As Executive Director, Caren helped build the Oprah Winfrey Foundations during the period of Oprah's Angel Network, Oprah's response to Katrina, and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. She went on to become President of Crown Family Philanthropies in Chicago, and now leads Croland Consulting, a boutique, philanthropic advising firm that empowers families, athletes and celebrities, and businesses to strengthen culture and build legacy. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School and at Tulane's School of Professional Advancement. She is a member of the Board of Visitors at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Women's Philanthropy Institute, and currently chairs the board of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, an organization that received a significant endowment from Ruth Lilly in 2002, and recently transformed its systems and practices to become more equitable.
Caren's work includes economic development and education projects in Africa and cross boundary water management in the Middle East. She is a frequent keynote speaker at advisory conferences including the Society for Trust and Estate Planners and family council meetings.
In her spare time Caren hosts salons in Chicago that bring people together around key philanthropic issues.
Philosophy/Approach: Caren guides families to make collective, strategic decisions about giving. Together we engage in deep learning and become "proximate" to the issues we face now, and in the future, as global and local communities, in order to make informed decisions.
Types of clients: Private foundations, Corporations, Individual donors, Major nonprofits, Universities
Specialization: Croland Consulting specializes in helping families professionalize their giving, from identifying giving sources, to peer engagement and learning, to developing governance models and policies, to working across generations to identify collective areas of interest and evaluation models. We work across subject areas, to locate educational resources to fit a customized model of giving, helping families with informed decision making.
Caren guided our family as we grew philanthropically. Her thoughtful and diplomatic approach set the stage for the continuation our family legacy.
- Lester Crown, Crown Family Philanthropies
As a multi-generational family, we are sometimes divided on how we approach philanthropy. We have discovered over time that if we can't get to the same "destination" together then we need to re-examine what we are doing. Process matters just as much as the results. Caren cares deeply about the process and where, and how it leads the family. In doing so she engages the family toward real impact without losing compassion and passion for what got us there.
- Anne E. McGregor, Chairperson, The Neighbor Company