Chicago, IL — December 1, 2025 — Last week, the Foglia Family Foundation and UpMetrics proudly kicked off the newest Chicago Impact Cohort, marking eight years of partnership dedicated to strengthening the data capacity, storytelling confidence, and long-term resilience of Chicago-area nonprofits.
Since launching their first cohort together in 2018, the Foglia–UpMetrics partnership has supported more than 50 nonprofit organizations across the region through hands-on training, peer learning, and access to UpMetrics’ impact measurement and reporting platform. What began as a pilot initiative has now become one of the longest-running collaborative capacity-building programs in the city.
The 2025-2026 cohort brings together 10 nonprofit organizations, including three new grantees, all of whom will focus on building stronger data infrastructure and storytelling capabilities. The grantees will be supported through the process of defining 25 key impact indicators that align with their mission and objectives, collecting relevant impact data, and designing audience-specific dashboards to better understand, communicate, and advance their impact. While dashboard audiences can range from board members to funders to internal teammates, most organizations in the cohort have expressed particular enthusiasm for creating programmatic dashboards—practical tools that help teams learn from data, refine strategy, and improve their programs or services over time.
“Every year, we see how this cohort strengthens the nonprofits we support—not just in how they collect data, but in how they learn, collaborate, and communicate their impact,” shares Ann Schirk, Administrator at the Foglia Family Foundation. “We believe deeply in walking alongside our grantees, and this partnership with UpMetrics allows us to provide the tools, training, and community that help organizations grow stronger over time. We’re excited to welcome three new grantees into the program and eager to see the insights and innovations this year’s cohort will create.”
Foglia Family Foundation’s sustained investment comes at a time when long-term, flexible capacity-building support remains uncommon across the philanthropic landscape. According to Exponent Philanthropy’s 2025 Foundation Operations & Management Report, while 75% of funders provide single-year operating grants, only 28% offer multiyear general operating support—leaving many nonprofits without the stability needed to plan for the future. In this context, Foglia Family Foundation’s eight-year commitment to learning, capacity-building, and cohort-based support stands out as a rare and powerful model.
The cohort’s grantee organizations will participate in a year-long experience that includes platform onboarding, peer learning sessions, and hands-on workshops and support services aligned to UpMetrics’ DeCAL methodology—an approach that helps organizations define their impact, design meaningful indicators, collect quality data, analyze insights, and translate those insights into strong impact storytelling that, in turn, will help them secure additional funding.
“Foglia Family Foundation’s commitment to long-term capacity-building is truly unique,” said Drew Payne, CEO of UpMetrics. “Their willingness to invest deeply in their grantees’ learning and growth—year after year—is a model for what trust-based philanthropy can look like in action. We’re honored to continue this partnership and thrilled to support another cohort of Chicago organizations.”
About the Foglia Family Foundation
The Foglia Family Foundation was established in 1993 by Vince and Pat Foglia as a way to give back to the organizations and programs they felt passionate about. The foundation supports organizations that improve the quality of life for individuals and communities through education, health, and human services. Learn more at: https://fogliafamilyfoundation.com/
