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Elgin COVID Response Fund established for nonprofits

A new Elgin COVID Response Fund has been established to help nonprofits that serve Elgin residents, officials said Friday.

The fund is a partnership that includes Grand Victoria Foundation, United Way of Metro Chicago, the Seigle Family Foundation, the Wisdom Family Foundation, the Hoffer Family Foundation, the Kaptain Family Trust and the city of Elgin.

The initiative has collected nearly $100,000 in funding so far, with the hope of eliciting more contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations, Mayor David Kaptain said.

To contribute to the fund visit cffrv.gives/elgin-covid.

Grand Victoria Foundation led the way in establishing the fund, Kaptain said. Steve Moon, program officer for the foundation, directed questions to the city of Elgin.

City spokeswoman Molly Gillespie, who sent a news release announcing the creation of the fund, declined to answer questions about how much each partner organization contributed, saying more information will be forthcoming. As to whether the city of Elgin will contribute any funds, that decision will be up to the city council, she said.

About 50% of the current funding came from United Way Metro Chicago, said Marcia McMahon, chief professional officer for the agency's north/northwest region that includes Elgin.

A steering committee with a representative from each partner agency is working on criteria to disburse the funding and more details will be announced soon, McMahon said.

"We are really looking to serve those families and individuals that are around 200% of the (federal) poverty level and have been severely impacted by COVID-19," she said. "Experience has taught us that those are the families that really struggle in those types of circumstances."

The Kaptain Family Trust is the designation that Kaptain and his wife, Sandy, have given to their charitable contributions out of their retirement funds, Kaptain said.

The city of Elgin is providing staff time in publicizing the effort to gather more funding, he said.

The fund is hosted and administered at no cost by the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley.

The Community Foundation also lists this Fox Valley Grantmakers COVID-19 Response Fund that was seeded with $280,000 and supports nonprofits in the greater Fox Valley.

It's unclear if a nonprofit could get funding from both the Fox Valley Grantmakers COVID-19 Response Fund and the Elgin COVID-19 Response Fund.

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