With your support, WE WILL make Chicago a better city.
The Preservation Circle
Preservation Chicago’s Preservation Circle is an vitally important donor base. The Preservation Circle provides a critical source of operating funds and it provides Preservation Circle members the opportunity to more deeply and directly engage with our preservation advocacy efforts, strategies, and successes.
Preservation Circle members are invited to participate in unique events and programs in unusual locations. Hosted by Preservation Chicago staff and Board of Directors, these events provide direct access to learn the stories behind headlines and gain a deeper connection with the mission.
Membership in the Preservation Circle is open to individuals, families, and family foundations who choose to make an annual contribution of $1,000 or more to Preservation Chicago’s advocacy efforts. Our ability to operate is due in large part to the generous support of its donors and foundations that believe that Chicago and its Chicago’s historically significant built environment is precious and worth fighting to protect.
For additional information regarding the Preservation Circle, please contact Ward Miller, Executive Director at 773.398.6432 or wmiller@preservationchicago.org
Preservation Chicago
Preservation Chicago advocates to create and protect healthy, vibrant, diverse, and sustainable communities by leveraging the power of Chicago’s historic built environment.
We recognize that there are many worth causes and organizations to support, but there are few organizations that will result in as high a return on your philanthropic investment. Our results have been surprising, significant and substantial. These outcomes are even more remarkable given the small size of our organization.
The generosity of supporters like you is vital to sustain our daily operations. Preservation Chicago is a 100% privately funded 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. Your tax deductible donation ensures that the mission and impact of Preservation Chicago continues to grow and that our voice remains independent.
Please make the decision to support Preservation Chicago today and help strengthen the vibrancy of Chicago. Your donation of any amount directly supports Preservation Chicago’s advocacy efforts. All donations to Preservation Chicago are fully tax-deductible as permitted by law. Preservation Chicago is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, Federal Tax ID: 01-0674228
Thank you for your confidence. Thank you for your donation. Thank you for loving Chicago fiercely!
Not a moment to lose.
As the birthplace of the skyscraper and all of modern architecture, Chicago is universally regarded as one of the most significant architectural cities on the globe. This extraordinary legacy earns Chicago an honored place among the great world cities. Those same forces of commerce and innovation that once combined in Chicago to thrust architecture into the modern age are now eroding our built legacy as the commerce persists but without the innovation.
Over 1,000 building demolitions typically occur annually in Chicago. Once lost, Chicago’s historic buildings have defined our urban fabric for generations and are irreplaceable. With their passing, the opportunity for a struggling neighborhood to regain the vibrancy of its past and for a thriving neighborhood to maintain the very character that allowed it to thrive slips slowly, but decisively, further away. Through preservation, the vibrancy of Chicago’s communities can be nurtured, supported and sustained.
Preservation Chicago’s Strategic Response
Preservation Chicago is the only organization exclusively focused on Chicago’s grassroots historic preservation efforts. An advocacy nonprofit, Preservation Chicago is committed to strengthening the vibrancy of Chicago’s economy and quality of life through the successful protection, revitalization and adaptive reuse of Chicago’s unique, irreplaceable and historically significant architecture which define our neighborhoods and urban spaces. Through advocacy, outreach, education, and strategic partnerships, we seek to influence those decision makers in a position to affect preservation-sensitive change.
Its professional staff and board members serve from a place of passion, with great enthusiasm and dedication to the cause of defending Chicago against the forces of neglect, ignorance and architectural banality and a preserving Chicago’s world-class architectural heritage. Preservation Chicago is a unique organization, celebrated by friends and feared by foes, but universally described by all as “energetic,” “resourceful,” “tenacious” and “effective.”
Preservation Chicago’s immediate goals are to expand programing, outreach, and proactive policy-making capabilities in order to change the context of preservation in Chicago. Preservation Chicago has recently increased its staff, thereby allowing the organization to expand its capacity and productivity. Its staff are governed and supported by a dynamic board of directors, essential for Preservation Chicago to successfully address the many complex and varied preservation challenges. The long-term goal of Preservation Chicago is to increasingly shift from reactive to proactive advocacy. Outreach, education, and policy change will help Chicagoans better appreciate, recognize and value our rich architectural heritage and shift the conversation to one more conducive for preservation. Educating the next generation of Chicago decision-makers about preservation and its benefits is essential for the long-term vibrancy of our city.