Rolling Up Their Sleeves

Venture philanthropists pitch in for Chicago's schools.

Chicago

Chicago has become a hotbed of "venture philanthropy" in education, as two local foundations contribute not only money, but also the hands-on work of some of the city's wealthiest and most influential residents, to help improve the schools in the nation's third-largest district.

When these foundations call board meetings, in attendance are billionaire Penny S. Pritzker, whose family founded the Hyatt hotel chain and who is a successful entrepreneur in her own right, for example, and Helen Zell, the executive director of the Zell Family Foundation and the wife of Sam Zell, the real estate magnate who owns the Tribune Co.

What attracts and keeps busy people with competing demands on their time is their intimate involvement in developing, evaluating, and tweaking the projects they are helping to finance, venture philanthropists say. They are also sharply focused on making...