Foundations partner to get DuPage kids ready for school
In a move that bonds two area grant-makers working to ensure that DuPage children are ready for kindergarten, the Gustafson Family Foundation of Woodridge has voted to transfer its nearly $17 million private foundation to the DuPage Foundation to establish a donor-advised fund through which GFF will continue its grantmaking going forward.
GFF is forging this partnership with DuPage Foundation to create a sustainable platform from which to operate at a lower cost, eliminate its administrative burdens of operating as a private foundation, provide more advantageous tax benefits for future contributions to it, and to allow its board to benefit from the expertise of DF's program staff and other resources.
The transfer marks one of our community's largest investments to date in a DuPage-area charity.
"There were many reasons that compelled us to partner with the DuPage Foundation in this way," said Allen Gustafson, president of the GFF.
"Beyond the financial advantages, we want to ensure that the Gustafson Family Foundation has a succession plan to continue its legacy of giving created by my parents. This way, no matter which family members and trusted advisers are involved with GFF at any given time, we will have the continuity of the DuPage Foundation helping ensure our continued impact and success."
The two foundations have worked together before - first around GFF's efforts to build an Educare in West Chicago in 2008, and later when GFF made a grant of $1 million to DF's Bright and Early DuPage initiative in 2011, which leveraged a matching gift of $1 million from the Grand Victoria Foundation.
"The Gustafson Family Foundation demonstrated its faith in our ability to help transform the lives of vulnerable youth in DuPage when it invested in our Bright and Early DuPage initiative," said Dave McGowan, president and CEO of the DuPage Foundation.
"The GFF board saw the value of bringing additional dollars into DuPage and trusted us to use those dollars to prepare DuPage children for success in school. We couldn't be more pleased with our relationship with Al and the rest of the GFF leaders, and are humbled by the confidence they are placing in our ability to steward these assets that are so personal to them."
"Our hope is that this partnership will encourage others in the community to join forces with us and the DuPage Foundation in our efforts to prepare area children for kindergarten," said Gustafson.
"DuPage Foundation has been a tremendous champion of early childhood care and education since adopting its Bright and Early DuPage initiative, and we can think of no better partner to help us focus our grant-making and maximize our impact going forward."
The DuPage Foundation currently provides stewardship for more than 300 funds on behalf of area residents and organizations and works with them to facilitate their giving and grant-making throughout DuPage County and beyond.
The transfer of the Gustafson Family Foundation to the DuPage Foundation will be the largest gift to the DuPage Foundation in its history and take its assets from $71 million to approximately $88 million, an increase of 24 percent.