4 minute read
GIVE LOCAL
Deerfield-based Baum Family Fund becomes the first Foundation Champion of the Highland Park Community Foundation with a significant, five-year grant
BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
The Deerfield-based Baum Family Fund was founded by Alvin Baum, a successful investment banker and longtime resident of Highland Park. Baum and his wife, Ann, were compassionate individuals who supported a broad array of charities and provided direct support for needy individuals and families. Alvin passed away in 1982, and Ann in 2005. The Baum Family Fund continues their legacy of giving back to the community.
Recently, the fund became the first Foundation Champion of the Highland Park Community Foundation (HPCF). The Champion program was launched for corporations in 2020, with Mesirow Financial becoming the first with a commitment to HPCF of $100,000 over five years. Eleven other corporations have followed suit with annual commitments ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
The Baum Family Fund strives to better the lives of those who predominantly work and live in the Chicago area. Since 2017, the fund has made grants of more than $17.5 millions to 200 organizations in and around Chicago, including the North Shore.
“The Baum Fund is proud to be the first Foundation Champion, alongside the Highland Park Community Foundation Corporate Champions,” says Friedman, himself a Highland Park resident. “We hope to inspire others to support the HPCF generously in order to provide resources the community needs and to enrich the lives of all residents.”
Community foundations play a unique role in the philanthropic world. With deep roots in the communities they serve, these organizations have the knowledge and expertise to address local needs and target grants for maximum impact.
That mission is what drives both Champion programs at HPCF and why the Baum Fund is offering its financial support.
“We fit well within their funding priorities. Education and health care and human services are certainly two of their main areas of focus and we have very strong nonprofits that provide programs and services for residents that assist with education and address so many of the human service needs of our community,” Olian says.
“I think they saw supporting the foundation in this way is very well aligned with their mission and provided them an opportunity show their support for what we are trying to accomplish as a foundation.”
A big factor, Olian says, is trust in HPCF’s ability to discern the needs of the community and identify the best ways to deploy its funding to address those needs through the nonprofits that have the programs and services that HPCF and other foundations are supporting.
“Hopefully it conveys the message that we are an organization that the family fund is putting its trust in, putting their faith and trust in us,” she says. “Other foundations, particularly smaller ones, might not have identified funding areas and they're looking for organizations to support and we can take the guesswork out for them.”
The Champion program currently provides about $340,000 a years for the foundation, and the commitments, which range from $5,000 to $20,000 per year over five years, gives the organization the ability to be more strategic with its grantmaking and to be flexible as needs in the Highland Park community evolve.
“I think [the Foundation Champion program] provides a new opportunity for foundations that are comfortable making pledges longerterm,” Olian says. “We hope that family offices, family foundations, and private foundations will seriously consider and avail themselves of this opportunity. There are significant needs in the community and their support can go a long way to improving people's lives.”
For more information about the Highland Park Community Foundation, visit hpcfil.org.
