Kjellstrom Family Endowment Challenge

Key benefits include:

• A perpetual source of income.
• Funding that can be spent in any way you choose to benefit your organization, such as salaries, operating expenses, and other hard-to-fund items.
• Proven investment performance; funds are commingled to achieve broader diversification while minimizing risk.

The next Kjellstrom Family Endowment Challenge opens on February 14, 2024. Organizations that are accepted into the challenge will have 19 months (June 1, 2024 - December 31, 2025) to meet their stated fundraising goal.

• 2001: Freeport Art Museum, Illinois Growth Enterprises, and The Mill Foundation.
• 2006: Connecting the Future (Burpee Museum of Natural History and Discovery Center), Freeport Art Museum, Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden, and Swedish Historical Society.
• 2009: Natural Land Institute.
• 2010: Regional Access and Mobilization Project (RAMP).
• 2011: Cosmopolitan Club of Rockford, Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center, and Swedish Historical Society.
• 2012: Discovery Center Museum, Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden, and Natural Land Institute.
• 2014: Belvidere Boone County Food Pantry, Zeta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, Lifescape, Nachusa Grasslands, Rockford University, and Sand Bluff Bird Observatory.
• 2016: Children’s Home & Aid, Friends of Nachusa Grasslands, Klehm Arboretum Foundation, Midway Village Museum, Northwest HomeStart, RAMP, Rockford Area Habitat for Humanity, and YMCA of Rock River Valley.
• 2018: Boy Scouts of America, Blackhawk Area Council, Friends of Nachusa Grasslands, Goldie B. Floberg Center, and Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence (NICNE).
• 2022: North Rockford Convalescent Home (DBA Peterson Meadows), Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport, NICNE, and RAMP.

Participants select an amount they will raise, between $15,000 and $150,000, and have 19 months to meet their goal. If participating organizations reach their goal by the deadline, CFNIL will grant $1 for every $3 that the nonprofit contributes to an agency endowment. For example, if a participant raises $60,000, CFNIL will contribute $20,000 to the agency endowment established at the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.

Past participants and past applicants are welcome to reapply; new applicants and organizations that have not previously participated will be given preference.

Yes! It used to be called the Carroll H. Starr Endowment Challenge. Carroll H. Starr was the founder of the Rockford Community Trust, today known as the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. A prominent local businessman, Mr. Starr was also Chairman of the City Planning Commission and a leading advocate for families with 30 years of service on the Family Welfare Service Board. He was one of only nine founding members of the National Committee on Community Foundations, and he guided the trust during its formative years. In 2026, the name of the challenge was changed to honor the legacy of Janet Kjellstrom, a lifelong resident of Rockford and an instrumental local philanthropist.