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Spring 2025
We’re thrilled to reconnect with you—our community of supporters, partners, and friends. This edition of our refreshed e-newsletter reflects the Walder Foundation’s continued commitment to thoughtful, place-based philanthropy that supports transformative work in Chicago and beyond.
Each issue will highlight the creativity and impact of grantees across our core pillars—Science Innovation, Environmental Sustainability, Performing Arts, Migration and Immigrant Communities, and Jewish Life—showcasing how our strategic approach and investments help ensure Chicago communities thrive while sharing learnings that extend far beyond our city.
We hope these stories spark inspiration and reflection. We invite you to consider your role in strengthening communities and fueling lasting change. Thank you for being part of this journey with us, and best wishes for a happy and healthy spring.
Elizabeth Walder
CEO of Walder Foundation
Elizabeth Walder, Chief Executive Officer, Walder Foundation
SCIENCE INNOVATION
How a Biopharma Hub and their Entrepreneurial Fellows are Placing Chicago as a Center of Biotech Innovation
Entrepreneurial fellows with the Chicago Biomedical Consortium. Photo courtesy of Amanda Maldonado.
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC) applies venture-level rigor, industry expertise, and patient capital to transform early scientific discoveries into investable ideas.
Perhaps most important to those in the field, the CBC’s mission and activities contribute to a larger Illinois initiative to establish Chicago as a center for biotech innovation.
Learn about the CBC's Entrepreneurial Fellows program through recent graduate Amanda Maldonado, Ph.D., and CBC Executive Director Michelle Hoffman, Ph.D.
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
"Spring" Into Sustainability: Rethinking Lawns
Illustration by Liz Anna Kozik.
As signs of spring appear across the Chicago area, many businesses and residents are firing up their lawn care equipment and checking their sprinkler systems.
But wait, not so fast, says 2022 Walder Foundation Biota Award Recipient Rebecca Barak, Ph.D., and her colleague Liz Anna Kozik, Ph.D.
Recently, Barak, Kozik, and colleagues released “Rethinking Lawns: A Guide to Lawn Alternatives” online.
Learn more about key takeaways from the guide, their community engagement efforts, and surprising findings and conversations that have come from this initiative.
PERFORMING ARTS
Putting Pen to Paper: Writing to Advance Performing Arts Priorities and Interests
CommUNITY Collaborations' Opinion Editorial Cohort. Photo courtesy of Denise Mattson.
The Chicago performing arts sector has long faced a significant challenge: functional silos that separate dance, music, and theater.
Walder Foundation, recognizing the need for shifts in public support and greater unity within the arts community, launched the CommUNITY Collaborations Initiative to address these issues in 2022. Since, “action groups” have formed to address specific challenges and needs.
One recent programming effort was to educate a cohort of arts professionals on best practices in opinion editorial engagement and writing for traditional press outlets.
How did this effort come to be? What have program participants learned?
MIGRATION AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
Supporting Refugee Resettlement in Chicago: Our Continued Commitment
Photo courtesy of World Relief Chicagoland.
In the face of ongoing governmental funding cuts, stop-work orders, and suspensions, Chicago-area refugee resettlement organizations and programs continue to offer support to those who fled war and persecution.
Learn more about how four organizations, supported by the Walder Foundation, have continued to help refugee individuals and families rebuild their lives with dignity.
JEWISH LIFE
Gratz College Launches the Walder Ph.D. Fellowship for Orthodox Women
Photo courtesy of Gratz College.
We are excited to announce that this spring, with funding from Walder Foundation, Gratz College is launching an Executive Ph.D. in Jewish Studies program for an inaugural cohort of Orthodox Jewish women.
The Walder Ph.D. Fellowship for Orthodox Women will enable an incredible inaugural cohort of Orthodox women to pursue a fully funded doctorate in Jewish studies with the added support of a community of practice and leadership training opportunities. Earning an advanced degree reflective of their academic scholarship and professional leadership will enable Orthodox women to share their scholarship more broadly.
“So many Orthodox women are looking for ways to contribute to their community in meaningful and dignified ways, and we believe that this Executive Ph.D. fellowship will result in the community becoming more knowledgeable, spiritually vibrant, and well positioned to address future challenges and needs,” said Elizabeth Walder, CEO of Walder Foundation. “Advanced degrees can serve as a substantive recognized credential of the leadership and deep knowledge Orthodox women have to offer.”
WALDER WHEREABOUTS
Elizabeth Walder, CEO, Tamar Snyder, Vice President of Communications, and Jenni Richton, Program Director, Jewish Life, attended the Arie Crown Hebrew Day School Campus Chanukas Habayis (dedication of its new campus) in Skokie, IL, on April 27, supported in part with a capital gift from Walder Foundation. Mrs. Walder was an invited speaker.
Candace Tebbenkamp, Program Director, Science Innovation, will participate in a panel presentation at the National Conference on Research Integrity, taking place May 20-22, 2025, in Chicago, IL. The session will focus on private funders' perspectives on incentivizing high-quality research.
The Migration and Immigrant Communities team—Juliana Kerr, Florita Gunasekara, and Tinaishe Maramba—will be representing the Walder Foundation at the annual Welcoming Interactive 2025, taking place May 20-22, 2025, in Detroit, MI. Juliana will also be attending the Council on Foundations’ conference, Leading Locally 2025, from June 10-12, 2025, in Minneapolis, MN, where she will present alongside Welcoming America in a workshop on the role of community philanthropy in advancing immigrant inclusion.
Jack Westwood, Senior Program Director, Environmental Sustainability, will be presenting at Sustainability Research + Innovation Congress, taking place June 16-19, 2025, in Chicago, IL. He will be engaged in discussion around how funders can best coordinate and align their efforts, as well as ways to assess short-and long-term impact, in environmental sustainability initiatives.
