Christopher Family Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Christopher Family Foundation supports education entrepreneurship, wellbeing and community fellowship. Much of the family's philanthropy takes place in the Chicago area.
IP TAKE: This funder supports several grassroots and Lutheran organizations in Chicago and surrounding cities and towns. Christopher accepts letters of inquiry through its online system.
PROFILE: Established in 1997 the by Jay and Doris Christopher, the Christopher Family Foundation is an outgrowth of The Pampered Chef, a business Doris founded in 1980 out of their home. The foundation aims to “foster creativity and build capacity and collaboration” from a Christian perspective. Its areas of grantmaking are education, employment and entrepreneurship, individual and family wellbeing and community and fellowship. The foundation also maintains a line of funding for special and legacy projects for causes outside of its areas of grantmaking.
Christopher’s education funding emphasizes kindergarten readiness, after school programs and cultural enrichment programs for children. The employment and entrepreneurship program works in the areas of job training and entrepreneurship and prioritizes women. The foundation’s wellbeing funding emphasizes food security and nutrition but has also funded mental health and health access programs. And the foundation’s community and fellowship program works with organizations that “promote fellowship, build community and offer opportunities to connect with others.”
In all four areas, the foundation makes three separate types of grants. Learning grants fund projects that are exploratory and support organizations in the early stages of development. Promising practice grants work with organizations and projects that have “demonstrated success” as they expand, evaluate or replicate their success. Collaboration grants consist of close collaborations between the foundation and one or more organizations working collaboratively in one of the foundation’s funding areas.
Foundation grants tend to range from $1,000 to $100,000, but most grants are awarded in amounts of $10,000 or less. Education is its largest area of giving. In a recent year, the foundation made around $3.6 million in grants, and most grants remain in the Chicago area. Past grantees include Blessings in a Backpack, Cara Chicago, the Chicagoland Lutheran Education Foundation, Inspiration Corporation, Maywood Fine Arts Association, Northern Illinois Foodbank and the Walther Christian Academy.
The Christopher Family Foundation accepts letters of inquiry via its online system. Guidelines and due dates are posted on the foundation’s website.
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