Chicago Foundation for Women

Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW) is a public foundation working to advance gender equity, which we believe to be inherently interconnected with racial, economic, and health equity. CFW envisions a world in which all women and girls, transgender, and gender nonbinary people have the opportunity to thrive in safe, just, and healthy communities. We celebrate the spectrum of identities and experiences of women and girls, uplift their leadership and center the voices of the community to achieve true equity. To support our philanthropy, the Foundation promotes increased investment in women and girls, raises awareness about their issues and potential, and develops them as leaders and philanthropists. Since 1985, the Foundation has awarded over $45 million to hundreds of organizations that help achieve its mission of gender equity across the Chicago region.

CFW looks at the broad spectrum of needs of all women. We support the areas of freedom from violence, economic security, and access to health, which we see as integrally related and are paths forward toward an equitable society.

Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW) is committed to becoming an anti-racist institution. The Foundation is in the midst of change, from an institution that tolerates racial and identity differences to one that excites these differences as powerful tools for systemic, anti-racist change. CFW is committed to engaging in continual analysis and essential restructuring to ensure the Foundation’s way of being is one that wields a shared power and holds itself accountable to racially oppressed groups to achieve its gender equity goal.