Forefront in the News

Notes of a North-Side Census Taker (Chicago Magazine, January 11, 2021)

Politico Illinois’ Playbook, November 12 (Politico, November 12, 2020)

Nonprofits struggle to stay afloat amid a lack of donations during COVID-19 (Fox News 32, November 10, 2020)

Shifted census response deadline causes difficulties reaching hard-to-count communities (September 24, 2020)

Censo 2020: expertos en Chicago explican por qué debes llenarlo (Telemundo Chicago, September 17, 2020)

Census Begins Door Knocking Across Illinois, As Advocates Worry About Shortened Response Time (NPR Illinois, August 11, 2020)

Large Nonprofits Struggle to Provide Services While Locked Out of Pandemic Aid (WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, August 3, 2020)

Counting Them In or Out? (Inside Higher Ed, July 30, 2020)

Census Outreach Incredibly Stymied by COVID-19 Pandemic (Capitol News Illinois, May 15, 2020)

Engagement Surges at Regional Associations as Funders Collaborate During Pandemic (Inside Philanthropy, May 12, 2020)

Coronavirus could exacerbate the US census’ undercount of people of color (Quartz, April 22, 2020)

Making Sure the 2020 Census Counts (Chicago Maroon, April 14, 2020)

Will Nonprofits Be Protected during the Shutdown? Stories from 3 State Leaders (Nonprofit Quarterly, April 7, 2020)

The 2020 Census: Not Cancelled and Still Just as Important (Illinois Legal Aid Online, April 6, 2020)

How to count in a pandemic (Chicago Reader, March 31, 2020)

Make Your Quarantine Count: Why Now’s Your Chance to Do the 2020 Census and What You Need to Know (Rebellious Magazine, March 29, 2020)

Coronavirus Crippling Chicago’s Census Outreach Effort (Better Government Association, March 23, 2020)

Chicago groups scramble to change 2020 census plans for ‘hard-to-count’ communities as government pushes back timeline for its big tally (Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2020)

Democrats, Advocates Condemn Republican ‘Census’ Mailer (NPR Illinois, February 27, 2020)

CEO of Forefront Stepping Down (Crain’s Chicago Business, February 25, 2020)

Businesses need to step up on census effort (Crain’s Chicago Business, February 22, 2020)

A Closer Look: How Crucial is the 2020 Census for Illinois’ Future? (WGN News, February 9, 2020)

Uber gives $100,000 to Chicago’s 2020 census effort after ugly fight over ride-share taxes (Chicago Tribune, February 5, 2020)

Here’s what you should know about the 2020 US Census (Quartz, January 23, 2020)

Census Advocates Allege Disinformation In Mailer (NPR Illinois, January 21, 2020)

Groups aim to reach city’s hard-to-count residents in 2020 Census: ‘If there is an undercount, that voice is lost’ (Chicago Sun Times, January 21, 2020)

Our View: With Census, much is at stake for Illinois (Rockford Register Star, January 18, 2020)

Estas son las consecuencias para el estado de Illinois tras las pérdidas anuales de residentes These are the consequences for the state of Illinois following annual loss of residents (Univision Chicago, January 2, 2020)

Illinois loses population for 6th straight year— and it lost more residents than any state this decade (Chicago Tribune, December 30, 2019)

Nonprofits get a break from city lobbying rules (Crain’s Chicago Business, December 20, 2019)

Rural Illinois Prepares For 2020 Census (NPR Illinois, December 9, 2019)

Census Workers Needed (Tri States Public Radio, December 9, 2019)

Wintrust Business Lunch: Google Finding New Business, FBRK Impact House, & Stanley’s Food Market (WGN Radio 720, November 19, 2019)

How and Why to Diversify (Illinois Times, November 14, 2019)

Former Bear Idonije Launches Nonprofit Incubator in the Loop (RE Journals, November 14, 2019)

Former Bear Opening Loop Nonprofit Hub (Crain’s Chicago Business, November 11, 2019)

Government Survey that Includes Question on Citizenship Rattles Some Americans (ABC News, September 24, 2019)

Making Census – Presentation Pinpoints Purpose, Plays up Participation Importance (Star Courier, September 18, 2019)

Democratic Lawmakers Concerned about Illinois Census Count (WGN, August 26, 2019)

Illinois Democrats raise concerns about Census undercount in rural, minority areas (The Center Square, August 22, 2019)

Illinois Democrats Worry About State Census Count (Chicago Business, August 12, 2019)

Kelly Addresses Census Importance, Concerns at Community Briefing (Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle, August 9, 2019)

Pritzker Pushes Participation In 2020 Census (NPR Illinois, June 20, 2019)

Connected to Chicago (WLS Radio, June 8, 2019)

Forefront and CEO Eric Weinheimer are featured in this NBC5 video on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (NBC5, June 5, 2019)

The Future of Philanthropy (Comcast Newsmakers, April 25, 2019)

Lawmakers, advocates stress importance of accurate 2020 Census count (Citizen Weekly, April 24, 2019)

Illinois Proposal Targets Hard-To-Reach Communities For 2020 Census (WILL Radio, April 8, 2019)

Advocates: Accurate Illinois census count key to fair representation (Capitol News Illinois, April 3, 2019)

Illinois Playing Catch Up In Preparations For Census 2020 (WBEZ, April 1, 2019)

Building Board Diversity (Springfield Business Journal, March 29, 2019)

EDITORIAL: An early take on what Illinois has at stake with the 2020 Census (Chicago Sun-Times, March 26, 2019)

Experts worry about getting everyone counted: ‘Illinois needs a good census count more than almost any other state’ (Chicago Tribune, March 18, 2019)

Facing Lost Funds And Representation, Illinois Hopes It Can Count On You (Illinois Public Media, January 21, 2019)

Will There Be A Citzenship Question On The Census? (Illinois Public Media, August 6, 2018)

Census Citizenship Questions (Illinois Public Media, March 29, 2018) Anita Banerji discusses the implications of a citizenship question on Census 2020 for Illinois communities.

This tax reform provision would deal a blow to nonprofits (Crain’s Chicago Business, December 13, 2017) Dawn Melchiorre wrote an op-ed for Crain’s on how weakening the Johnson Amendment would make nonprofits vulnerable to the will of political operatives and powerful donors .

We have too many nonprofits. Here’s why that matters. (Crain’s Chicago Business, June 2017) “Forefront launched Mission Sustainability, a program that offers counsel and resources to nonprofits wishing to merge or otherwise collaborate.”

Interest in Nonprofit Mergers and Partnerships Unexpectedly High, Study Suggests (The Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights Forefront’s Mission Sustainability Initiative, May 2017)

Illinois Nonprofits Mount Advocacy Push as Budget Impasse Drags On (The Chronicle of Philanthropy covered the Nonprofit Impact Awareness Fund, April 2017)

“I think that Chance the Rapper represents the new face of philanthropy.” Eric Weinheimer appeared on CBS2Chicago News to talk about Chance the Rapper’s historical donation to Chicago Public Schools (CBS2Chicago, March 2017)

People with disabilities: The new diversity frontier (Crain’s Chicago Business, February 2017)

Local charities harness power of Giving Tuesday (Daily Herald, November 2016)

Why Should Charities Throw in Together? The New York Times’ Paul Sullivan wrote about Forefront’s Mission Sustainablity Initiative. (November 2016)

Illinois nonprofits receive free training to enhance services in communities. WAND17 covered our Effingham social media workshop.

Donors Forum debuts as Forefront with luncheon fundraiser. Crain’s Chicago Business wrote an article on June 3, 2016 about Forefront’s rebrand and some of our new strategic initiatives, including, the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative and Social Innovation Roundtable.

Collaborating for the Greater Good, a letter to the editor by Donors Forum President and CEO Eric Weinheimer, appeared August 15, 2015 in Crain’s Chicago Business. Although Eric acknowledges that nonprofits and social impact organizations should find ways to engage tech entrepreneurs entering the field of philanthropy, he puts forth that those new to funding can maximize their impact by first understanding the unique policy, funding, cultural, and other challenges inherent to supporting successful programs and organizations.

Donors Forum and foundation executives held a press conference on May 19, 2015 to draw a firm boundary around the extent to which Illinois government can expect private philanthropy to fill the large state budget hole. Doug Schenkelberg, Donors Forum’s Vice President of Strategy and Policy, talked with WBEZ Morning Shift host Tony Sarabia about private philanthropy and the state budget (this clip was re-broadcast on the Afternoon Shift with Melba Lara.) This news also received coverage in:

Donors Forum research was cited in Philanthropy Isn’t Enough in the Face of State Funding Cuts on May 7, 2015 in The Chicago Tribune.

President and CEO Eric Weinheimer provided commentary for Chicagoans More Charitable Than National Average, which appeared April 20, 2015 on columbiachronicle.com.

Donors Forum’s Building a Stronger Illinois campaign, as well as its three groundbreaking studies on social return on investment, were highlighted in Nonprofit Quarterly in March, 2015. Read Illinois’s Donors Forum Challenges SOI of State Budget Cuts here.

Rauner Budget Plan Damages Important Nonprofit Sector, an article by President and CEO Eric Weinheimer, appeared in February 2015 on rebootillinois.com.

Donors Forum’s recent work was highlighted in How a 50-Year Old Organization is Shaking Up Philanthropy, which appeared in a January 2015 post on the Chicago Ideas Week blog. President and CEO Eric Weinheimer provided insight and commentary.

In December 2014, #ILGiveBig, powered by Donors Forum, was highlighted in national and state media:

Former President and CEO Valerie S. Lies provides commentary on full-cost funding and breaking the nonprofit ‘starvation cycle’ in her June 16 Huffington Post column, How Philanthropy is Changing the Culture on Full-Cost Funding.

Vice President of Public Policy Doug Schenkelberg was interviewed on May 15, 2014 around state budget issues on WBEZ radio’s Afternoon Shift program. And, Crain’s Chicago Business published in May 2014 Illinois Still Late Paying Bills Owed to Nonprofits, Study Finds as a result of Donors Forum’s outreach around these issues.

Progress Illinois published Illinois Social Service Providers Brace for a ‘Tough’ Budgetary Year, an article re-capping Donors Forum’s April 15, 2014 Illinois State Budget Forum.

The announcement on March 14, 2014 that Eric Weinhemier will succeed Valerie S. Lies as President and CEO of Donors Forum on July 1 was covered in several industry and business publications, including The Nonprofit Times and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Former President and CEO Valerie S. Lies provides insights into collective action for the sector (the topic of the keynote presentation by Sterling Speirn at our 40th Anniversary Kick-Off Program on Jan. 28, 2014) in her February 28, 2014 Huffington Post column, Consider the Giraffe, That Improbable Change Agent.

Director of Strategic Communications and Public Policy Delia Coleman provided commentary for Short on Revenue, State and Local Governments Turn to Nonprofits on the website of Tax Analysts, a nonprofit that provides tax news and analysis. The article highlights the vulnerability of nonprofit tax benefits in light of governments’ fiscal problems.

Director of Strategic Communications and Public Policy Delia Coleman provided commentary for Federal Grantees to Get Help with Overhead Costs in the Jan. 9, 2014 issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The article explains the new rule laid out by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in December that allows nonprofits to carve out up to 10 percent out of their federal grants and contracts to pay for overhead. They can also try to negotiate for a higher rate.

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