Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance

Our Mission And Story The mission of the Funder Alliance is to collaborate with employers and other workforce stakeholders to increase employment, earnings and racial equity for underprepared workers in the Chicago region. The Alliance was launched in May 2012 by five founding workforce funders: the Chicago Community Trust, the Joyce Foundation, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and the Polk Bros. Foundation. Since its founding the Funder Alliance has engaged over 30 funders to advance its shared mission. The Funder Alliance has come to be seen as the region’s major convener of the philanthropic community interested in workforce development and employment. Through a combination of grant making and civic leadership the Funder Alliance has used this role to carve out a unique position at the complex intersection point of workforce development, social justice, education and economic development.