Power Our Library.
Empower Every Chicagoan.
Watch the 2025 Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards!
Featuring honorees Percival Everett, José Olivarez, and Mary Dempsey.
Support Chicago Public Library!
Check out these list of ways to support your library.
Meet the Fall Maker-in-Residence
Discover how Molly Brodzeller brought stained-glass art to the Maker Lab community.Watch the 2025 Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards!
Featuring honorees Percival Everett, José Olivarez, and Mary Dempsey.Support Chicago Public Library!
Check out these list of ways to support your library.Meet the Fall Maker-in-Residence
Discover how Molly Brodzeller brought stained-glass art to the Maker Lab community.In Loving Memory of Brenda Langstraat Bui
(1973-2026)
When Brenda joined the Library Foundation in 2019, she grounded us with a clear direction: meaningful growth rooted in our vision for a more informed and connected Chicago through our Library. She would often say, “There is a Foundation before me and there will be a Foundation after me. So while I’m here, while we’re all here, let’s do the best work we can to help transform the lives of every Chicagoan.”
We will honor her life in continuing to ensure that Chicago Public Library and the Foundation remain a welcoming home for everyone who loves reading, learning, and creating.
Read her full obituary here.
Expanding access, advancing learning, and connecting communities in every neighborhood, for every Chicagoan.
At the Chicago Public Library Foundation, we turn donations from individuals, families, foundations, and companies into life-changing resources for all Chicagoans.
We accelerate learning, connection, and opportunities at the Library’s 81 branches by investing in programs not covered by tax dollars.
Watch the 2025 Chicago Public Library Foundation Awards!
Together with our donor community, we equip students to succeed in school; support Chicagoans to enter and advance in the workforce; expand access to art, music, and making; and connect people with one another and to their communities.
Activate Creativity and Connection
Bridge the Digital Divide
Close the Academic Opportunity Gap
Impact by the numbers
Our donors activate real change
$6,500,000+
Invested across 36 programs for Chicagoans of all ages
445,000+
Library users served by donor-funded programs, an increase of over 100,000
from 2023
14,200+
donor-powered programs offered for all ages, up 14% from 2023
Meet the community
Everyone has a library story. Learn how your support impacts Chicagoans, families, communities and our entire city.
Meet the 2025 Summer Maker-in-Residence: Nicole Lowe
Donor Spotlight: Peoples Gas Fuels Lifelong Learning at Chicago Public Library
