DuPage Foundation

DuPage Foundation

Founded in 1986 and led by President & CEO Mike Sitrick, DuPage Foundation operates as DuPage County's primary community endowment. The foundation pools donor-advised funds and permanent charitable endowments, directing grantmaking toward regional nonprofits, arts organizations, and early-childhood initiatives. Its headquarters sits in Downers Grove, Illinois. The foundation's investment approach spans buyout, distressed debt, early-stage venture, and fund-of-funds allocations. Its $139M portfolio (Altss estimate) also covers real estate, private credit, hedge funds, and special-situations strategies. Geographic focus stays anchored in DuPage County, where the foundation partners with county government, corporations, and local nonprofits. Named partners include The Inland Real Estate Companies, Wight & Co., and Christopher B. Burke Engineering — local firms whose principals serve on the foundation's board. Structured as a public charity, DuPage Foundation maintains accreditation with the Community Foundation National Standards Board. In 2025, the West Suburban Philanthropic Network named it Philanthropic Foundation of the Year. Its team manages multiple philanthropic vehicles, including the DuPage Community Transformation Partnership with the DuPage County Board, the Arts DuPage initiative, and the Tellabs Foundation Fund. The foundation also runs Bright & Early DuPage, a collective-impact project for early childhood. The foundation's structural differentiator lies in its embeddedness — board members drawn from the county's largest private firms merge corporate and philanthropic governance. This architecture pairs local business networks with a permanent endowment, letting grant cycles respond to the same regional economic cycles that generate the foundation's donated capital.