Community

 The Columbia Sailing School is located in a prime location in the heart of downtown Chicago. Each season, hundreds of students learn and improve upon their sailing skills while enrolled in one of our many course options. We cater to all ages and ability levels. Our staff is comprised of US Sailing Certified Instructors who promote the principles of safety, fun and learning in all of our classes.

Learn more at: www.ColumbiaSailingSchool.org

Columbia Sailing School is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Community Sailing Organization located in downtown Chicago. Each year, Columbia Sailing School uses funds raised in order to provide scholarships for children in the greater Chicago Area to participate in our programs, as well as to update and maintain our equipment, keeping in line with national safety standards. Besides our annual "Raise the Sail" fundraiser, Columbia Sailing School solicits donations directly from individuals, families and organizations who share a passion for sailing and marine education. Please consider making a donation or including Columbia Sailing School in your estate planning.Donations to Columbia Sailing School may be made by check payable to Columbia Sailing School. Donations by check may be sent directly to Columbia Sailing School at:111 North Lake Shore Dr.Chicago, IL 60601 Gifts to Columbia Sailing School, a 501(c)(3) Organization ID #47-3706487, are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

The 2018 Summer of FUN(d) brings thousands of Chicagoans to the lakefront each summer to enjoy time on the water, having fun and a bit of friendly competition while working together to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and their mission to create a world without blood cancers. . The Chicago boating community will host multiple events over the course of the summer, raising money to benefit LLS. The events are hosted by area yacht clubs, and are open to the public to participate in the races, as a fundraiser or as a spectator. In the past decade, Chicago boaters have raised more than $6 million for the fight against blood cancers. This year’s slate of events promises great fun, and fundraising, for all.

Mission and Goals

The mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services. Our Key Priorities will ensure that: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society helps blood cancer patients live better, longer lives.

Research

Advance the diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers through continued funding of academic research, the therapy acceleration program and other special initiatives Proactively establish a research agenda and direct a portion of research spending to specific areas of unmet medical need for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma Participate directly in blood cancer therapy development by expanding research beyond academic collaborations and biotech partnerships to include pharmaceutical companies and/or venture capitalists Patient Services Develop a services agenda for patients and their families to address their information and support needs Inform blood cancer patients and improve access to the latest individual therapy options and blood cancer clinical trials LLS is the key source of information and services for patients throughout their cancer journey.

Public Policy

Increase funding from non-LLS sources to accelerate the discovery and development of blood cancer therapies Encourage an effective and science-driven regulatory system for efficient review of new blood cancer therapies Ensure patients have insurance coverage for their treatments and well-coordinated and high quality cancer care Revenue, Marketing and Field Management Develop models for revenue growth and allocation among sources to guide future plans Increase public awareness of LLS as the leading non-profit funding impactful research that is accelerating the development of new therapies and treatments for blood cancer patients Increase public awareness of the impact blood cancer research is having on patients beyond those for whom they were first developed Information Technology Deliver superior services to LLS through its solutions and platforms Continue to execute plans in place and find new opportunities to partner with the business units.

Human

ResourcesTop-grade all talent in LLS; hire, inspire and retain "A" talent for all positions Transform the Human Resources department into a proactive service organization Strengthen a performance-driven culture Achieve "best in class" level HR processes from on-boarding to out-placement Expand diversity from top to bottom.

Finance

Minimize labor-intensive transactions and transaction processing Greatly reduce staff time spent gathering, consolidating, forecasting and budgeting, actual and operational data Provide analyses and predictive models that will help LLS solve problems, gain marketplace advantage, and support new initiatives.

Learn more: www.kuttnerfoundation.org

Mission

The Foundation’s mission is to foster, encourage and support competitive sailing among Chicago’s youth on a local, regional and national level, and the education and training of youth in the sport of sailing.

Foundation

Columbia’s Chester Kuttner Foundation was founded in 1994 by LaVerne Kuttner and Reese Elledge to honor the memory of Chester Kuttner and to share and promote Chester’s love and devotion to sailing.To that end, the Foundation’s mission was set to foster, encourage and support competitive sailing on a local, regional and national level, and to advance the education and training of youth in the sport of sailing.The foundation chose to target the students from the Chicago Public School System and in particular, those children who showed an interest in the sport but not the financial ability to participate on their own.If you are a sailor you are keenly aware of the skills required to handle the varying wind and sea conditions, as well as the knowledge needed about the boats themselves. The Foundation believes that experience will not only add weeks of fun and enjoyment for the students, but also a new skill set that will hopefully bring them success in all their endeavors throughout their lives.

Chester Kuttner

Chester Kuttner was born in Chicago and lived his entire life within the boundaries of this great city. He always said that he made his living in advertising but he sailed for a living.Chester was an athlete for most of his life and sailed in more than 1,500 races in the Chicago area, including 58 consecutive Chicago to Mackinac races. At the age of 78, the year before he died, Chester won first place in his division in the 1992 Mackinac race with his boat, Kutty’s Ark.In 1937 he founded Kuttner & Kuttner, Inc., which at the time was one of the oldest privately owned advertising agencies in Chicago. Chester’s advertising career spanned over five decades and his agency serviced local and national clientele including the original Goldblatt’s Department Stores, Bell Federal Savings, R & M Kaufmann Woman’s Fashions, The Trane Company (formerly General Electric Company, Heating & Cooling Divisions), Red Strip Beer and Iceberg Vodka, to name just a few.Kuttner was devoted to the City of Chicago and spent many of his early years involved in local politics. He was one of the founding members of the Independent Voters of Illinois. He actively worked on the campaigns of Mayor Richard J. Daley, Representative Sidney Yates and Governor Adlai Stevenson. Chester was a stanch opponent to the federal government’s cost-cutting obsession in public housing construction that lead to the infamous high-rise towers that are still seen in isolated plots throughout the city, and supported the fight for Chicago to open all of its neighborhoods to subsidized families.A lifetime member of the Columbia Yacht Club, a former commodore of the Island Goats Sailing Society and Director of the Sail Squadron of the Lake Michigan Yachting Association, he was born to sail.

Learn more: juddgoldmansailing.org

Justin “Judd” Goldman was seventeen years old when he suffered a disabling bone disease. After realizing that there were few sports that he could participate in, he discovered sailing. During the next fifty-eight years he competed successfully in many races throughout the world, including over twenty-five Chicago-Mackinac Races, a 333-mile challenge from Chicago to Mackinac Island, Michigan. He founded an Olympic one-design class of sailboats in Chicago, the Dragon class. In 1989, at the age of seventy-five, Judd passed away at a Naples, Florida boatyard.

In 1990, Judd’s wife, Sliv, son Peter and daughter Judy established the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation (JGASF) as a public/private partnership with the Chicago Park District. Today, the adaptive sailing program consists of eight Freedom Independence 20’s, eight Sonars, and four 2.4 meter sailboats. Over one thousand participants experience the joy and independence of sailing each year.

In 1992 the JGASF, in partnership with Chicago Yacht Club, founded the North American Challenge Cup (NACC) for sailors with disabilities. The NACC and the JGASF are proud to have been chosen by US Sailing for twelve years as the host to the national sailing championship for disabled sailors, now named the US Disabled Sailing Championship.

The Independence Cup, founded by JGASF, is a premier regatta for sailors with disabilities. With three classes of boats offering singlehanded, doublehanded and triplehanded racing, the entire professionally maintained fleet of 20 boats are available at no cost to competitors. The regatta is held in downtown Chicago at Burnham Harbor with nearby 4-star hotel accommodations for visiting sailors, both domestic and foreign, courtesy of Hilton Hotels. Bus transportation is underwritten by Cook-Illinois Corporation. Travel Grants, the Annual Independence Gala Dinner, special Columbia Yacht Club barbecue and the Awards Dinner helps to make this event a leading U.S. disabled sailing event.

In 2001, the Foundation embarked on a pilot program with the Chicago Park District designed to teach sailing to Chicago inner-city youth. Ten 7’7 Vanguard Pram sailboats were purchased for use at the beautifully renovated, city water-fed lagoons. Offering an unequaled environment and an extremely rare experience for a big city recreational program, this unique approach brings the program to the neighborhood rather than the neighborhood to the program. The goal for this inner-city youth program is identical to our current mission…helping people to achieve self-esteem and independence.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to protect the Great Lakes for today and tomorrow. We involve tens of thousands of people each year in advocacy, volunteering, education, and research to ensure the lakes are healthy and safe for all.

Our staff are headquartered in Chicago, with field offices in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Our Board of Directors represent a wide range of interests and expertise from around the Great Lakes region. Our work is made possible by our generous supporters.

Decades of success

The Alliance for the Great Lakes works out front, and behind the scenes, to protect the lakes. Recent successes include:

• Championed federal ban on microbeads in personal care products like face wash and toothpaste, preventing the tiny plastic particles from entering the Great Lakes;
• Released groundbreaking report calling for permanent separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins to prevent inter-basin transfer of Asian carp and other invasive species;
• Advocated for the historic Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact to keep Great Lakes water in the lakes, and won significant protections for the lakes in the Compact’s first test, a diversion application by Waukesha, Wisc.;
• Won a historic cleanup goal for Lake Erie, which is plagued each year by toxic algal blooms, when the governors of Ohio and Michigan joined the premier of Ontario to commit to a 40% reduction in nutrients into the lake by 2025;
• Connected nearly 60,000 students with hands-on Great Lakes learning through our Great Lakes In My World curriculum; and
• Involved nearly 15,000 volunteers in the Adopt-a-Beach program last year, cleaning up beaches, collecting valuable data, and building pride in the Great Lakes.

Learn more about our current campaigns, how to get involved, and our staff, board, and finances. We are proud to have received the Charity Navigator 4-star rating, the highest possible, nine years in a row.

History

Led by Lee Botts, a tireless champion for Lake Michigan, a group of advocates formed the Lake Michigan Federation in 1970. The Federation was instrumental in many of the early Great Lakes protection campaigns.Each Great Lake depends on the health of the others. And, in the early 2000s, the organization’s staff and Board of Directors began contemplating how to expand focus beyond just Lake Michigan.The Lake Michigan Federation was renamed the Alliance for the Great Lakes in 2006. Along with the name change came an expanded vision: to protect and restore the Great Lakes for people and wildlife, forever.

Artists For Harmony is a grassroots, non-profit organization based out of Chicago that focuses on the importance of art within our culture. Art is an essential tool of self-expression that can inspire others, and recapture the beauty found all around us. Learn more here.