Circle of Service Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Circle of Service Foundation has four grantmaking focus areas: community services, education, medical research and Jewish causes. With the exception of a few medical research facility organizations, nearly all of Circle of Service grantmaking stays in Cook and Lake Counties, Illinois.
IP TAKE: A generous supporter of nonprofits in Chicago as well as Cook and Lake Counties, this funder accepts proposals for its community services and Jewish funding programs.
PROFILE: Established in 1997 an based in Chicago, the Circle of Service Foundation was created with the proceeds of the sale of stock by CDW Corp. Its founder is Michael P. Krasny, a former car salesman who found a way to make a fortune buying and selling computers in the early days of technology. In 2007, he sold CDW, a technical gadget and networking equipment company, to Madison Dearborn Partners for $7.3 billion. This boosted the foundation's assets considerably. Grantmaking areas of interest are medical research, education, community services and Jewish causes.
Circle of Service pours a majority of its grantmaking budget into education and basic needs programs for food and housing. Education funding prioritizes low-income and underserved populations, while the community services program aims to “help individuals achieve stability in their lives and grow to achieve increasing self-reliance and independence.” Since Krasny is an active member of Chicago’s Jewish community, grants have also supported some of Chicago’s Jewish organizations, although funding from this program has also supported national and international nonprofits. Finally, in the area of medical research, the foundation focuses on research regarding the prevention, diagnoses, treatments and cures for diseases, with many grants geared toward cancer research. Medical research funding is national in scope, but several Illinois-based organizations have received grants from this program.
The foundation tends to award around 500 grants each year, ranging in size from $100 to $1 million. The Circle of Service Foundation typically awards over $20 million in grants annually. The funder does not have an online grants database to review. Some of the foundation's past grants in Chicago include $1.4 million to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, $1 million to the University of Chicago, $500,000 to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and $150,000 to the Ounce of Prevention Fund for early childhood development. The funder focuses the bulk of its giving on Chicago and Cook and Lake Counties in Illinois. The foundation also awards multi-year challenge grants to groups that have an established funding history.
The foundation accepts unsolicited pre-applications from local nonprofits for community services and Jewish community needs in Cook or Lake County. Although the funder accepts education requests by invitation only, grantseekers can still contact the organization with a new education program idea. Grantseekers should contact the staff with questions at 312-897-111 or info@cosfoundation.org.
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