatives such as Social Emotional services for students and educators, violence prevention efforts like Choose to Change, whole child health initiatives, nutrition supports, and LGBTQ+ supports.
* Academic Success & Educator Development: This area includes support for academic programming like STEM, Computer Science, literacy, as well as support for district programming to prepare, train, and retain educators and principals.
* Compassion Fund: This initiative provides critical resources to schools, students, and families facing adverse circumstances through the CF Network Gift Card program and promotes safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments through supports such as hygiene care closets, calm classrooms, and student experiences.
* School Partnership Program: This program establishes mutually-beneficial partnerships connecting a dedicated partner with an individual CPS school. These relationships include a financial commitment from the partner to help fund innovative programs and the principals priority initiatives for their specific school communities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
CFF is committed to
* Being a trusted, independent philanthropy arm to ensure fidelity of investments and implementation.
* Identifying and elevating the needs of CPS departments, schools, educators, and families.
* Finding new ways to strike meaningful, mutually beneficial partnerships.
As the philanthropic arm of the district, CFF is directly aligned to district priorities and strategic goals and is able to:
1. Work hand-in-hand with CPS to identify and articulate priority needs within the district that align with philanthropic or corporate interest
2. Secure and coordinate priority external funding through different outreach strategies including grants, pitches, convenings, networking, fundraising campaigns, and more
3. Coordinate and distribute in-kind donations
4. Steward partnerships and recognize supporters contributions (e.g. reports, thank you letters and/or videos, invitations to events)
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the past year, CFF was able to reach remarkable milestones together with partners, bringing smiles, hope, and positive change to students and schools.
From direct support to students and schools with hygiene care closets, scholarships and long-term partnerships to district-wide support for STEM, Computer Science, work-based learning, and educator training and support, contributions have created lasting impacts.
Here is a snapshot of just some of the outcomes and highlights that defined this year!
* 62 schools established Hygiene Care Closets, providing essential products to thousands of students.
* 43 schools were able to use the Robotics Lending Library, fostering STEM education.
* 45 CPS' DREAMers were awarded Dream Fund Scholarships that will help them move forward on their postsecondary journey.
* 92 middle and high schools delivered out-of-school time Computer Science programming, preparing students for the future!
* 55 new resident teachers completed the Teacher Residence program!
* $338,000 were provided in Alumni Assistance emergency funds, with an average of $1,000 per award.
* 550 $100 gift card were donated to CPS families to help with food clothes, utility bills, and other special circumstances.
Please follow @chifirstfund on all forms of social media and/or visit our new website (www.childrenfirstfund.org) to learn more about what are working on and how you can support!
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
CHILDREN FIRST FUND: THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
Board of directorsas of 01/24/2024
Alan King
Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP
Mary Cahillane
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago
Liz Dozier
Chicago Beyond
Adam Langsam
Parkwood, LLC
Peter Ellis
Global Chair of Litigation & Dispute Resolution at Reed Smith
Pedro Martinez
Chicago Public Schools
Martin Cabrera
Cabrera Capital Markets (CCM) and Cabrera Capital Partners (CCP)
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/24/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.