OVERVIEW: The Comer Family Foundation is the result of a merger of two of Lands' End founder Gary Comer’s philanthropic endeavors. It is a prominent grantmaker in the city of Chicago. Topics of interest are education, healthcare, environment and culture.
IP TAKE: This is a family foundation for nonprofits serving Chicago’s South Side to keep on their radars because almost all education, healthcare and culture grants are awarded in this specific geographic area.
PROFILE: Established in 1986, the Comer Family Foundation is the private family foundation of Gary Comer. As a lifelong resident of South Side Chicago, Gary Comer became a world-class competitive sailor, a successful copywriter, and eventually the founder of Lands’ End. From 1963 to 1991, he served as Lands’ End’s President and CEO before selling the company to Sears and turning his attention to philanthropy in 2002. Even after Comer succumbed to prostate cancer in 2006, his family has remained involved with grantees through the family philanthropy. The funder is “dedicated to seeding ideas and supporting innovative programs that make a lasting and positive impact on the lives of individuals and their communities.” Grantmaking areas of interest are education, healthcare, environment and culture.
Comer’s education work focuses exclusively on the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago and funds academic, college readiness, after-school enrichment, teen employment, housing and healthcare within the sphere of education. Comer’s culture grantmaking program operates Chicago-wide and has focused on photography and its technological evolution. The foundation helped fund the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago and endows the Gary C. & Frances Comer Curator of Modern Art at that institution.
In the area of health, the foundation has supported syringe exchange programs focused on controling the spread of HIV nationwide. Comer also funds hospitals and healthcare centers on Chicago’s South Side. Since 2008, the foundation has partnered with Health Management Associates to optimize a better plan to care for pregnant women and children on the South Side.
In the environmental support space, Comer supports science research and journalism aimed at promoting awareness and understanding of the changing environment and its impact on humanity. Funding consists of fellowships, climate research grants and Northwestern University’s Comer Scholars Program at the Medill School of Journalism.
Comer Family Foundation grants are awarded in amounts up to $50,00, and the bulk of its grantmaking stays in Chicago. The foundation lists past climate research grants on its website and shares program-relevant stores on each of its program pages.
The Comer Family Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications for any focus area except its syringe exchange program. Grantseekers can get in touch with the staff with general questions via online contact form.
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