Invest Your Charitable Dollars in a Nonprofit that Delivers Consistent Outstanding Results
Preservation Chicago delivers results that would be impressive from an organization many times larger.
We have a lengthy, proven track record of directly and successfully impacting preservation efforts throughout Chicago. Our success is largely due to the highly-disciplined strategic allocation of our limited capacity, innovative strategies to leverage impact, and the talented advocacy of our staff. Due to our small organizational footprint, we have innovated advocacy strategies and developed unconventional techniques that have resulted in our significant outcomes. We’ve accomplished so much already, just imagine what could accomplished with a larger staff capacity.
The Preservation Circle: Preservation Chicago’s Preservation Circle is a vitally important donor base. The Preservation Circle provides a critical source of operating funds and Preservation Circle members are given 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 to $25,000 to support Preservation Chicago’s advocacy efforts. Our ability to operate is due in large part to the generous support 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
Or simply make a donation via secure online portal or send a check to the Preservation Chicago at 205 W. Monroe, Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60606 and we’ll contact you!
Gifts of Stock: Recent market conditions might provide you with significant benefits for making a gift of stock or other securities. If you decide to make a gift of stock, lease contact Ward Miller in advance of stock transfers so that we can instruct our investment manager to track and accept your gift. Ward Miller, Executive Director at 773-398-6432 or wmiller@preservationchicago.org
Planned Giving: Including Preservation Chicago in your estate plans is an excellent way to make a tangible impact on the Chicago’s built environment for decades to come. We welcome the opportunity to help you and your financial advisors develop a planned giving approach best suited for you and your family. Our investment management firm has extensive expertise serving over 1,000 foundations and nonprofits. All inquiries are strictly confidential. Please contact Ward Miller, Executive Director at 773-398-6432 or wmiller@preservationchicago.org
Preservation Chicago: Mission and Vision Preservation Chicago leverages the power of historic preservation to create healthy communities.
Preservation Chicago is committed to strengthening the vibrancy of Chicago’s economy and quality of life by championing our historic built environment. Preservation Chicago protects and revitalizes Chicago’s irreplaceable architecture, neighborhoods and urban green spaces. We influence stakeholders toward creative reuse and preservation through advocacy, outreach, education, and partnerships.
Preservation Chicago: Delivering Consistent Outstanding Results 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!
Case for Giving
Since 2013, under the leadership of Ward Miller as Executive Director, and supported by his executive staff, and a dynamic Board of Directors, Preservation Chicago has grown into a respected change agent in Chicago.
We have gained more visibility, influence and traction, while our efforts have generated increased numbers of preservation wins, achieving specific, short-term tactical objectives as well as broad, long-term aspirational goals.
Your charitable investment will allow us at Preservation Chicago to continue to grow the organization and increase our capacity.
Preservation Chicago was founded in 2001, from the collective energy of a group of Chicagoans, who felt compelled to mobilize and positively impact what was viewed as the destruction of Chicago’s historic built environment and heritage, and to save these structures from demolition.
In our 21 years of operations, we have led numerous preservation campaigns to save and encourage a reuse of buildings large and small, while also assisting efforts towards Chicago Landmark status for many important structures and districts.
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.