Albert Pick Jr Fund

The Albert Pick Jr. Fund, founded in 1948 and headquartered at 200 W. Madison Street in Chicago's Loop, operates as an independent private foundation with $20.4 million in assets (FY2024) and an annual grantmaking budget of approximately $1 million. Its giving philosophy is firmly rooted in trust-based, community-centered philanthropy: the fund deliberately targets small, grassroots nonprofits with operating budgets under $2.5 million that are led by and accountable to communities most impacted by systemic inequities and structural racism.

The most critical fact for any prospective applicant: as of January 2025, the fund transitioned to invitation-only grantmaking and no longer accepts unsolicited applications. The path to funding now runs entirely through relationship-building, peer referrals, and being identified by fund staff through the Chicago philanthropic ecosystem. This is not a process you can initiate unilaterally — you must be invited.

The fund's geographic focus is narrow and non-negotiable: organizations must have offices and separately budgeted programs operating within the City of Chicago. Statewide organizations or suburban-serving entities do not qualify regardless of mission alignment. Of the 200 tracked grants in the database, 195 went to Illinois-based grantees, and virtually all appear to be Chicago-specific operations.

For organizations that do receive invitations, the typical arc runs from an initial Letter of Inquiry through a full proposal review, with the board convening seasonally. A May LOI window (historically May 10–11 deadline) has been the primary entry point in recent cycles. Multi-year grants are available for established grantee partners, and general operating support is explicitly offered — an important signal that the fund values organizational flexibility over narrow project deliverables.

Executive Director Heather Parish (compensated at $141,694 annually) drives day-to-day grantmaking and relationship decisions. Grants & Operations Administrator Alexis Allegra handles intake and feedback for the LOI stage. New board leadership installed in September 2024 — Alberto Morales (President), Verónica Cortez (Vice President) — has reinforced a sharper community accountability lens. First-time applicants should prioritize visibility at Chicago networks such as Forefront (formerly Donors Forum) and AMPT, and should seek warm introductions through existing grantees including Storycatchers Theatre, Chicago Freedom School, Communities United, and Young Invincibles.

The Albert Pick Jr. Fund has maintained annual total giving in the $1.1–$1.8 million range over the past decade, with a notable peak of $1,830,834 in FY2022 followed by a deliberate contraction to $1,378,607 in FY2023 — a 24.7% reduction reflecting the portfolio sunset decisions announced in the Winter 2025 newsletter. Grants paid (cash disbursed) also declined from $1,182,009 (FY2022) to $914,100 (FY2023), with an earlier high of $1,400,399 in FY2021. The fund's stated current target is approximately $1 million in annual grantmaking.

At the individual grant level, the fund's typical grant size data (71 tracked grants) shows a median of $20,000 and an average of $19,724, with a full range of $2,509 to $105,000. In practice, most grants fall in the $15,000–$35,000 band. The top single-entity relationship in the database — Chicago Community Foundation at $200,000 across 4 grants — reflects pass-through and collaborative fund vehicles (Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability, Illinois Immigration Funder Collaborative), not direct operating support at that scale. Among direct operating grantees, multi-cycle relationships in the $50,000–$70,000 cumulative range (e.g., Crossroads Fund $70,000 / 3 grants; Storycatchers Theatre $70,000 / 3 grants; Kuumba Lynx $65,000 / 3 grants) represent the upper band of sustained support.

By program category (FY2024 data, 48 funded organizations): - Civic Activism: 20 organizations (~42% of portfolio) - Education: 15 organizations (~31%) - Health & Human Services: 11 organizations (~23%) - Special Initiatives: 3 programs (~6%)

Under the new two-pillar model, Education, Health & Human Services, and relevant cultural programs will be absorbed into Youth Safety & Wellness, making the effective split approximately 40% Civic Activism / 60% Youth Safety & Wellness going forward. Total assets have been relatively stable between $18.7M and $23.2M since FY2012, with an anomalous spike to $26.9M in FY2021 driven by extraordinary investment income of $6.8 million — likely tied to the post-COVID market rally — before normalizing to $20.4M by FY2024.

The following table compares the Albert Pick Jr. Fund to peer Chicago-area foundations with similar equity and community-centered missions. Asset and giving figures for peer foundations are approximate estimates based on publicly reported IRS 990 data and may lag 1–2 fiscal years.

Albert Pick Jr. Fund occupies the lower-middle tier of Chicago's equity-focused foundation ecosystem — larger than Wieboldt in asset base but more narrowly Chicago-bound and smaller in annual output than Field or Woods Fund. Its 2025 shift to invitation-only aligns its operating model with Field Foundation and Woods Fund, both of which similarly rely on staff-driven relationship pipelines rather than open competitions. The $15,000–$35,000 grant range is competitive at the community scale but positions Pick as one component of a diversified funding strategy — organizations seeking lead funder support at $100,000+ should look to Woods Fund or Polk Bros. What distinguishes Pick is its willingness to fund general operations for very small organizations (sub-$2.5M budget) at the earliest stages — a gap that larger funders typically do not fill.

The defining recent development is the fund's October 2025 formal publication of its 'New Grantmaking Approach,' consolidating programming into Civic Activism and Youth Safety & Wellness and formalizing the invitation-only model announced in January 2025. Executive Director Heather Parish framed the shift as deepening impact and building authentic trust with community partners — consistent with the national trust-based philanthropy movement that has influenced many mid-size private foundations post-2020.

Board leadership changed substantially in September 2024: Alberto Morales (previously a Director) became President; Verónica Cortez (previously a Director) became Vice President; Elva Gonzalez became Treasurer; and Laura Glick took the IF&A Committee Chair role. Clare Golla departed the board entirely after years as Treasurer; Shelley Davis and Nikki Will Stein remained as Directors after stepping down from officer roles. The shift toward a more Latino-connected board leadership at an organization already funding Latino-serving organizations (Latino Union of Chicago, Communities United) may deepen those community pipelines.

In March–April 2025, the fund ran virtual office hours specifically for prior applicants — a transparent and unusually accessible communication move for a private foundation. Existing grantees met with Heather Parish directly; declined LOI applicants from 2023–2024 met with Grants & Operations Administrator Alexis Allegra for one-on-one feedback. This window has apparently closed, but its existence signals a fund culture that values accountability to the broader applicant community, not just active grantees.

In FY2024, the fund supported 48 organizations — a smaller cohort than in prior years, consistent with deliberate portfolio contraction toward deeper multi-year relationships.

Given the fund's 2025 transition to invitation-only grantmaking, conventional application advice is fundamentally restructured. There is no open portal, no submission form to complete on demand, and no public LOI deadline to target without prior contact from staff. The following tips reflect what will actually move an organization closer to receiving an invitation.

Invest in visibility within Chicago's philanthropic infrastructure. The Pick Fund participates actively in Forefront (formerly Donors Forum), AMPT, and collaborative funding vehicles. Organizations visible at convenings, co-learning spaces, and joint funder initiatives — particularly those involving racial equity, civic engagement, or youth violence prevention — are most likely to come onto staff radar organically.

Align language to the fund's two explicit pillars. Proposals framed around Civic Activism (community organizing, police accountability, immigration rights, youth civic engagement, advocacy training) or Youth Safety & Wellness (violence prevention for high-risk youth, mental health access, STEM education with equity lenses, wraparound youth services) will resonate. Drop general education or health framing that does not connect to these pillars specifically.

Demonstrate community accountability in governance. The fund's post-2025 language explicitly prioritizes organizations 'led by and accountable to communities most impacted.' Board composition, community membership, participatory decision-making, and leadership pipelines from impacted communities are the signals to surface prominently — not just demographic statements.

Budget size is a hard screener. Organizations with total operating budgets above $2.5 million are de-prioritized. If your budget is near this threshold, be prepared to discuss how the Pick grant serves your smallest, most grassroots program — not your institutional overhead.

Treat grant reporting as your next proposal. Reports must be submitted online and must address progress vs. stated objectives, barriers encountered, unexpected outcomes, and budget/expenditure detail. High-quality reporting is the primary mechanism through which existing grantees earn multi-year renewal invitations. Superficial or late reports are the surest way to exit the portfolio.

Do not cold-contact the fund without an opening. Cold outreach to the office is not appropriate given the invitation-only model. Wait for virtual office hours, public convenings, or a warm introduction through peer grantees (Storycatchers Theatre, Chicago Freedom School, Communities United, Young Invincibles are among the most sustained grantee relationships and natural introduction nodes).