Chicago it is a big and active city in terms of philanthropy. Some of the greatest philanthropic people in Chicago are female. It is important to analyze their activities and their results. Here we can find some of them and their work.

1. WONDERFUL LIVES
OF PHILANTHROPY IN
THE BEAUTIFUL CITY
OF CHICAGO
By Yosef Meystel
Image courtesy of Roman Boed at
Flickr.com

2. United States companies gave nearly $18 billion to nonprofits
last year, but that total accounted for a mere 5% of all donations.
Individuals game nearly $3 out of every $4 donated to nonprofits
initiatives in the country.
Chicago it is a big and active city in terms of philanthropy. Some
of the most powerful names on Chicago´s philanthropic scene
come from the corporate world. Not only are these men and
women finding millions of dollars, but they also are generally
managing complete strategies with the money their companies
are giving to benefit and nonprofit causes.
Philanthropy refers to the love for human beings in the form of
private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life
using nonprofit organizations. Some of the greatest philanthropic
people in Chicago are female. It is important to analyze their
activities and their results. Here we can find some of them and
their work:

3. Frances Comer
Frances Comer is the co-founder with her husband of The
Comer Foundation, focusing primarily on children´s health
and education. Just on a South Side community of
Chicago, they have invested more than Fifty Million,
including the creation of the Gary Comer Youth Center, an
internationally recognized top performing college prep
school, and also an affordable housing initiative in the area.
Other investments from the foundation went to the
University of Chicago, the Comer Children´s Hospital and
the Pediatric Emergency Department of Chicago, grossing
an additional $42 million.

4. Paula Fasseas
She founded PAWS and Peter & Paula Fasseas
Foundation. In 1997 she began with the PAWS Chicago
animal shelter as a volunteer movement to help stray and
forgotten dogs with treatment, haircut and health shots, and
finally find new homes. Her passion for the animals grew
the nonprofit into a model of life protection with a great
facility admired and adopted within the other PAWS in the
national organization, which rescued a variety of animals.
What is even more, the Fasseas Foundation´s reach is
extensive and went beyond PAWS organization. In 2011
alone, the foundation donated almost $1.4 million to
promote volunteerism, philanthropy and grant making
foundations in the city.

5. Rosemary Connelley
Or Sister Rosemary, she is the Executive Director of
Misericordia, created in 1921 as a maternity hospital for
women of meager means, both married and unwed. She
has been a champion of a better care for children and
adults with Down syndrome and other developmental
disabilities, ever since she began working at a small South
Side facility near the “seventies”. Misericordia is now a
vibrant and loving community for six hundred residents in
the Rogers Park facility with an annual budget of more than
$50 million. Along the way, Sister Rosemary has also
earned seven honorary degrees, numerous other awards
and a beloved reputation as a leading fundraiser against
developmental disabilities.

6. Joan Harris
Joan is a former Chairman of the Irving Harris Foundation.
She is known as the Patron Saint of Arts in Chicago. She is
also considered a national arts powerhouse. Joan Harris
and her late husband Irving boosted the development of
The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and
Dance. This is a 1500-seat state-of-the-art performance
place located in Chicago’s Millennium Park, which created
a great home and new opportunities for scores of arts
organizations. She has worked on the National Endowment
for the Arts, Arts Alliance Illinois, and as the Commissioner
of Chicago´s Department of Cultural Affairs, and on the
boards of Juilliard School, the CSO, and the Aspen Music
Festival and School.

7. Liz Lefkofsky
The founder of the Lefkofsky Family Foundation is a rising
star in the Chicago´s philanthropic community. She and her
husband, founders of Groupon, a company that redefined
how small business attract and retain customers, have
given away $25 million to the nonprofit working education,
medical research, fundamental human rights, and the arts
and culture. She also supports the 1871 FEMtech, creating
opportunities for female entrepreneurs. She and her
husband pledged to donate half of their wealth to charitable
causes.

8. Bernarda Wong
Bernarda Wong is Founder and President of the Chinese
American Service League. In 1979 Wong founded CASL in
Chicago on a mere $30,000 budget, with the belief that she
could create a better transition to a new life for Asians
moving to the United States. Bernarda grew the Service
League into a significant institution with a $12 million
annual budget, important enough for being recently
recognized by President Obama. Her public service also
included several city and state government advisory
councils, like the NAPCA Board, the CCHR, the ICIRR
Board, and the Illinois Council on Aging.

9. Doctor Diana Mendley Rauner
President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund and Founder of
the Rauner Family Foundation, she has long been a
determined advocate for children and a thoughtful force
behind her family´s prodigious philanthropic gifts that
includes launching the state of the art Rauner Center for
the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.
These women promote love for the humanity, in the sense
of caring, nourishing, developing, and enhancing what it
means to be a human.