IFF started as a facility lender for Chicago nonprofits serving low-income groups and soon expanded its affordable lending services to nonprofits across the state, opening a Springfield office in 2001 to better serve nonprofits in the state’s central and southern regions.

IFF works across sector with agencies like CommunityHealth, which utilized a below-market rate IFF loan to move from renting to owning a facility for its health clinic and expand its space. Upon moving into their new space, CommunityHealth saw their revenue and net assets double.

In 1996, IFF was among the first community development financial institutions in the nation to provide below-market rate financing specifically for charter schools. IFF has helped charter school operators in Illinois to identify, acquire, and rehab facilities to meet their needs.

In 1997, IFF developed a real estate services department, providing space and financial planning, and project management to help nonprofits in the Chicago metropolitan area navigate facility projects. Our real estate experts also offer complimentary tools and resources to support nonprofit organizations who are planning projects—podcasts covering real estate and financial topics, helpful planning worksheets, and in-person workshops.

In 2000, IFF helped develop the Children's Capital Fund, a public-private partnership to develop early childhood education and care facilities in Chicago's highest-need communities.

In November 2009, it was announced that one of IFF’s real estate clients, the Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center (STLC), won the 2009 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation (The “Timmy” Awards) in the “Most Innovative Adaptive Reuse” category. The project was also recently featured on the January/February 2010 cover of Chicago Architect Magazine and on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight in September 2009 . STLC involved the adaptive reuse of a decommissioned and obsolete power plant into a state of the art high school which incorporates historic and green elements. IFF was involved from the project’s inception and managed all aspects of preliminary planning and financing, helped evaluate potential partners, assess the feasibility of proposed operating models, structured the preliminary financing structure, selected the architect and general contractor, and provided general project oversight.

You can browse an interactive map of IFF loans and real estate projects in Chicago here.

IFF’s research department has also conducted research specific to Illinois, including:

• By Any Measure: A Report to the Community on IFF’s Work in the Field of Nonprofit Child Care in Illinois
• Getting It Right: How Illinois Nonprofits Manage for Success
• The Economic Impact of the Early Care and Education Industry in Illinois 

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Contact

To discuss our work and services in the Chicago metro area or northern Illinois, please contact Amy Stewart at 312 629 0600. To discuss our work and services in central or southern Illinois, please contact Craig Staley at 217 523 4435.

To get directions to IFF's Illinois offices, go to the Contact Us page.