About Us
Impact Focus
Summer Oaks Fund (SOF) provides unrestricted, multi-year funding to organizations directly offering social and economic support for underserved girls, women, birthing people, and LGBTQ+ youth from adolescence through early adulthood. Through funding service organizations, and organizations advocating for systemic change, SOF aims to ensure these communities have equal access to the education, tools, and support needed to succeed on their own terms.
SOF prioritizes supporting service delivery organizations while also recognizing the secondary need to support organizations working on systemic change to improve the lives of all women. Summer Oaks Fund aims to support the broadest definition of women.
History
Summer Oaks Fund was created by a single-family donor in 2015. After spending several years directly helping nonprofits with fundraising and grant writing, the Fund was initiated to provide greater support. In its initial years, SOF provided small gifts to numerous local, national, and international organizations. Over the last several years, SOF has increased its focus in the Chicagoland area after the donor family returned to their hometown. In 2022, SOF will begin significantly increasing its annual giving based on a new giving strategy.
Staff
Marissa Alexander (she/her/hers)
Managing Director
Marissa oversees the Summer Oaks Fund gifting initiatives and operations. Marissa is a midwest transplant, originally from Seattle, WA who has spent her career working in community-based nonprofits in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work has focused on the spaces where people, the environment, and health meet, and she is excited to bring this intersectional lens to growing the work of the Summer Oaks Fund.
Having worked in fundraising and leadership positions at grassroots organizations, she’s passionate about being part of the shift in philanthropy towards trust-based, relationship-first giving that centers the needs and expertise of those closest to the issues. In her free time, you’ll probably find her at the lake, on a bike trail or petting someone else’s dog.