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Chicago Commitment

Investing in people, places, and partnerships to advance racial equity and build a more inclusive Chicago.

Our Strategy

We support civic partnerships on timely issues facing the city, strengthen local organizations in the creative sector, invest in vital communities, and advance thriving leadership to inform and improve decision making across the city.

We designed our work with the priorities of Chicagoans in mind—listening to what residents and leaders believe are the most urgent concerns and promising solutions.


Advancing Leadership

Our goal is to promote and advance thriving leaders to inform and improve decision making across the city.

We support leadership advancement within our other three focus areas: Civic Partnerships; Culture, Equity, and the Arts; and Vital Communities. Within these areas, we seek to advance equity by expanding access to a wide range of opportunities for the staff of nonprofit organizations, who bring a breadth of experiences and perspectives to leadership positions.

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Civic Partnerships

Chicago’s civic landscape is notable for its broad network of philanthropic, corporate, government, and nonprofit organizations, and its rich history of collaboration between these entities to achieve shared goals. Civic partnerships build upon the collective assets of leaders and organizations for greater impact. We work together to help solve problems, such as gun violence, that community members want to address by pursuing the solutions that they endorse.

MacArthur also works in close collaboration with our partners to address unique opportunities, including the decennial census; the establishment of a Chicago Public Library Branch at the Obama Presidential Center; and the acquisition of the historic Ebony and Jet photographic archives.

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Culture, Equity, and the Arts

A vibrant creative sector helps individuals explore their passions, develop their identity and potential, confront challenging topics, and connect with one another.

We provide multi-year, general operating support gifts to arts and culture organizations across the city. We also support arts-centered organizations, meaning that art is integral to executing a mission but may not be the organization’s primary goal.

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Vital Communities

We believe that a resilient and dynamic metropolitan area is dependent upon equitable development. The Vital Communities work stimulates development in neighborhoods by making early investments in response to community needs that contribute to economic growth.

We support place-based economic development and creative placekeeping initiatives to improve the quality of life for individuals in neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment. We also support organizations whose research and analysis inform socially beneficial and equitable development. 

Our place-based funding is concentrated in ten neighborhoods on the South and West Sides.

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Chicago skyline and surrounding neighborhoods

Why We Support This Work

Chicago is a global city with vibrant, diverse neighborhoods and a strong civic culture. And yet many experience unequal access to resources and opportunities in our city. A resilient and dynamic Chicago region is dependent upon a more equitable Chicago, where every Chicagoan has the opportunity to prosper and contribute to their community and where Chicago’s diverse voices are elevated, recognized, and respected.

Our focus on people pushes us to share power with individuals outside the Foundation, inviting community leaders from a variety of sectors to advise us through participatory grantmaking initiatives. Our focus on places grounds our work in Chicago’s neighborhoods. Our focus on partnerships leads us to collaborate with leaders from an array of sectors to jointly solve the city’s greatest challenges.

We strive to ensure Chicago’s nonprofit and community-based leaders are recognized for the wisdom and expertise they bring to conversations across the city. Therefore, we embed leadership advancement across all our work.

More on our Approach to Participatory Grantmaking


 Culture, Equity, and the Arts: Accepting the Invitation to Change

A Work in Progress: Participatory Grantmaking in the Arts

Listening to and Seeking Guidance from Local Advisors

Co-Creating our Equitable Recovery Grantmaking

Sharing and Shifting Power: Lessons from Participatory Grantmaking

Building a More Equitable Arts Ecosystem from the Ground Up

Five-Year, $15 Million Partnership for Equitable Arts

Participatory Grantmaking for the Arts, Six Years On

Investing in Arts and Culture Organizations’ Financial Resiliency
 

Expected Outcomes

In the long run, the Chicago Commitment will demonstrate the following outcomes through each of our three areas of grantmaking:

Civic Partnerships

  • More grantees, community leaders, civic organizations, and funders working in coordination to address urgent and timely issues;
  • Increased learning within partnerships about the issues they address and potential solutions;
  • Combined resources and assets that create a sustainable infrastructure to address urgent issues; and
  • A model for civic partnerships that can be adapted and replicated elsewhere.

Culture, Equity, and the Arts

  • Increased inclusive and culturally relevant arts experiences that reflect Chicago’s diverse communities and that present a variety of perspectives;
  • Increased arts experiences that connect people across neighborhoods, ages, diverse backgrounds, and other social boundaries; and
  • More Chicago-based arts and cultural organizations that demonstrate equitable and inclusive approaches and values.

Vital Communities

  • Increased interest in, and more resources and capital for, new development in targeted areas;
  • Expanded networks across organizations, sectors, and leaders to influence community and economic development; and
  • MacArthur-supported projects that reflect communities’ stated desires for development.

Funding Priorities


Advancing Leadership
Advancing equity by expanding leadership opportunities within our three areas of grantmaking and supporting people who bring different experiences and perspectives to leadership positions.

Civic Partnerships
Leading or participating in local partnerships with civic leaders and organizations to address critical or timely challenges facing the city.

Culture, Equity, and the Arts
Reflecting diverse creative sector voices and sustaining the creative life of the city.

Vital Communities
Investing targeted resources in a small number of place-based initiatives and organizations that provide infrastructure support to neighborhoods.

Evaluation for Learning

Evaluation of our work is a critical tool for informing our decision making, leading to better results and more effective stewardship of resources. We develop customized evaluation designs for each of our programs based on the context, problem, opportunity, and approach to the work. Evaluation is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process of collecting feedback and using that information to support our grantees and adjust our strategy.

Findings and analyses from evaluation activities are posted publicly as they become available.

Arts and Culture Loan Fund Program Evaluation (2025)

Chicago Commitment Evaluation (2023)

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