Call (312) 655-7700. Our call specialists will listen to your concerns, answer your questions, and connect you with available resources and support.
No. We welcome all who come to our doors, regardless of their faith, gender, race, ethnicity, or nationality.
No. Most of our employees are not Catholic. Our team members represent a diverse range of faith backgrounds and are united in our shared commitment to our mission and to the people we serve. Learn more.
While we are fully and financially independent from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Chicago remains our strongest advocate and partner in pursuing our mission to witness mercy and hope to a world in need.
We do not donate to the Archdiocese of Chicago, nor do we regularly accept funds from them, except when their donors designate gifts to support our work.
We welcome all who come to our doors, regardless of faith, gender, race, ethnicity, or nationality, which allows us to serve 270,000 of our neighbors throughout Cook and Lake counties every year.
100% of every donated dollar goes toward our mission and charitable works. These include programs that:
- Build communities of healing and connection, including affordable housing communities and in-home services that enable seniors to age in place with dignity.
- Provide frontline assistance, including food, clothing, housing, and financial assistance, to anyone in immediate need;
- Empower and strengthen mothers and families, including mental health counseling and pregnancy and parenting supports; and
We are fully responsible for securing our own funding, and government partners (~75%), private partners (~20%), and program fees (~5%) provide most of the funding for our $185 million operating budget.
As demand for our services grows and local, state, and federal budgets for human services decline, the generosity of private philanthropic partners is increasingly vital in allowing us to sustain and extend our mission to serve our neighbors in need throughout Cook and Lake counties. Learn more.
We are the largest human service provider in our region and have been doing this work since 1917. Only a handful of other organizations share our scale, breadth, stability, and longstanding expertise. This experience matched with our exceptional team and community of Partners make us uniquely qualified to serve the face of need.
You can support our work by donating, volunteering, praying with us, or working with us.
100% of every donation made to Catholic Charities supports our mission and charitable works – helping sustain, strengthen, and grow our most vital mission programs and helping us build and innovate for the future of our mission. Learn more.
Throughout Cook and Lake County, we are present in communities where there is the most need, including at five community welcome centers (two in Lake County, three in Cook County) and 50 operating sites. Find other locations near you.
Find opportunities to serve at community meals, assemble bagged lunches and care packages, and provide essential clothes and diapers for adults and children. Learn more.
It returns our focus to what we do best and ensures the long-term strength of our core mission programs — for low-income mothers, seniors, and those in immediate need — with a focus on areas where we are better positioned than government programs to respond.
It also commits us to keep innovating, building new infrastructure to meet people where they are, and piloting new programs and strategies to bring about even greater impact. Learn more.