Blurb about why Forefront rocks, caption for photo

MSI GRANTMAKING HISTORY

Since its inception in 2016, the Mission Sustainability Initiative has made more than 60 grants totaling over $1.5 million and supporting more than 50 unique partnerships.

Confidentiality is a core value of the MSI, and not all MSI-funded collaborations come to fruition. The MSI is honored to celebrate those partnerships that are made public, and a non-comprehensive selection of those projects is provided here.

The MSI is enthusiastic about innovation and embraces the full breadth of partnership structures. The high prevalence of mergers/acquisitions over other partnership types on this list should not be understood as a preference or funding priority.

Past Projects

Chicago Alliance of Film Festivals

Grant Year: 2023
Grant Amount: $67,860
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Joint Venture
Branding and marketing integration for a newly launched coalition of film festivals.

 

Chicago Public Media & Chicago Sun-Times

Grant Year: 2023
Grant Amount: $50,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Branding integration to create a unified public identity for a recently merged media organization.

 

Brightpoint & El Hogar del Niño

Grant Year: 2023
Grant Amount: $75,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Cultural integration to create a unified staff and board culture for a recently merged human service organization.

 

The Josselyn Center & Family Service of Lake County

Grant Year: 2023
Grant Amount: $48,540
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Consolidation
Contract termination and marketing integration to support the implementation of a consolidation between two human service organizations.

 

South Side Weekly & Hyde Park Herald

Grant Year: 2022
Grant Amount: $49,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Process integration for two media organizations developing a “hub and spoke” model with a consolidated back-end and two public-facing brand identities.

 

One Voice for Arts

Grant Years: 2017, 2019 & 2022
Grant Amounts: $21,000, $23,500 & $19,500
Grant Types: Pre-Exploratory, Exploratory & Implementation
Partnership Type: Joint Venture
Readiness assessments, exploratory consulting, and marketing integration for a coalition of arts organizations working together to advocate and fundraise for local arts participation.
Learn more about this project.

 

Outreach House & Lombard / Villa Park Food Pantry

Grant Years: 2020 & 2022
Grant Amounts: $15,000 & $27,261
Grant Types: Exploratory & Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Partnership planning consulting, moving expenses, equipment, and branding integration to support the merging and co-location of two human service organizations.
Learn more about this project.

 

Family Focus & Child Care Society

Grant Year: 2021
Grant Amount: $50,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Technology, branding, and cultural integration to support the merging of two education / youth development organizations.

 

Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse & Rebuilding Exchange

Grant Years: 2019 & 2021
Grant Amounts: $39,386 & $21,320
Grant Types: Exploratory & Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Partnership development consulting, HR planning, and data integration to support the merger of two environmental and workforce development organizations.
Learn more about this project.

 

Anderson Humane (Anderson Animal Shelter & Fox Valley Wildlife Center)

Grant Year: 2020
Grant Amount: $25,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Branding integration for a recently merged animal welfare organization.

 

HANA Center (Korean American Community Services & Korean American Resource and Cultural Center)

Grant Year: 2019
Grant Amount: $42,000
Grant Type: Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Data and website integration for a recently merged immigrant justice organization that combined the resources of a human service and a community organizing organization to provide more holistic support to the Korean, Asian American, and multi-ethnic immigrant communities.

 

Aspire & NorthPointe Resources

Grant Year: 2019
Grant Amounts: $21,500 & $35,500
Grant Types: Exploratory & Implementation
Partnership Type: Merger/Acquisition
Partnership development consulting, budget modeling, due diligence, and human resource and cultural integration to support the merger of two organizations serving people with developmental disabilities.
Learn more about this project.

X

Newsletter Sign Up

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.