Field Foundation of Illinois

CTL-E-5862 · Organization · other · 1940–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07115 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-5862.

The Field Foundation of Illinois is a Chicago philanthropy supporting organizations across Chicago, with grantmaking that Inside Philanthropy describes as investing in the city's local news outlets, organizers, arts, and creative expression as a form of community power-building. Its lineage runs to the Field Foundation established in 1940 by Marshall Field III, the Chicago banker and Chicago Sun-Times publisher, which supported organizations promoting civil rights, civil liberties, and child welfare and other groups working for social change, with grantee files documenting civil rights groups including the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1960 the foundation split, and the Field Foundation of Illinois was established under the leadership of Marshall Field IV to focus its efforts locally in Chicago. In recent decades the Illinois foundation has been overseen with Marshall Field V serving as a board member and life director. Its best-known current initiative, Leaders for a New Chicago, run in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, awards $50,000 each to Chicago leaders working in arts and culture, journalism and storytelling, and justice and community power building; beginning in January 2023 the foundation moved toward larger multi-year grants and what its leadership calls mutual accountability for resident-set agendas.

The record

• Also known as: Field Foundation

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 1 — 747 Program, Wave 8; first Scan Tail packet at the founder's 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Field Foundation of Illinois entity in the live graph at 3,523 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-5862 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 4 — corpus scan sample, readiness rank 2183 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json ranked clean survivor #267; scan string "Field Foundation"). The scan supplied the NAME STRING ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — a Chicago philanthropy whose grantmaking funds Chicago arts, culture, journalism, and community power, including Black-led organizations; relationship-production scope. SOURCE CONFLICT SHOWN, NOT BLENDED (CTL-GOV-004): the roster brief's 'founded 1940 (Marshall Field III)' describes the parent Field Foundation, established in 1940 by Marshall Field III per the archival record summarized by SourceWatch; Inside Philanthropy's history dates the Field Foundation of Illinois itself to 1960, established under Marshall Field IV when the original foundation split into Illinois and New York foundations. Both datings are carried in the description; neither is suppressed. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): the Leaders for a New Chicago program, run with the MacArthur Foundation, awarded $50,000 each to 14 leaders in 2019 ($700,000 total, Nonprofit Quarterly, June 12, 2019) and to 11 leaders in 2020 (PBS Chicago Tonight, June 23, 2020); no other statistic is asserted. MEDIA: photo HELD (foundation marks and building photographs are third-party works; no file-page verification in this pass); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-5862-field-foundation-of-illinois.svg); video HELD (no CTL Short or other video for this organization verified with a cataloged URL in this pass); audio HELD (no audio asset exists or was cleared for this organization in this pass). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Organization records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule in this pass; maps attach to places and inst) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No CTL Short or other video for this subject was verified with a cataloged URL in this pass.) | audio = HELD (No audio asset cleared for this subject in this pass.)

Sources

• Inside Philanthropy, "How the Field Foundation of Illinois Supports Community Power-Building Throughout Chicago" (July 1, 2024) — supports the 1960 establishment of the Illinois foundation under Marshall Field IV, Marshall Field V's board role, the ART program and local-news/organizer investment, and the January 2023 grantmaking shift — https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024-7-1-how-the-field-foundation-of-illinois-supports-community-power-building-throughout-chicago (build store)
• SourceWatch, "Field Foundation" (accessed 2026-10-16), summarizing the foundation's archival record — supports the 1940 establishment by Marshall Field III and the civil-rights, civil-liberties, and child-welfare grantmaking, including NAACP and SCLC grantee files — https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Field_Foundation (build store)
• Nonprofit Quarterly, "A Different Kind of Grant Program in the Richness of Chicago" (June 12, 2019) — supports the 2019 Leaders for a New Chicago awards of $700,000 in $50,000 increments to 14 leaders, in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation — https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-different-kind-of-grant-program-in-the-richness-of-chicago/ (build store)
• Field Foundation of Illinois, "Leaders for a New Chicago Evaluation Rubric" (2026 program document) — supports the program's three areas: Arts & Culture, Journalism & Storytelling, and Justice & Community Power Building — http://fieldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Leaders-for-a-New-Chicago-Award_2026-rubric.pdf (primary source · build store)

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Record CTL-E-5862 · Combined Graph record U-07115 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources.
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