The Dunham Fund is partnering with Forefront to build a vibrant social impact sector for all the people in Illinois through four key strategies: Attracting Investment to the Sector, Developing Top Talent, Improving Systems and Policies, and Building Organizational Capacity.

• Building the Sector / $75,000
• Mission Sustainability Initiative / $75,000 over 2016, 2017 and 2018
• #ILGIVE Forefront Day / $25,000
• Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative / $20,000
• Launching and Sustaining the Partnership for College Completion / $5,000

Building the Sector / $75,000
$75,000 of the $125,000 Dunham Fund grant will assist Forefront with “Building the Sector” by partnering to recruit new Forefront members from the 3,000 nonprofits in the Dunham Fund service area and by providing direct services and support that will enable Aurora area nonprofits to meet their missions and maximize their impact.

Mission Sustainability Initiative / $75,000 over 2016, 2017 and 2018
The Dunham Fund supported a summit meeting organized by Forefront and invited ten of its service area nonprofits to attend. The summit conference on October 20, 2016 in Chicago was a “Learning Session on Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Sustainability and Growth” and featured experts from Forefront, JP Morgan Chase, Polk Bros. Foundation, Mission+Strategy Consulting, La Piana Consulting, Keystone Alliance, and thredpartners, a nonprofit management consulting firm. The summit was an introduction for nonprofits to consider the value of strategic partnerships and to introduce them to a collaborative team of law firms, financial consultants and other nonprofit advisors. Dunham Fund’s three-year financial assistance will be part of a $1.4M fund created by Forefront to provide nonprofits with financial incentives to establish partnerships.

#ILGIVE 2016 Forefront Day / $25,000

The Dunham Fund will provided $25,000 in incentive funds for nonprofit organizations in the Dunham Fund service area who participated in Forefront’s #ILGIVE campaign on Giving Tuesday, November 29, 2016. Donations through #ILGIVE to the ten service area nonprofits with the most successful campaigns were matched by the Dunham Fund $1 for $1 up to $2,500.

The top ten organizations that received the $2,500 Dunham Fund grants for the most successful #ILGIVE campaigns were

• Three Fires Council of Boy Scouts $129,784
• Fox Valley United Way $76,162
• Association for Individual Development $43,230
• Hesed House $26,810
• Mutual Ground $24,555
• VNA Health Care $19,725
• Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry $17,217
• One Hope United $12,770
• Paramount Arts Centre $8,660
• Marklund $8,595

A total of $406,000 was raised in the Dunham Fund service area from 1,118 donors to 32 participating organizations. Three Fires Council of Boy Scouts ranked #1 in “Most Funds Raised” in the $8.1M+ statewide campaign.

It was the hope of the Dunham Fund that the #ILGIVE social media campaign would attract new investors from the Aurora area to Forefront’s statewide membership association providing education, advocacy, thought leadership and project management services to Illinois nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative / $20,000

$20,000 of the grant will assist Forefront in a cross-sector pilot program in the eight-county Chicago region to partner with key leaders in the legal, consulting, and banking sectors to create the first “Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative” (NSI) in the Midwest. The initiative’s aim is to provide a programmatic and educational approach to help nonprofits consider and potentially pursue a variety of strategic restructurings that could further their missions, including mergers and joint ventures.

Launching and Sustaining the Partnership for College Completion / $5,000
$5,000 of the grant will help to launch and sustain a “Partnership for College Completion” to catalyze and champion policies, systems and practices that ensure all students in and around Chicago, particularly low-income, first generation students, graduate from college and achieve their career aspirations.