The First Ten Years at the Illinois Facilities Fund - IFF

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1It startedwithan idea. ..Cold winds blow into Chicago every winter,forcing even the hardiest residents to dig out warmclothing and fill gaps around windows. Those windsbrought another kind of trouble in the late 1970s. Theenergy crisis had driven heating costs up so fast thatmany nonprofit organizations were diverting thousandsof dollars from their programs to pay winter fuel bills.Even in warmer months, many human serviceagencies limped along with barely adequate facilities—payments couldn’t be used for capital improvements.This was just the kind of problem that sets the wheelsturning in Chicago’s philanthropic community.It was 1980 when six foundations pooled funds andmade their first energy-conservation loan, disbursing$4,200 at 3% interest to an arts and film organizationnamed Facets Multimedia. The money bought ceilinginsulation and a new thermostat control, with thepromise of $3,000 per year in energy savings. MoMingDance and Arts Center borrowed $2,197 to installinsulation and ceiling fans, figuring on getting half itsmoney back the first year. Twenty-five other organizationswon small grants for energy audits, and Lutheran Homeand Service for the Aged went for the first “big” loan,$60,000 over five years, to automate its heating system.As foundation initiatives go, the Joint FoundationEnergy Conservation Fund was a direct hit: a little money7
invested toward a big problem, with gratifying results. Butby opening a window onto the facility needs of nonprofits,it exposed a much bigger challenge. And it plantedthe seed for a new organization that would be a lender,consulting firm, construction manager and think tank,all rolled into one: the Illinois Facilities Fund.Raising the barTrinita Logue was assistant director of the ChicagoCommunity Trust when the Joint Foundation’s loanportfolio reached $750,000. A whirlwind of energy witha deft touch for the persuasive memo, Logue was askedby the Trust’s executive director, Bruce Newman, toexplore expansion of the loan program. He was thinkingbeyond energy conservation to gut rehabs, additionsand new construction.Newman had seen plenty of down-at-the-heelsnonprofit facilities where a visitor’s first impression isof worn-out linoleum, caked-on paint and makeshiftpartitions. Some agencies took a perverse pride in suchfacilities, figuring it proved their frugality and need,but to Newman and others in government and philanthropy,it seemed all wrong. Why should nonprofitsserving people have substandard buildings?The Trust and the Illinois Department of Childrenand Family Services had started a second facilities-loanprogram, channeling $1 million to agencies servingchildren, and it too was successful. Logue’s assignmentwas to find out how far the concept could be pushed.Did other agencies have similar needs? Could paybackmechanisms be created? With a thoroughness thatwould be a hallmark of the organization she would lead,Logue put together the argument.Focus groups, interviews and surveys revealed notonly an enormous need among nonprofits but a soundbasis for allocating government reimbursementstowards property improvements. After reading Logue’s1987 memo, Newman began lining up funds.Money, people and buildingsIncorporation papers were filed in 1988 and independentoperations began in 1990 with $1.7 million in preliminarysupport from the Chicago Community Trust. Laterthe IFF would take over the two existing loan funds and,as its by-laws allowed, take on development projectsand even ownership of properties. In 10 years, theorganization would develop a loan portfolio approaching$25 million and make its mark on lower-incomecommunities across Illinois.The IFF has built and owns seven child care centers–beautiful light-filled buildings financed with tax-exemptbonds—and is building more in neighborhoods89
Page 1 and 2: ADifferentKind ofLenderThe First Te
Page 3: There’ssomethingabouta building..
Page 7 and 8: What morecan we do forthe nonprofit
Page 9 and 10: make a venture capitalist smile. Th
Page 11 and 12: analysis of the program or services
Page 13 and 14: Illinois Facilities Fund Loans Clos
Page 23 and 24: The bricks were laid andthe mortar
Page 25 and 26: create public-private partnerships,
Page 27 and 28: Learning processBuilding the child
Page 29 and 30: We are bringing new sourcesof finan
Page 31 and 32: After numerous discussions at the b
Page 33 and 34: It was a remarkable process because
Page 35 and 36: The IFF will become thepreeminent f
Page 37 and 38: Paint-bucket chairsAcross the hall
Page 39 and 40: Agencies served by Real Estate Serv
Page 41 and 42: When I came to the oldfacility I al
Page 43 and 44: organization, the IFF staff also tu
Page 45 and 46: fine idea, but Chicago’s building
Page 47 and 48: 7APermanentinstitutionThe mood is a
Page 49 and 50: notes Mark Pinsky of the National C
Page 51 and 52: 1991 1992AssetsCash $ 2,475,000Gran
Page 53 and 54: 1995 1996AssetsCash $ 3,271,271Gran
Page 55 and 56:
1999 2000 ProjectedAssetsCash $ 10,
Page 57 and 58:
Board member Jeanette Bitter andJim
Page 59 and 60:
IFF staff member Kristine Westerber
Page 61 and 62:
Former BoardFormer StaffJudy BlockJ
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The First Ten Years at the Illinois Facilities Fund - IFF

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