Foellinger Foundation’s grantmaking reflects our founders’ interest in encouraging a community of self-reliant citizens, with a commitment to their values and principles: integrity, accountability, responsibility, and results.

The Foellinger family was community-minded and hard-working—always acting with the greater good in mind. They carried this commitment to integrity throughout their personal lives, but it also showed up in their professions and extracurricular activities.

Growing up, Helene Foellinger excelled in her studies. She was valedictorian of her classes at South Side High School and University of Illinois, because her family believed in honest, hard work. She carried that throughout other parts of her life, too—as a woman trailblazing the news publishing industry, and as a dutiful citizen, serving organizations throughout our community with her time and treasure.

“Integrity is the chief ingredient in the mix that produces a good publisher. It was never in short supply with her.”

– Former News-Sentinel Editor Ernest Williams

Helene became Publisher of The News-Sentinel in 1936, after her father’s sudden death from a heart attack during a hunting trip. Helene was just 25 years old—making her the youngest, and one of the few female publishers, in the country at the time.

“When I first took this on, women were not in executive positions very much. I sensed a certain resentment, or certainly not an acceptance. I decided not to push my way in. I decided I’d earn this respect,” said Helene in a 1981 interview in a News-Sentinel article about her retirement.

Helene served The News-Sentinel for 49 years before retiring, and in those years, she “earned her spurs,” as she liked to say. Helene exercised integrity in doing so—always showing up, working hard, treating people well, and doing right by the paper, and her community.

A Chicago Tribune article highlighting women publishers featured Helene in 1978—but not for the trailblazing reasons we would traditionally expect. In 1966, The News-Sentinel ran an article about a car accident on the front page of the metropolitan section—the driver was Helene Foellinger.

“Had it been almost anyone else, the account would have been at most a few lines of small type somewhere in the back pages. That it appeared at all would surprise most journalists. Crumpled fenders are trifling compared to crumpled egos, and subjecting publishers or their close friends to embarrassment almost always is considered injudicious,” cited the Chicago-Tribune article.

It continued, “’[News-Sentinel Editor Ernie Williams] said he wanted to make an example of me for others who would want special treatment,’ [Helene] explains. ‘I knew there would be an article, and I expected one.’”

“’Even the publisher wasn’t exempt from a News-Sentinel policy at the time of recording all automobile accidents in its circulation,’ she adds.”

Helene’s commitment to integrity shines in examples like these. She had high expectations of herself, her newspaper, and her community—which means she worked hard to create the structure and resources necessary to thrive.

Today, at Foellinger Foundation, we uphold that principle. And we reflect on not only what we do, but the process in which we do it. Are we inclusive, honest, and fair? How does our funding process benefit the organizations applying? Do our grant dollars increase our citizens’ self-reliance?

What would Helene have said, or done?

We expect grantees that receive funding from Foellinger Foundation to ask themselves questions like this, too. Because when organizations that are mission-driven, well-governed, and results-oriented act with integrity, our entire community moves forward.

Foellinger Foundation was created in 1958 by Helene and Esther Foellinger to carry forward their family’s tradition of civic involvement and active concern for the well-being of their community. Our funding comes from lifetime gifts from Helene, proceeds from Helene and Esther’s estates, and contributions from The News Publishing Company (which Helene was publisher of from 1936-1980) until The News-Sentinel was sold in 1980.