The New Coast Foundation is one of the newer philanthropic organizations in Chicago, and has only been operating for a few years. Following his success with a venture capital fund called New Coast Ventures, Alex Ross created the foundation in 2016 and publicly launched it in 2018 as a social impact fund. While this funder does not have a website and only limited information is available about it, here’s what we know so far about the New Coast Foundation (NCF) and how it gives locally in the Chicago area.
A big focus on poverty
NCF is primarily concerned with fighting poverty at the local level. More specifically, it channels its poverty-fighting grants through five interconnected impact areas: education, community mobilization, economic development, housing and well-being.
Education interests include early childhood education, after-school programs and transitioning to college. Community grants back restorative justice and legal support issues, while economic development grants go toward job training and neighborhood revitalization. NCF is also interested in mental health, healthy food, transitional housing shelters and preventative healthcare.
A strong Chicago connection
NCF is based in the northern Chicago suburb of Glenview and focuses its attention on the greater Chicago area. The foundation has been steadily supporting Viewing Our Children as Emerging Leaders (VOCEL), a Chicago-based group that focuses on early learning programs. VOCEL has recently received grants of $50,000 and $100,000 from NCF. Working Credit NFP, another recent grantee, provides one-on-one credit-building counseling in Chicago.
Unique types of support
NCF stands out among other grantmaking organizations in Chicago because it is a public philanthropic venture fund that looks to “accelerate the impact of promising emerging organizations working to bring possibility to the communities and people of our city.”
The funder supports nonprofits that are beyond the start-up and pre-scale phases—to borrow some phrases from the venture funding world—and that already have proven track records of success. It also works with nonprofits that are vulnerable to growth-related challenges, such as funding gaps. Grantmaking, impact investing and knowledge exchanges are all part of NCF’s long-term philanthropic strategy. It is typical for NCF to provide grantees with around $300,000 over a period of three years, and to provide coaching and technical assistance in addition to unrestricted capital.
No unsolicited applications
At least for now, it appears that NCF identifies potential grantees on its own, and has no open application process. NCF does not provide a clear way to get in touch with inquiries, but contact information for the foundation can be found in our full profile of the New Coast Foundation. Meanwhile, grantseekers can learn about other, more accessible Chicago-focused foundations that are also committed to fighting poverty by browsing our Chicago and Great Lakes funding guide.