Will Johnson: What business can — and should — do for Chicago

Chicago Tribune

17-04-2025

Say what you will about his politics, but Ken Griffin was good to Chicago.
The hedge fund billionaire donated more than $650 million to institutions including the newly renamed Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Chicago Economics Department, Northwestern Medicine, and the lakefront bicycle and pedestrian trail. His influence touched nearly every corner of the city's civic and cultural life.
Then, as Griffin lost confidence in progressive local and state political leadership, he tired of Chicago. After handing out $130 million in parting gifts, he moved his home and company headquarters to southern Florida in 2022.
Many locals haven't tired of him — or at least of corporate philanthropists like him. In a poll of representative Chicago adults, 44% said businesses and their executives have a duty to give back to the city, as they historically have done. Nearly 1 in 3 residents also said they believe City Hall isn't getting enough outside business-community advice to address Chicago's most pressing issues.
Most Chicagoans don't blame business leaders for that shortfall, however. Instead, 3 out of 5 residents said in another recent survey that Mayor Brandon Johnson isn't doing enough to engage the private sector in revitalizing the city.
It may be far-fetched to think Johnson will suddenly embrace business as he approaches the second half of his four-year term. If anything, he may feel pressure to lean further left to shore up support from the City Council's progressive caucus and grassroots groups now questioning his priorities and accomplishments.
But corporate executives shouldn't make their charitable giving contingent on an invitation from the mayor. Chicago's needs are too great. And they're only going to grow more urgent as President Donald Trump's administration tightens funding for public health and other social safety net services.
Chicago has long benefited from the generosity of hometown industrialists and tycoons, dating to the meatpacking era and extending through the 20th century to today, with support from the McCormicks, Fields, Crowns, Pritzkers and many others — including their spouses, whose names are enshrined on institutions such as the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
Business leaders also have taken it upon themselves to rally support for the city through such blue chip organizations as the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club and World Business Chicago. Their collaboration may not be unique in the nation, but their commitment has made Chicago stand out as a municipality where the private and public sectors can put politics aside to work shoulder to shoulder to address crucial challenges.
Ken Griffin talks about the Illinois pension crisis and a once-secret meeting with Gov. J.B. Pritzker
It's no wonder then that Chicagoans view business leaders as a force for good, though there is a slight generational divide. A majority of residents 55 and older (53%) believe local firms have a responsibility to reinvest in the city. Among adults under 35, including Gen Z and younger millennials, about 40% share that view.
Throughout Johnson's tenure, however, executives have complained that they've been sidelined — unlike under predecessors who rose through the business ranks themselves: Lori Lightfoot, a longtime corporate attorney, and Rahm Emanuel, who just returned to investment banking after leaving public office.
Today, only three of the metro area's 10 wealthiest companies are still contributing to World Business Chicago, the city's public-private business recruitment agency. Meanwhile, the area has lost the global headquarters of three major firms — Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel — and seen retrenchment from others such as Walgreens. This has occurred despite the city's history of public-private partnerships and its extraordinary physical and cultural assets.
But even if they disagree with the mayor's tax-and-spend policies, business leaders can still step up independently — by directly supporting nonprofits and local causes, as Griffin did in such a meaningful way.
That's exactly what the next generation of philanthropists is doing.
After a successful career in management consulting, Liam Krehbiel, for one, founded A Better Chicago, a nonprofit venture fund that identifies and invests in youth-serving community organizations. Since its launch, A Better Chicago has raised tens of millions of dollars with the goal of freeing children and young adults from intergenerational poverty.
Another is serial entrepreneur Pete Kadens, co-founder of Hope Chicago. Backed by more than a dozen family foundations and companies, Hope Chicago fully funds college educations for high school graduates on the West and South sides, along with one of their parents, who wouldn't be able to afford the price tag of a degree on their own.
Their generosity seems only fitting. After all, from those to whom much has been given, much is expected.