Since its founding as The Woman’s Aid Society in 1897, The Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, one of Chicago’s oldest organizations, has provided vital support to Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s patient care initiatives, hospital programs and facilities as well as community service projects. 

Now in its 129th year, The Woman’s Board continues a legacy of philanthropy and service with its current four-year, $4.6 million pledge to fund comprehensive reproductive care at all stages of life. Long before the days of federal reimbursement, The Woman’s Board was committed to helping the hospital provide quality health care, free of charge, to people who are medically underserved.

The Passavant Cotillion & Christmas Ball has raised millions of dollars in its 76 years, thanks to the generosity of many. The Woman’s Board has broadened its philanthropic support in recent years to include: 

  • An expansion of services at Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility & Reproductive Medicine to help more patients with infertility become parents, to preserve fertility during cancer treatment and to provide general pelvic medicine. 
  • An endowment for the Northwestern Medicine Complex Family Planning Center Fellowship that helps train physicians to provide high-quality, personalized care to patients experiencing complex family planning issues.
  • Ongoing support of more than $1.3 million since 1993 to support the Northwestern Medicine Women’s Infectious Disease Program, including one of the first philanthropic gifts to fund an HIV-related clinic in 1994. The Woman’s Board also hosts an annual party for clinic patients and their loved ones. 
  • The Eleanor Wood Prince Grant Initiative awards biannual grants for leading edge research and novel patient care projects that improve patient care and advance medical science. In 2025, more than $500,000 was awarded to fund 13 grants at Northwestern Medicine. Since 2001, The Woman’s Board has awarded 108 grants totaling more than $2.7 million.
  • In 1991 the Compassionate Care Awards were established to recognize medical professionals who provide exemplary care to patients at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. In 2014, the awards were renamed the Nora Cooney Marra Compassionate Care Awards, in honor of the former Woman’s Board president. 

Past funding includes:

  • A lead gift of $350,000 in April 2020 to Northwestern Medicine’s COVID-19 Relief Fund, which provided early support for the unprecedented needs of patients, staff and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • A $200,000 commitment in 2020 to Project S.A.F.E. – City Colleges of Chicago through the Evergreen Invitational Grants Initiative, supporting a network of community organizations across Chicago working on behalf of survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking. 
  • A $100,000 gift in 2020 through the Evergreen Invitational Grants Initiative, to address food and housing insecurity needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • A $500,000 gift in 2019 to the Northwestern Medicine EDGe BRCA+Men’s Clinic, to support an integrated, accessible, user-friendly and cohesive screening programs to patients who carry a hereditary predisposition to developing cancer.
  • A $700,000 gift in 2018 to fund the implementation of the Northwestern Medicine Collaborative Behavioral Health Program to expand access to mental health care in our community.
  • A $2 million gift in 2017 to Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Developmental Therapeutics, to accelerate the development of new approaches to improve the prevention, detection, monitoring and treatment of human cancers with the aim of improving the quality of life and survival for patients. 
  • A $500,000 gift in 2014 to Northwestern Medicine Organ Transplant Center to launch a successful phase I clinical trial with the goal of enabling patients who have undergone organ transplant surgery to live free of anti-rejection medication by using a patient’s own immune regulatory cells.

The Woman’s Board has supported a broad range of hospital-based and community-oriented programs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital over the years.   

This dedication has become a defining feature of the Board’s mission and daily work and has enriched the lives of countless patients and members of our community. We are proud to be a board of women for women.