The Chicago Scots, Illinois’ first and oldest nonprofit organization, received a foundational gift of $14 million from the Negaunee Foundation. This is the largest donation in the Chicago Scots 178-year history.
The Negaunee Foundation is a Chicago nonprofit foundation that supports cultural, historical, educational institutions and museums, along with performing arts organizations in the Chicago area.
The funds will be used for changes at the nonprofit organization’s “legacy building,” Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care, in North Riverside, IL. The Chicago Scots own and operate the five-acre Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care community as its principal charitable purpose. The community includes the 114-year-old Scottish Home and seven-year-old MacLean House just 15 minutes from downtown Chicago.
“Chicago Scots will realign its mission to provide for future unmet needs of seniors in Chicago,” said Charles Gonzalez, chair of the Chicago Scots Board of Governors, in a statement. “Our mission will be made manifest in a model of living designed to connect people through comprehensive, high-touch care based on community and companionship.”
President and CEO Gus Noble noted that with members of the baby boomer generation — those born between 1946 and 1964 — aging into senior living, there will be an even greater need for long-term care for the middle market. The baby boomers are the second-largest generation in US history, with an estimated 76 million individuals.
“In just a few years, there will be many millions of older Americans without the wealth to pay for long-term care as it is currently configured but with too much to qualify for government support,” Noble said in a statement. “They are the ‘forgotten middle.’ They will want to live collaboratively in community with others, to be connected and not isolated, to be social and not lonely.”
He said the gift from the Negaunee Foundation “will empower us to relieve distress caused by aging – medical, cognitive and social.”
Chicago Scots will collaborate with consulting partner Alford Group on its transformation plans.
“Time and again throughout their long history, Chicago Scots have positioned and repositioned themselves to be relevant in the field of care,” Alford Group Vice President Donald A. Cooke said.
