Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) is honored to be a $15 million recipient of a MacKenzie Scott grant. Lightning does strike in the same place twice as Ms. Scott awarded CCLF $10 million four years ago.
MacKenzie Scott is a trailblazer in the world of philanthropy because of her large unrestricted grants to nonprofits. She is changing philanthropy by trusting organizations to do the good work without traditional reporting requirements. With her enormous generosity, she continues to donate billions of dollars to organizations who are trying to eliminate economic and racial disparity while bringing transformative change to the people of those communities. She signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away the majority of her wealth to charitable causes.
“CCLF is stunned by this second unsolicited and unrestricted mega grant to significantly bolster our efforts to create more equitable, inclusive and thriving neighborhoods throughout Chicagoland. At a time when some may be in a holding pattern or are scaling back initiatives for people of color, MacKenzie Scott’s extraordinary generosity will increase our low-cost lending to communities of color and support crucial real estate development efforts to address urgent affordable housing needs and help create or retain jobs.” – Calvin L. Holmes, President.
Every year CCLF strives to improve upon its work, continuously creating a more equitable environment for the developers who work to counter the long-term disinvestment in the communities we serve. In 2023, CCLF had its best year ever, closing more than $42 million in loans by year-end. CCLF is better positioned to continue to help borrowers make the necessary long-term investments year after year to build underinvested neighborhoods.
Bob Tucker, Interim President, COO and EVP of Programs, was struck by the fact that CCLF was chosen twice for Ms. Scott’s largess. “On behalf of our Board of Directors, staff, customers and partners, CCLF extends our deepest gratitude to MacKenzie Scott for believing in our mission and supporting our lending for housing, commercial real estate, community facilities and social enterprises. It is a rare blessing to receive a phone call from her team asking if you would like to scale the good work you are doing to advance under-resourced neighborhoods. Getting the call a second time tells us the work of our borrowers are moving the needle in the right direction.”
If you are looking for low-cost financing for a project that offers affordable housing, community facilities, commercial retail or sustainable enterprise development in a low-income neighborhood, reach out to CCLF. To send an inquiry, visit https://cclfchicago.org/lending/loan-inquiry/