Earlier this month, amid escalation of ICE detentions across the country

June 2025 — Moving the Needle // Woods Fund Chicago

Earlier this month, amid escalation of ICE detentions across the country, the federal administration deployed 700 marines to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests.

The protests that they were deployed to quell are people standing up and demanding the release and protection of their friends, family, and neighbors.

The violent repression of these protests — rubber bullets, tear gas, riot police interspersed with national guard troops — evokes the protests of 2020. Then, as now, massive and diverse crowds across the country took to the streets to defend Black and Brown lives.

In Chicago, the summer of 2020 meant a swell of local organizing: grassroots mutual aid networks bloomed alongside campaigns from grantee partners like GoodKids MadCity, BYP100, and Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) to divest from policing and invest in the resources our communities need to thrive.

In this moment, our many grantee partners focused on immigrant and refugee communities are leading the way on a similar mix of direct support — including hotlines and know your rights training — and vocal campaigns for justice.

As funders, what is our place in this ongoing crisis? In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic and undeniable demands for racial justice, many funders stepped up: committing to a focus on equity and streamlining their processes to get funding where it was needed in an emergency. Now, under shifted political terrain, we’ve seen a pulling back toward old funding mechanisms and a quiet reorientation away from explicit goals of justice and equity. Philanthropy has power to set the terms: we must revisit the changes and tactics we had the courage and urgency to deploy in 2020.

In dual pieces below, Woods Fund Chicago President Michelle Morales talks through how and why we have increased our payout and shifted toward a trust-based-philanthropy framework. Critically, the latter can be employed even if an organization cannot move the needle on payout. It is still impactful to shift our practices toward trusting our grantee partners, getting them funds sooner, and easing reporting and application burdens. Our work is not done, and we hope you’ll join us.

Woods Fund Chicago’s Michelle Morales on the Myths of Perpetuity // Inside Philanthropy

Woods Fund Chicago has communicated extensively about our shifts toward a higher payout and trust-based philanthropy. But this Q&A with our president, Michelle Morales, goes in depth not just on the why but the how of making those changes. The brass tacks undergird a call to action for our peers. “So many foundations use the language of, ‘We’re banking our returns for a rainy day,’ says Michelle. “This is the rainy day.”

Philanthropy’s Response to the Radical New Reality // Stanford Social Innovation Review

Woods Fund Chicago’s President Michelle Morales was asked to contribute to a recent series in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. In it, she urges an expansion of a foundation’s sense of fiscal responsibility toward one that holds the work of our partners and the survival of our communities above organizational perpetuity.

We are thrilled to welcome Brittany Ward to the Woods Fund Chicago team! Brittany brings extensive experience in grants management, and we’re excited to put her skills to work to continue to streamline Woods Fund Chicago’s grants process and internal operations.

“I’ve seen firsthand how nonprofits can help dismantle unjust systems while uplifting communities,” said Brittany, “Woods Fund Chicago’s work reflects principles I've spent years learning about, advocating for, and striving to embody.”

How Can US Cities Resist Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda?
Look to Chicago

Why We’re Reading It: This Guardian piece features grantee partners Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago, placing the current emergency response within a long history of basebuilding. Hard fought legislative wins like 2017’s Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE, and on the ground organizing and Know Your Rights work have proven critical during the current escalation of detention and deportations: the piece holds up Chicago’s tactics as a model for other cities.

The Guardian // Read now

Grantee partner Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) was part of a collaboration with the Illinois state government to build a new online resource hub for immigrant communities, including Know Your Rights guides and a hotline for immigration emergencies. Learn more.

Opinion: Who Benefits From a Snap Curfew?

Why We’re Reading It: Since City Council first began debating a snap curfew ordinance, the South Side Weekly has published a series of pieces exploring the roots and impact of legislation that would give CPD the authority to declare a teen curfew with 30 minutes notice. Their reporting has featured reflections on being a Black teen from grantee partner GoodKids MadCity, analysis of the safety impacts, and an exploration of Chicago’s waning “third spaces.” In this piece, University of Chicago Professor Robert Vargas connects the Chicago ordinance to this broader moment of protest and surveillance.

South Side Weekly // Read now