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A Better Chicago Names Maura Daly as New Chief External Affairs Officer

Feb 4, 2025

CHICAGO (1/30/25) – A Better Chicago, a venture philanthropy focused on fighting poverty by creating opportunities for youth, announced today that Maura Daly has been named the organization’s Chief External Affairs Officer.

Maura joins A Better Chicago with over two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, communications, and government relations. Most recently, she served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Chief Marketing Officer at the Erikson Institute, a leading graduate school for early childhood education in Chicago. During her tenure at Erikson, she raised over $50 million in five years and secured the three largest gifts in the institution’s history.

“We are thrilled to welcome Maura Daly to A Better Chicago as our Chief External Affairs Officer,” said Beth Swanson, CEO of the organization. “Maura’s proven leadership in fundraising and communications will be instrumental to advancing our mission of fighting youth poverty throughout Chicago. In this crucial moment, it’s more important than ever that we make impactful investments in our young people that fuel the future. With the addition of Maura to our team, we look forward to continuing our work improving youth outcomes in bold and meaningful ways across the city.”

“It is an honor to join A Better Chicago and work toward building a bright future full of opportunity for all young people in the city,” said Maura Daly. “I look forward to continuing to collaborate and learn from our community about how we create transformational change together.”

Before her time at Erikson, Maura was principal of MD Strategies where she provided communication, fundraising, and program strategy consulting services for national and local nonprofit organizations.

Prior, she spent over 11 years at Feeding America, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization, where she held several leadership roles including Chief External Affairs Officer, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations, Vice President of Government Relations and Advocacy, and Director of Communications. She significantly expanded the organization’s advocacy and fundraising efforts and played a key role in shaping national programs that increased awareness around the issue of food insecurity.

Throughout her career, Maura has demonstrated a deep commitment to addressing poverty and improving outcomes. She is a passionate community advocate, currently serving as Vice-Chair of the Lakeview Pantry Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Bucktown Community Organization’s THRIVE Committee. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Dayton and resides in Chicago with her husband and two children.

Founded in 2010, A Better Chicago was modeled after a venture capital fund that could build a more equitable city by breaking the cycle of generational poverty. As of 2025, the organization has reached over 115,000 students and deployed over $73 million to Chicago’s most promising youth-serving nonprofits. Their current investment portfolio includes 24 nonprofits that support children from cradle to career.

About A Better Chicago

A Better Chicago is a venture philanthropy that invests in the most promising nonprofits helping children escape poverty. We’re a supercharger. We have provided more than $73 million in unrestricted funding and management support to help the nonprofits in our portfolio grow. Our donors want to make pivotal, well-researched investments that lift the outlook for our city.

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