Stephanie Platz, Managing Director, Programs, looks back at our work to meet the moment in Chicago and how our community showed its courage and resilience.
Chicago faced extraordinary challenges in 2025 and showed its courage and resilience. Civic leaders, residents, and organizations navigated the impact of executive actions expanding immigration enforcement, limiting federal regulations related to the environment, and curtailing activities related to racial equity, among others. Charitable organizations experienced freezes or cuts to public funding and neighborhoods across the city experienced a surge of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. In response, Chicagoans from all sectors and communities stepped forward to assert our shared values, preserve our democracy, and lend a hand to neighbors in need.
Rapid-response funding supported Chicago organizations addressing hunger in the wake of federal benefit disruptions.
MacArthur was proud to stand alongside our fellow Chicagoans who showed courage in the face of adversity and uplifted our communities. Our President, John Palfrey, announced in February that MacArthur would “Set it at Six,” increasing our charitable spend in both 2025 and 2026 to at least six percent. This decision enabled MacArthur to award over $50.6 million in gifts, grants, and impact investments in the Chicago metropolitan region last year.
MacArthur also helped lead the Unite in Advance initiative to preserve philanthropy’s freedom to give according to our values as safeguarded by the freedom of speech and enshrined in our Constitution. Locally, our Chicago Commitment and other grant programs at the Foundation worked throughout 2025 to continue to protect our core freedoms, to speak up for our grant recipients, and to stand united with our peer civic leaders.
Standing with Chicago’s Nonprofit Sector
Early in the year, the federal government took a number of executive actions that steeply cut funds that have traditionally flowed to social and human services, to programs that protect the environment, to arts and humanities organizations, and to other critical needs in our society. These actions destabilized nonprofit organizations as federal funding was often terminated immediately or with very short notice.
These initiatives sought to help all organizations remain resilient as they strive to fulfill their missions.
To help sustain Chicago’s nonprofit sector, we supported Forefront, the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Nonprofit Legal Support Project, and its partners at the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in providing legal advice and representation, financial planning, and crisis management. MacArthur also offered training, individualized coaching, and other resources for grantees on nonprofit financial management and legal issues.
MacArthur convened Culture, Equity, and the Arts grant recipients for a communications training on storytelling for impact at Malcolm X College on Chicago’s West Side.
Moreover, our Chicago Commitment team recognized the need for nonprofit leaders at every level to receive additional support. To this end, we provided cohort-based leadership programs we currently support with an extra $25,000 each for professional development and wellness activities for their staff and program participants. These initiatives sought to help all organizations remain resilient as they strive to fulfill their missions.
We also awarded grants to organizations such as Access Living and the ACLU of Illinois, which continue to fight to protect the individual rights and liberties of all. The Criminal Justice Program supported the Illinois Office of Statewide Pretrial Services in facilitating the ongoing implementation of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act, which took effect in 2023. The SAFE-T Act includes the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) which eliminated cash bail and made substantial changes to the way pretrial release decisions are made. In addition, MacArthur’s Criminal Justice team funded efforts focused on improving the reentry experience of women impacted by the justice system, including Grace House at Saint Leonard’s Ministries and the Dignity of Choice Pilot Program.
At the end of the year, MacArthur recognized the value of the humanities in our society by making a special package of awards to the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, Illinois Humanities, and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in the Chicago area, among others, helping to preserve our region's civic and cultural infrastructure.
MacArthur President, John Palfrey attends the United for Chicago event to join 30+ business, civic, faith and higher education leaders to denounce the dangerous and harmful tactics being deployed by ICE and Border Patrol Agents across Chicago.
Response to Federal Deployments
In the fall of 2025, when federal immigration agents deployed across the Chicago metropolitan area, we collaborated with immigrant serving organizations, leaders working to reduce gun violence in Chicago, faith leaders, and peer funders to join hands and call for federal agents to respect the constitutional rights of individuals and families present on U.S. soil.
We were proud to support United for Chicago, a nonpartisan initiative of Metropolitan Family Services and Chicago CRED, among others, which advocated for an end to extreme enforcement measures and encouraged residents to rally behind the small businesses and entrepreneurs that have suffered the economic harm stemming from the deployments. Many immigrant-serving organizations stepped into the breach, offering legal representation, training residents on their rights, and helping families and businesses prepare for the possibility of enforcement actions. These services were available in more than a dozen languages, thanks to the Family Support Network and Hotline operated by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and local organizations such as Cicero Independiente, Kan-Win, the Indo-American Center, and the Vietnamese Association of Illinois.
When food banks saw sharply increased demand as a result of the federal government being shut down for 43 days, MacArthur responded with $1.5 million distributed across 11 local pantries. And in anticipation of the changes to Medicaid and food stamps taking effect in 2026, which are likely to result in massive cuts to federal funding of these programs in Illinois, we partnered with the Chicago Community Trust and several local donors to establish the Resilient Chicago Fund. This initiative supports the development of sustainable models to meet basic human needs in Cook County, providing both seed and scaling capital to design systems that address urgent needs such as legal aid, food insecurity, and housing instability.
Climate Solutions
As the federal government shifted its stance on climate change, MacArthur’s Climate Solutions team made gifts to support the environment through innovation, policy, and litigation. A gift to the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest bolsters efforts to ensure all residents have access to clean air, water, and energy. In addition, a gift to Evergreen Climate Innovations facilitates its ability to make seed investments and provide hands-on support to climate entrepreneurs, building innovative Midwestern companies that benefit the environment, create jobs, and drive inclusive economic development in the region.
Local News
In a year that saw not only the termination of federal funding for public broadcasting, but the rescission of funds previously appropriated by the U.S. Congress, MacArthur’s Local News Program made significant investments in independent media and investigative journalism. Our gifts and grant recipients included Block Club Chicago, Borderless Magazine, Injustice Watch, and the Reader Institute for Community Journalism.
Block Club Chicago reporter Quinn Myers speaks to residents to learn about a bike safety concerns in Chicago’s Ukranian Village neighborhood.
Local News also renewed a partnership with the Field Foundation to fund its Journalism & Storytelling program, which supports journalists and local news outlets across the State of Illinois. This program collaborates closely with Press Forward Chicago to strengthen the local news ecosystem.
Finally, Local News made a significant investment in Chicago Public Media to preserve Vocalo, Chicago’s urban alternative radio station, which broadcasts R&B, hip hop, jazz, and dance, and serves as a hub for younger audiences. This award will preserve Vocalo’s 91.1 FM signal and expand its digital strategy and community engagement efforts.
Journalism and Media
In a collaboration between MacArthur’s Criminal Justice and Journalism and Media programs, the Prison Journalism Project received an award to empower current and formerly incarcerated writers to become journalists and publish their stories. Active in several states, including Illinois, the project has published 1,500 stories from 500 writers across 175 prisons, and distributes those stories to mainstream news outlets.
MacArthur Fellows Events
To extend the reach of new ideas and creative thinking, the MacArthur Fellows Program supports organizations hosting public-facing programming featuring Fellows. OTV-Open Television hosted a conversation at the Museum of Contemporary Art between MacArthur Fellows transdisciplinary scholar and writer Ruha Benjamin and internet studies and digital media scholar Safiya Noble that explored the transformative potential of creative thinking as a tool for social change. Similarly, MacArthur Fellows sociologist Loka Ashwood and environmental health advocate Catherine Coleman Flowers held a discussion focused on finding common ground and building power across rural and urban spaces, hosted by New America Chicago.
2026 and Beyond
The first few months of 2026 suggest that this year will be as challenging as the previous one. We are ready to work hand in hand with our local partners. We will deploy funds as strategically and expeditiously as possible, and we will continue to place our trust in the organizations we support.
Civic bravery is contagious—as we have seen across Chicago—and MacArthur will continue to stand with our neighbors build bridges across communities, sound whistles, and make our city stronger.
