About »
Our mission: We connect the international community in Chicago for greater global development impact.
Our vision: Chicago as a hub for internationally focused nonprofit organizations, partners, and supporters collaborating to realize positive change in the world.
Our Core Values
We embrace the power of community.
We value this essential work and support positive change around the world, connecting nonprofit global activists with each other and with other stakeholders across Chicago. We shine a spotlight on the accomplishments of these talented and dedicated sector experts, providing a forum to showcase Chicago’s richness, diversity, and reach in the field of international development.
We aspire for greater impact.
We value grassroots and indigenous solutions and encourage paradigm shifts within the Chicago International NGO community. We inspire creativity and innovation, create opportunities and relationships, build capacity and expertise, and strengthen individual entities. Our offerings unleash resources for programmatic impact, inspiring effective work to reach more people and prioritize the most vulnerable
We confront the challenges of our time.
We acknowledge that the field of international development reflects a complicated past. Historically, it has caused harm and exacerbated inequality. By challenging ourselves to examine the history of ethnocentric practices and neocolonial biases, we strive to dismantle this painful legacy. We provide unique opportunities for sector experts to unite with urgency around this work, in alignment with the ambitious UN Sustainable Development Goals.
We promote the protection of human rights.
We believe all people are entitled to respect, opportunity, equity, and dignity. We seek to create an environment that engages in anti-racism practices and fosters transparency, inclusion, diversity, accountability, and equal participation. We reject discrimination based on religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, race, age, or ability. We welcome members and partners on an equal footing, thus inspiring collaboration and relationship building, and embracing cultural diversity so we can each become our most authentic and engaged selves
