Chicago Engineers Foundation of the Union League Club
Empowering Chicago's Future Engineers
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Chicago Engineers' Foundation (CEF) seeks to empower the next generation of engineers with the tools they need to succeed in college and beyond. CEF encourages young people to learn and ask questions early on about the engineering sector via K-12 outreach initiatives. In addition, the Incentive Award scholarship program provides monetary support as engineering students work diligently through their college courses. Further, the Student Success Initiative provides career development resources to college students to ensure they are building their professional presence and network throughout their college years and as they start their engineering careers.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Incentive Awards for Aspiring Engineers
The Incentive Award program provides scholarship award opportunities for graduating high school students who live or go to high school in the city of Chicago and plan to study engineering in college. The program also provides renewed support to engineering students who continue to qualify for annual awards. CEF may provide up to $5,600 during a student's four-year college career
Student Outreach
The Student Outreach program matches engineering professionals with schools and community organizations seeking to present STEM concepts to K-12 students. CEF volunteers facilitate presentations about engineering careers and also participate in youth STEM fairs, career fairs, scholarship events and other engineering-related activities for Chicago students.
Student Success Career Development
The Student Success career development program offers Incentive Award recipients opportunities to build their professional presence as they matriculate through their college studies. Programming includes resume evaluations, mock interview sessions, mentoring activities, networking opportunities, corporate tours and more to help Incentive Award recipients achieve their engineering career goals.
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 students who receive scholarship funds and/or tuition assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Young adults
Related Program
Incentive Awards for Aspiring Engineers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
In 2022, CEF funded more than $100,000 in awards to Chicago high school and college students. Further, CEF set a retention record with more than 93% of college students continuing in the program.
Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Young adults
Related Program
Incentive Awards for Aspiring Engineers
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Awardees may apply for renewed awards annually over 4 years of study, totaling $5,600CEF's awardee retention rate continues to climb each year and is at 93%.
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adolescents
Related Program
Student Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Annually CEF volunteers visit schools and organizations across Chicago to speak about engineering careers and STEM concepts, now impacting over 1,500 K-12 students each year.
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?
The goals of the Chicago Engineers' Foundation (CEF) are to provide support and resources to every aspiring engineering student in Chicago. CEF seeks to be the organization students look to as they work towards a career in engineering. In addition, CEF hopes to continue to grow as a network for students, educators, and engineering professionals.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The strategies CEF is using to achieve our goals include expanding opportunities to reach out to young people interested in engineering concepts. The outreach and scholarship award programs are poised to reach neighborhoods across Chicago, including under-represented neighborhoods and students. Further, we are increasing our volunteer offerings to include more opportunities for those in the engineering field to get involved in the community. In addition, CEF is reaching out to professional associations and interested community groups to identify opportunities for partnership activities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Chicago Engineers' Foundation embarked on its first 5-year strategic plan in 2017. The initiatives outlined in the plan are directly aligned with the organization's goals and overall mission focus. The first four years of the plan have already exceeded expectations with many initiatives underway, and more in development for the coming years. The plan has overwhelming support from the organization's leadership and community. In addition, the organization has an enthusiastic and growing volunteer base, and a working Board of Directors dedicated to achieving our goals and ensuring the long-term stability of the Chicago Engineers' Foundation.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The first four years of the Chicago Engineer's Foundation strategic plan have been promising and helped the organization grow in my many ways. The organization debuted several new initiatives for our Incentive Award recipients including corporate tours, career development workshops and an internship resume exchange. In addition, CEF leaders are actively working with both professional associations and community groups on developing partnership activities aimed at expanding outreach to more young people interested in engineering careers. Further, the CEF student outreach program saw incredible growth, going from 20 visits each year to more than 30 K-12 outreach activities, impacting 1,500 students. A growing base of professionals are volunteering their time to reach out to young people at schools and community events throughout the metropolitan area, with plans in place to continue to expand opportunities to inspire young people about all the engineering sector has to offer.
The 2021 academic year was challenging for a variety of reasons with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but Chicago Engineers' Foundation took all student and volunteer activities virtual. CEF's new virtual programs have increased opportunities for K-12 outreach, learning activities, and career development for Chicago students. More than 100 active volunteers are facilitating career discussions, networking opportunities, one-on-one mentoring, and other activities to continue to inspire young minds and support college students when they need it the most.
Virtual activities are continuing into 2022, with plans in place to continue online student opportunities going forward, with a combination of in-person interactions when mitigations allow.
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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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
The people served by the Chicago Engineers Foundation mission include K-12 students, college students, and engineering professionals.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, 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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What significant change resulted from feedback?
A recent change made in response to feedback is the creation of the career resources programming. That program was established in 2017 and created by volunteers and students to better serve the program recipients. Now, in addition to scholarship awards, college students have access to peer and professional networking, mentoring, career resources like resume evaluations and mock interview sessions, as well as assistance with internship placement. These resources help award recipients, as well as other college students, build their professional network and presence while pursuing their undergraduate degrees.
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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 take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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 tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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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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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
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Chicago Engineers Foundation of the Union League Club
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2023
Tom Riley
Riley Intellectual Property Law
Term: 2022 - 2023
Erik Cempel
Cempel International Consulting
Rebecca Wingate
Cambridge Systematics
Michael Driscoll
Avant
John Liston
Serra International
Sid Bennett
Brinks Gilson
Patrick Burns
Greer, Burns, & Crain
Sharon Harmsworth
TTX, retired
Deborah Hodges
Golden Square
Michael Lev
TranSystems
Andrew Levenfeld
Levenfeld & Assoc.
Thomas Penn
Community Rep.
Kelsey Watterworth
Jacobs Engineering
P. Kay Whitlock
Christopher B. Burke Engineering
Joseph Avram
Primera Engineers
Courtney Murtaugh
CBM
Tom Szucs
Cargill
Virginia McGann
Value Management Resources
Kevin Banks, Jr.
Chicago Scholars
Uchenna Ngwe
Deloitte
Jennifer Kuether
Kimley-Horn
James Gillespie
Morgan Stanley
Brian Goldman
Greeley & Hansen
Martin Owens
CMK Companies
George Thomas
Contemporary Controls
James Treleaven
Via Strategy
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 ? Yes -
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? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
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Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data