About Friends
of the Chicago River
Friends of the Chicago River is the only organization solely dedicated to the Chicago River. Since 1979, Friends has been working to improve the health of the Chicago River for the benefit of people and wildlife and by doing so, has laid the foundation for the river to be a beautiful, continuous, easily accessible corridor of open space in the Chicago region.
Friends’ work spans the entire 156-mile Chicago River system and its surrounding watershed. We focus on a greener river with healthy habitat, an accessible river that people can use and enjoy, and a river cared for by a broad group of supporters. Friends works in partnership with municipalities, businesses, community groups, schools, peer organizations, government agencies and individuals on projects that benefit the river.
We believe the river can be both ecologically healthy and a catalyst for community revitalization.
In 2006, Friends opened the seasonal McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum in a landmarked bridgehouse on the Chicago RIverwalk to provide new access and understanding of the dynamic relationship between Chicago and its river. Click here for opening hours and information.
For more information about Friends, see our FY2009 Annual Report (919k)
Past annual reports
FY2008 (1.3M)
FY2007 (757k)
FY2006 (873k)
FY2005 (488k)
Friends Honors and Awards
The River Reporter
Download all the latest news from the Chicago River watershed. Friends’ newsletter, The River Reporter, has it all. Save on paper and read the electronic version, or print it out to read later.
Fall 2010 (710k)
Spring/Summer 2010 (758k)
Winter 2010 (813k)
Fall 2009 (1.0M)
Spring/Summer 2009 (1.5M)
Fall 2008 (1.95M)
Spring/Summer 2008 (1.35M)
How Do We Measure Success?
Friends’ evaluation methods measure our impact on the health of the river and those who live, work, and recreate within its watershed. Depending on the program or activity, our assessment criteria includes the number of people reached, constituent retention rates, quality of service delivery, and/or tangible short-term and long-range impact of Friends’ work. In addition, we use participant surveys to ask deeper questions and we gauge the environmental impact of our on-the-ground projects by monitoring wildlife and water quality. These efforts help ensure that Friends is achieving our intended outcomes and inform ongoing program development.
To try and better understand if our work is effective in the context of some general questions which reflect our organization’s purpose and values, we ask does our work:
-Change attitudes and behaviors regarding the river?
-Improve public access to the Chicago River?
-Engage a broad supportive constituency?
-Address unique our urban challenges?
-Enhance watershed thinking and action?
This added annual evaluation of development, administrative, and program work is compared against the goals and strategies of our 2008-2012 strategic plan. In November 2009, we also asked staff to complete an exercise in preparation for our next fiscal year for which we are already planning. Each staff member did an internal presentation on how and why they work. They identified their audience, how their audience would change, what would be the result, how do they accomplish it, how it relates to Friends’ mission and strategic plan, and ideas for other programs/activities could accomplish the desired result.
The net impact was a very thoughtful analysis that will guide us into FY2011 on July 1, 2010.
