How We Work Together

Michael Reese Health Trust (Michael Reese) is a public foundation that partners with the Chicagoland community to champion and create lasting health solutions. Housed at Michael Reese, the Health First Collaborative (HFC) launched in 2020 as a pandemic response effort.
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The HFC rapidly mobilized over 20 funding collaborators to support community-led health solutions, a remarkable example of impact at a difficult time. In 2023, however, it faced a critical transition question: how to evolve from an urgent, ad-hoc initiative into a sustainable model for advancing racial equity in health outcomes in Chicagoland. With diverse stakeholders and a commitment to multilingual, equitable participation, the collaborative needed help formalizing its approach without losing what made it effective.

Bold Ventures began by listening deeply to understand HFC's unique culture, values, and the complex dynamics among its many stakeholders. Recognizing the collaborative's commitment to equity, we implemented multilingual processes, translating all materials and coordinating language services to ensure meaningful participation from all community leaders.
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Rather than imposing external governance models, we facilitated a series of collaborative conversations that honored HFC's community-centered values while creating practical structures for decision-making. We worked closely with funding collaborators and Community Advisory Council members to co-create solutions that reflected their shared commitments to community leadership and racial solidarity.

With our partnership and support, HFC successfully transformed itself from a crisis-response initiative into a sustainable collaborative with clear governance structures and operational frameworks. The process yielded formalized leadership roles, transparent decision-making protocols, and organizational values that uphold effectiveness and equity.
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HFC gained the confidence and capacity to continue modeling community-engaged decision-making while advancing health equity across Chicagoland. The collaborative now has both the practical tools and the shared vision needed to sustain its vital work as both funder and catalyst for systems change in healthcare.

After releasing its comprehensive "Community Voices" report—the result of two years of community engagement and learning—the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation was poised to shift its grantmaking to respond more fully to the expressed needs of the community. The foundation had done the listening work and understood the priorities, but it faced the challenge of translating community insights into concrete grantmaking strategies.
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The foundation needed to move beyond traditional approaches to create grantmaking practices that would center equity, trust, and transparency. It sought a partner who could help bridge the gap between community wisdom and foundation operations, ensuring its grantmaking reflected both its own values and the community's expressed needs.

Bold Ventures worked alongside foundation staff, board members, and community stakeholders to translate the insights from "Community Voices" into actionable grantmaking strategies. We designed a collaborative process that continued the foundation's commitment to community engagement while providing the strategic framework needed for effective implementation.
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Throughout our eight-month engagement, we served as both strategic advisor and thought partner, helping the foundation navigate the practical challenges of translating community priorities into operational changes. We facilitated conversations that balanced the foundation's fiduciary responsibilities with its commitment to community-driven approaches.

With our support, the foundation successfully developed grantmaking strategies that authentically reflect both community priorities and the foundation's commitment to advancing equity and belonging. The result was a comprehensive framework for grantmaking practices that center trust, transparency, and community voice.
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The foundation gained not only specific strategies and practices but also enhanced capacity for ongoing community engagement and responsive grantmaking. The team there now has the tools and confidence to make grants that advance equitable outcomes for the Oak Park-River Forest communities they serve.

Following the nationwide uprisings of 2020 and growing awareness of systemic racism's impact on mental and behavioral health, the Katz Amsterdam Foundation (KAF) recognized the need to expand its giving to include racially equitable strategies. As a family foundation focused on eliminating barriers to mental health and increasing access to opportunity, KAF wanted to ensure its investments would make meaningful impact on racial inequities.
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With limited staff capacity and at the beginning of their own racial equity journey, the foundation sought external guidance to understand the landscape of strategies for addressing racial inequities and identify the most promising areas for investment that aligned with their core mission and family values.

Bold Ventures supported both family and foundation staff to better understand the broad landscape of racial equity strategies in mental and behavioral health. We conducted extensive research, interviewing state and federal leaders and directors of national organizations while tapping our deep network of experts to determine where funding could make the most significant difference.
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Working closely with the family, we identified areas where their passion for mental health access intersected with opportunities to advance racial equity. We also explored how their long-standing commitment to civic engagement could be channeled into community-centered investment strategies.

Through our collaboration, the foundation successfully launched two new funding programs that center BIPOC communities while staying true to their core focus on mental health and civic engagement. The family gained both the knowledge and confidence to make strategic investments that address racial inequities in mental and behavioral health.
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Following the success of this initial work, Bold Ventures continued as a long-term partner to KAF, supporting the foundation's growth through hiring additional staff, developing new program areas, and providing ongoing strategic guidance. The foundation now operates with clear frameworks for advancing racial equity through all aspects of its work.

After completing a multi-year, equity-focused journey culminating in a new strategic plan, Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) faced a new challenge: translating its commitments from aspirational strategic goals into tangible changes in grantmaking practice. 
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Having clarified its values and intentions, the foundation wanted to ensure that its specific approaches would create meaningful change for the children and communities it serves across Illinois. It needed a partner with the necessary expertise to help it fully realize its commitments.

Bold Ventures began by listening deeply to understand ILCHF's unique context, values, and aspirations. Recognizing that effective solutions would need to reflect input from multiple perspectives, we designed a collaborative audit process that engaged foundation board members, staff, grantees, and community stakeholders alike.
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Throughout the partnership, Bold Ventures sought to serve as both guide and implementation partner, creating spaces for learning and reflection while also providing structured frameworks for decision-making. Rather than prescribing standardized "best practices," we helped the foundation's team develop approaches that authentically reflected their mission and values while advancing equity in children's health.

With our support, ILCHF was able to advance its equity principles through new grantmaking approaches and practices. The foundation benefited from recommendations about decision-making and partnership opportunities, even as we provided enhanced capacity for learning and adaptation.
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Working together, we turned strategic ideals and equity commitments into actionable insights and approaches. Even better, we helped the foundation integrate those values into pursuit of its larger vision: an Illinois in which every child grows up healthy.