OUR HISTORY
80 Years of Funding Change.
Eighty years ago, Wood Fund Chicago started out as the Woods Charitable Fund, founded by Nelle and Frank Woods and their three sons.
Photo by Women Employed
From the onset, Frank and Nelle strongly believed that the role of a philanthropist was to counter government and established institutions. They believed that there needed to be different strategies and perspectives to solve society’s most pressing issues. Woods Fund Chicago continues to carry on that legacy, funding community-based organizing, coalition building, and public policy advocacy throughout Chicago.
Once Woods Fund Chicago became incorporated as a private, independent foundation, in 1993, it committed to appointing leaders of color, predominantly women, to lead the foundation. The past Foundation presidents have included Jean Rudd, Ricardo Millett, Deborah Harrington, Laura Washington, Grace Hou, and Michelle Morales.
As Woods Fund Chicago moves to its ninth decade, the fund draws inspiration from past leaders and seek to build upon the hard-fought wins of grantee partners.
“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”
— Saint Augustine
Photo by Sarah-Ji :: Love + Struggle Photos
Photo by The Final 5 Campaign
Woods Fund Chicago Over the Decades
The Woods Charitable Fund is incorporated in Nebraska. The philanthropic foundation is private and created by Frank H. Woods, Nelle C. Woods, and their three sons. Frank Woods provided the major endowment before his death in 1952. Woods, a law partner in the early 1900s, had amassed a fortune as the founder of the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company, the first large company to utilize the dial telephone. Frank and Nelle strongly believed that the role of a philanthropist was to counter government and established institutions.
In 1960, Woods Charitable Fund’s Chicago giving program became one of the first foundations in Chicago to publish an annual report. Under the leadership of Frank Woods, Jr. the foundation became a model of accountability and transparency.
The Woods Charitable Fund remained a family foundation through the 1970s, with Frank H. Woods, Jr. leading the Chicago giving program until his death in 1980. Woods, Jr., Chair of the Sahara Coal Company was instrumental in influencing the philanthropic sector to become more transparent concerning its charitable giving. An early proponent of annual reports for foundations, creating greater transparency for the work they were doing, Woods, Jr. urged members to “tell people what you are doing and why!”
“Tell the people what you are doing and why!” 
— Frank H. Woods, Jr.
The foundation expands its board to include non-family members and hired professional staff.
“The sudden loss in 1980 of a key Woods family member left a vacancy in the foundation’s leadership… That transition year was the foundation’s 40th anniversary. As the first staff person, I saw part of my job as helping the board establish a funding focus, guidelines, and operating procedures that hadn’t been necessary when the foundation was so admirably trustee-run.”
Jean Rudd, Former Woods Fund Chicago President, 1994-2001
In 1993, Woods Charitable Fund restructured into two separate foundations to meet the differing needs of its Lincoln, Nebraska and Chicago programs. Jean Rudd, Executive Director of the Chicago program from 1980–1993, sees this transition through as the first President of what is now Woods Fund Chicago.
In 1997, Barack Obama, whose relationship with the foundation began as a grantee for his community organizing work and whom we engaged as an advisory committee member, then board member, was elected the first board chair without Woods family connections. Following the foundation’s transition, Woods Fund Chicago would begin to build grantee partner relationships that persist into the present day. Many grantee partners have received support from Woods Fund Chicago for over 20 years, with some relationships forming as early as 1998.
Deborah Harrington takes over as President of Woods Fund Chicago in 2006. Under her leadership, in 2008, Woods Fund Chicago board and staff worked to incorporate racial equity into its operations, investment strategy, and grantmaking, making Woods Fund Chicago the one of the first foundations in Chicago to center racial equity in its grantmaking.
“For grantmakers, a racial equity lens brings into focus ways in which race and ethnicity shape experiences with power, access to opportunity, treatment, and outcomes, both today and historically.”
Deborah Harrington, Former Woods Fund Chicago President, 2006-2010
Grace Hou takes over as President in 2012. In late 2014, Woods Fund Chicago’s board of directors approved the implementation of a “Pursuit of Racial Equity” plan, which seeks to promote work that dismantles structural racism in the Chicagoland area. The key elements of this work falls into four areas: mini-grants, training/capacity-building, grantmaking, and awareness-raising.
During this time, Woods Fund Chicago participated in the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity’s (PRE) Racial Justice Funders Lab, which featured Woods Fund Chicago as one of four case studies that highlight some of the principles, lessons and challenges of this work.
In 2015, Woods Fund Chicago’s board and staff participated in a racial equity training conducted by ABFE. This training set the stage for Woods Fund Chicago to deepen its commitment to centering racial equity in its grantmaking.
“Woods Fund Chicago is a patient grantmaker and understands that it took centuries of history to create the systems that intentionally or neglectfully fail Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other people of color; clearly, to dismantle this — it will take more than a one or two-year grant cycle.”
Grace Hou, Former Woods Fund Chicago President, 2012-2019
Woods Fund Chicago served as the lead administering organization for a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) effort called TRHT Greater Chicago. TRHT Greater Chicago fights racism in Chicago by bringing together community members, nonprofits, government leaders, artists, community organizers, and business leaders of every kind to tell their truth about racism and heal from the traumas, together. The program centers on the following visions; truth and narrative, healing, law and policy, and youth. In 2021, TRHT Greater Chicago transitioned to the Chicago Community Trust.
Photo by Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT)
Shortly after Michelle Morales stepped into the role of President of Woods Fund Chicago in November 2019, Woods Fund Chicago was ushered into new territory through the twin crises of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 uprisings.
“The pandemic afforded us the opportunity to examine all aspects of the foundation’s work — both externally and internally.”
Michelle Morales, Woods Fund Chicago President, 2019-Present
During this unparalleled time, the Woods Fund Chicago team advocated to provide more support to grantee partners and the community at large. Read more about Woods Fund Chicago's COVID-19 response.
On September 28, 2020, Woods Fund Chicago awarded its inaugural grant from the Movement Building for Racial Justice Fund, totaling a half million dollars over two years. Learn more about the Movement Building for Racial Justice Fund.
Woods Fund Chicago's unique vantage point as a funder of organizing and advocacy for 80 years has given the fund a front-row seat to the multiple issues that grantee partners have been working on — issues that were exacerbated and thrown into the spotlight by the pandemic and the continuous police brutality that took place in 2020.
With the crises of 2020 and acknowledging the long history of inequitable and harmful power dynamics between funder and grantee partners, Woods Fund Chicago saw the need to change its approach to be more grantee partner-focused and aligned with the values of racial justice and trust-based philanthropy.
This is what funding change looks like in Woods Fund Chicago's ninth decade:Woods Fund Chicago will continue to be bold, take risks, build trust, be accountable to grantee partners, and accept nothing less than a more just city.
Learn more about Woods Fund Chicago’s past, present, and future: