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Catch up on IFF news, read stories about community development projects across the Midwest, and gain insight from our team.

  1. January 01, 2026

    December 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    Two people in a workshop glassblowing, with one holding a rod and the other assisting.
  2. November 01, 2025

    October 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    A single-story building with a green metal roof and white exterior sits in a park-like setting. A curving driveway and pathway lead to the entrance. Cloudy sky above.
  3. September 15, 2025

    Columbus Monthly: Yohannan Terrell is Working to Boost Columbus’ Reputation as a Fashion and Design Hub
    Category: Press
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  4. September 05, 2025

    Party in the Garden: Celebrating the Close-out of the Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Initiative
    Category: Stories
    A woman on a small round stage in a room full of people reads from a book in her hand with her other arm raised
  5. September 01, 2025

    August 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    A multi-story building with colorful panels and large windows next to a modern extension with a translucent facade.
  6. August 01, 2025

    MITechNews.com: Invest Detroit Closes $32 Million in Four Detroit Projects with New Markets Tax Credit
    Category: Press
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  7. August 01, 2025

    July 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    Aerial view of a school campus in a suburban area with houses and a distant city skyline.
  8. July 31, 2025

    Press Round-up: Culture Forward Chicago’s Funding for Arts and Culture Organizations
    Category: Press
    Three people sit in chairs at a TV studio, with "Good Day Chicago" on a screen behind them
  9. July 09, 2025

    Block Club Chicago: Amid Trump Cuts, Local Lender Gifts $3 Million to Chicago Arts and Culture Nonprofits
    Category: Press
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  10. July 01, 2025

    June 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    An architect's rendering of a bright pottery studio with tables, stools, pottery wheels, and large shelves filled with ceramics.
  11. June 25, 2025

    IFF’s Flex Loan Program Expands to Increase Nonprofits’ Access to Capital Across the Midwest
    Category: Stories
    A group of children and adults on a stage, dressed in school uniforms and various costumes, with a theater backdrop.
  12. June 25, 2025

    FOX 32 Chicago: Chicago Arts and Cultural Organizations Awarded $3 Million
    Category: Press
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  13. June 21, 2025

    WGN Radio: Supporting Chicago’s Arts Nonprofits, Guiding Chicago’s Youth Toward Entertainment Careers
    Category: Press
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  14. June 01, 2025

    May 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    Entrance sign for Riverside Village apartments, with shrubs and a residential building in the background.
  15. May 27, 2025

    Strengthening the Fabric of a Cleveland Community with Expanded Arts and Culture Programming
    Category: Stories
    A diverse group of people holding colorful woven textiles in a workshop with yarn and tools visible.
  16. May 21, 2025

    IFF’s 2024 Annual Report: Investing in People, Places, and Possibilities
    Category: Stories
  17. April 28, 2025

    Austin Weekly News: A New Arts Hub for Austin
    Category: Press
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  18. April 28, 2025

    Press Release: 77 Chicagoland Arts and Culture Organizations Receive Gift through Culture Forward Chicago
    Category: Press
  19. April 01, 2025

    March 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    A building with beige and red brick facades, featuring the Jane Pauley Community Health Center logo on the right. A mural of a Native American headdress is on the adjacent red brick wall.
  20. March 12, 2025

    MacArthur Foundation: Investing in Arts and Culture Organizations’ Financial Resiliency
    Category: Press
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  21. March 01, 2025

    February 2025 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    A group of people standing behind weaving looms in a room with textile samples on the wall.
  22. March 01, 2025

    WGN Radio: Bridging the Wealth Gap in Chicago, Supporting Local Nonprofits
    Category: Press
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  23. February 27, 2025

    Block Club Chicago: Chicago BIPOC Arts Nonprofits Can Get Up To $60,000 In Funding With New Grant
    Category: Press
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  24. December 01, 2024

    November 2024 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  25. September 30, 2024

    News is Out: Ambitious Arts Initiative Uncovers ‘Treasures’ Created by LGBTQ+ and BIPOC Chicagoans
    Category: Press
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  26. September 17, 2024

    Michigan Chronicle: $30 Million Redevelopment Transforms Historic Auto Plant into Vibrant Community Hub
    Category: Press
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  27. July 08, 2024

    Newcity: Chicago Cultural Treasures Receives $3 Million Funding
    Category: Press
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  28. May 07, 2024

    IFF’s 2023 Annual Report: A Historic Investment in Local Changemakers
    Category: Stories
  29. April 24, 2024

    How Shermann “Dilla” Thomas is Championing Chicago’s Neighborhoods by Shining a Light on Underappreciated History
    Category: Stories
  30. March 19, 2024

    PRINT: Shining a Spotlight on Chicago’s BIPOC Cultural Treasures
    Category: Press
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  31. March 13, 2024

    IFF Co-Hosts Preview Event for 48th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival
    Category: Stories
  32. March 01, 2024

    February 2024 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  33. February 20, 2024

    IFF’s Vickie Lakes-Battle Joins City Club of Chicago Panel Discussion About the Role of the Humanities in Community and Economic Development
    Category: Stories
  34. February 16, 2024

    WGN Radio: The Humanities’ Impact – Fostering Economic Development in Chicago and Beyond
    Category: Press
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  35. January 23, 2024

    Investing in Chicago’s West Side, One Young Person at a Time: Q&A with MAAFA Redemption Project’s Marshall Hatch, Jr.
    Category: Stories
  36. January 12, 2024

    Enterprise Podcast Network: Preserving BIPOC-Led and Focused Arts and Culture in Chicago
    Category: Press
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  37. January 01, 2024

    December 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  38. January 01, 2024

    Twin Cities Art Reader: HUGE Improv Theater’s Forever Home and Winter Season
    Category: Press
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  39. December 01, 2023

    November 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  40. November 08, 2023

    Organizational Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Must Begin with Intentionality
    Category: Thought Leadership
  41. November 01, 2023

    October 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  42. October 26, 2023

    Crain’s Chicago Business: Opinion: The Business Survival Case for Arming Arts Leaders with Financial Tools and Resources
    Category: Press
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  43. October 25, 2023

    HUGE Improv Theater Bounces Back in the Twin Cities
    Category: Stories
  44. October 01, 2023

    September 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  45. September 25, 2023

    A New Community Hub Helps Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton Neighborhood Pivot Toward a Fresh Start
    Category: Stories
  46. September 21, 2023

    Reimagining What a Modern Museum Can Be: A Conversation with ACLF Participant Debra Kerr, President and CEO of Intuit
    Category: Stories
    A view inside Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, in Chicago, showing an exhibition featuring the work of celebrated artist Henry Darger.
  47. September 18, 2023

    Star Tribune: Huge Improv Theater Set to Move into its Own Building for the First Time in its History
    Category: Press
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  48. September 01, 2023

    August 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  49. August 01, 2023

    July 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  50. July 01, 2023

    June 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  51. June 21, 2023

    “Live Here, Create Here, Sell Here”: Two Detroiters Team Up to Create a $30 Million Haven for the Arts in a Historic Auto Factory
    Category: Stories
  52. June 07, 2023

    Stronger Nonprofits Initiative: Five Years of Investment and Impact
    Category: Stories
  53. June 01, 2023

    May 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  54. May 22, 2023

    Supporting a Broad Range of Chicago’s Dance Artists: A Conversation with ACLF Program Participant Joanna Furnans, Executive Director of Chicago Dancemakers Forum
    Category: Stories
  55. April 24, 2023

    Navigating ‘an Incredible Time of Transition’: A Conversation with ACLF Program Participant Jeannie Lukow, Executive Director of Porchlight Music Theatre
    Category: Stories
  56. April 01, 2023

    March 2023 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    Two people in a workshop glassblowing, with one holding a rod and the other assisting.
  57. February 21, 2023

    Long-term Partnership with IFF Sees Chicago Arts Nonprofit Through Multiple Phases of Growth to First Owned Facility
    Category: Stories
  58. January 19, 2023

    Arts and Culture Community Celebrates Chicago’s Cultural Treasures as Initiative Embarks on Its Next Phase
    Category: Stories
  59. January 01, 2023

    December 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  60. November 23, 2022

    Press Release: 40 BIPOC-led Arts & Culture Organizations from Across Chicago Come Together as Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Grantees
    Category: Press
  61. November 11, 2022

    October 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  62. October 26, 2022

    Much Ado About Something New: Detroit Public Theatre’s Performance Space in Midtown
    Category: Stories
  63. October 01, 2022

    September 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  64. September 23, 2022

    $6 Million Rehab of Historic Facility Drives Change in Louisville’s West End
    Category: Stories
    An architect's rendering of the interior of the AMPED Innovation Center
  65. August 31, 2022

    August 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  66. August 01, 2022

    July 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    Architect's rendering of Detroit Public Theatre's new facility
  67. July 01, 2022

    June 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    An architect's rendering of the Lillian Marcie Center
  68. May 18, 2022

    The Role of Cultural Assets in Community Development: A Q&A with Floating Museum Co-Director Faheem Majeed
    Category: Stories
    Photo of Chicago artist and educator Faheem Majeed
  69. May 18, 2022

    IFF’s 2021 Annual Report | Meeting the Moment: Change, Equity, Impact
    Category: Stories
    Cover of IFF's 2021 Annual Report
  70. March 15, 2022

    Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s New 3333 Facility Provides a “Creative Sandbox” for St. Louis’ Arts Community
    Category: Stories
    Paintings in Sophie's Artist Lounge at the Kranzberg Arts Foundation's 3333 facility in St. Louis' Grand Center neighborhood
  71. March 15, 2022

    Photo Tour: New Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Creates an Arts-Centric Gateway for a Local Business District
    Category: Stories
    Exterior Shot of The 801 in Oak Park, IL
  72. January 31, 2022

    January 2022 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
    A group of staff and volunteers from Star Farm Chicago standing in front a van the nonprofit uses to distribute locally grown organic produce in and around Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood
  73. December 31, 2021

    December 2021 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  74. October 05, 2021

    Block Club Chicago: Little Black Pearl Will Open A Coworking Lounge, Launch Workshops For Adult Creatives This Month
    Category: Press
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  75. September 21, 2021

    St. Louis Business Journal: Kranzberg Foundation’s latest hub for St. Louis arts community, 3333, to open in Grand Center
    Category: Press
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  76. July 14, 2021

    Red Clay Dance Company Brings “Artivism” to Chicago’s Woodlawn Community
    Category: Stories
  77. June 28, 2021

    2020 Annual Report
    Category: Stories
  78. March 31, 2021

    March 2021 Loan Round-up
    Category: Stories
  79. January 08, 2021

    Weekly Citizen: New initiative provides for BIPOC arts and culture organizations
    Category: Press
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  80. December 17, 2020

    Media Advisory: $16.5 million Initiative for BIPOC Arts & Culture Organizations Launched in Chicago
    Category: Press
  81. October 12, 2020

    Partnerships, Equity & the CDFI Way: How 159 Midwest nonprofits received PPP loans through IFF
    Category: Stories
  82. September 15, 2020

    10 Steps to Creating a Nonprofit Budget
    Category: Resources
    a Black girl and an Asian boy playing with a water table at the Chicago Children's Museum
  83. September 01, 2020

    Racial Equity in Times of Crisis: Let’s Interrupt History (Part 2)
    Category: Thought Leadership
    3 paper silhouettes of people hold hands with one reaching across a gap as if to hold hands with 3 other paper silhouettes.
  84. May 27, 2020

    2019 Annual Report
    Category: Stories
  85. April 15, 2020

    Racial Equity in Times of Crisis: Let’s Interrupt History
    Category: Thought Leadership
    3 paper silhouettes of people hold hands with one reaching across a gap as if to hold hands with 3 other paper silhouettes.
  86. October 25, 2019

    Intro: Two community investors, two Midwest cities, two approaches to reaching more leaders of color with the financing tools they want
    Category: Thought Leadership
  87. August 06, 2019

    Eight standout arts organizations complete MacArthur Foundation-funded workshop series on financial management
    Category: Stories
  88. July 20, 2019

    Do you really need a policies & procedures manual?
    Category: Resources
  89. July 20, 2019

    What should you track on your dashboard?
    Category: Resources
  90. July 20, 2019

    Who sets the budget?
    Category: Resources
  91. July 20, 2019

    Want to build a strong future? Build LUNA.
    Category: Resources
  92. July 08, 2019

    Photo Tour: Chicago Artists Coalition embraces its new home in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor
    Category: Stories
  93. April 11, 2019

    IFF’s 2018 Annual Investors Report
    Category: Stories
  94. April 03, 2019

    Artspace and IFF: Teaming up since 2011 to increase affordable housing options in the Midwest
    Category: Stories
  95. March 12, 2019

    Exploring the continuum: Why community development projects need so much more than capital
    Category: Thought Leadership
  96. March 06, 2019

    Empowering Chicago nonprofits through capital, know-how, and networking
    Category: Stories
  97. February 26, 2019

    IFF CEO Joe Neri testifies at Congressional hearing on CDFI Fund
    Category: Thought Leadership
  98. February 05, 2019

    St Louis’s Center of Creative Arts: Bridging the divide through the arts
    Category: Stories
  99. January 18, 2019

    Top 10 Pieces of Advice in 2018
    Category: Stories
  100. November 12, 2018

    IFF celebrates 30 years by convening 500+ partners across the Midwest
    Category: Stories