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Who We Are
Illuminating Impact is a Chicago-based venture studio founded in 2023. We build technologies and launch businesses at the intersection of innovation and human need.
We are bridge-builders - bringing together investors and community organizers, academics and practitioners, corporations and nonprofits, faith-based institutions and secular innovators, the public sector and private enterprise. Our network includes executives who have led global institutions alongside community builders, doctors, educators, artists, mission-driven founders, and underrepresented innovators.
Together, we co-create bold ventures that tackle urgent social and humanitarian challenges. Our approach is collaborative, long-term, and grounded in ethical innovation.
How We Work:
We think through, create, and scale ventures alongside everyday heroes - the refugee building a new life, the mother starting a business, the community organizer fighting for housing, the founder with a vision for change - staying with them for the long run. This might mean incubating a venture, conducting policy research, developing housing, providing growth capital, or offering hands-on consulting. The form changes based on what's needed.
What doesn't change: we start where people are, we stay for the long term, and we focus on creating both economic value and human impact.
We build solutions that work, operating across two main pillars:
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Innovation & Venture Development
Venture development and co-development, alongside think tank and policy research that informs both our ventures and the broader ecosystem.
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Real Estate & Community Development
Affordable housing and commercial development, paired with growth funding for small and medium-sized businesses.
Our Services
Across both pillars, we provide fractional business support, consulting services, and investor marketing and commercialization support - much of it pro-bono, including entire ventures built for public benefit.
Concept Development
We turn ideas into actionable concepts that address pressing humanitarian issues effectively.
User Research, Product Design and Development
Understanding user needs to create impactful, user-centered solutions for diverse communities.
Founding Talent
Connecting visionary leaders and skilled professionals to drive impactful projects forward.
Commercialization, Investor Marketing and Fundraising
Securing resources and strategies to bring solutions to market and ensure sustainability.
Business Management and Fractional Executive Services
We support your business management needs by providing outsourced fractional CXO-level services.
Advertising, Brand Management and Digital Marketing Services
We support business in development of their marketing strategy, including digital marketing, and overall development of go-to market strategies.