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Personal family giving

Opportunity can change
the course of a life.

It often begins when someone sees something in you, offers guidance, opens a door, or helps you understand what is possible.

Every community has its own strengths, ambitions, and possibilities. Everywhere, there are people with ideas, abilities, ambitions, and deep knowledge of the places they call home. We created the Woods Canopy Fund to put our family’s resources behind organizations people can count on.

Organizations Explore what we support
Co-foundersLauren Dominique Woods
and Eugene A. “Gene” Woods

Our mission

The Woods Canopy Fund supports organizations that help make opportunity more accessible and strengthen the communities they call home.

Our vision

We envision a future where opportunity is more widely shared and the organizations closest to their communities have the support to keep opening doors.

What we support

Different interests.
A shared purpose.

The fund’s five areas of focus reflect the people, experiences, and opportunities that have shaped our lives, opened doors, and made a lasting difference in who we are today.

Education & student supportMentorship, leadership & careersOpportunityNeighborhoods & familiesService members, veterans & families

A personal commitment

Our family.
What we support.

The Woods Canopy Fund focuses on organizations serving communities across Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, where Advocate Health operates.

Our giving reflects a belief in the power of people and organizations to make a meaningful difference in one another’s lives. We are especially drawn to organizations that build trust, open doors, and help people discover new possibilities through education, mentorship, meaningful connections, and community support.

The fund represents our personal family giving and is separate from Advocate Health’s institutional philanthropy.

The co-founders

Lauren and Gene Woods

Lauren Dominique Woods, co-founder of the Woods Canopy Fund
Lauren Dominique Woods
Eugene A. “Gene” Woods, co-founder of the Woods Canopy Fund
Eugene A. “Gene” Woods

What we support

Expanding access.
Widening possibility.

Leadership, Education, Opportunity, Community, and Military Service reflect experiences and relationships that have enriched our lives. Each offers a different way to expand access, encourage discovery, strengthen connections, and help people pursue aspirations of their own.

What guides us

These priorities grow from the people and opportunities that have made a difference in our lives—and from an appreciation for organizations that make meaningful experiences more accessible.

Where we focus

The Woods Canopy Fund focuses on organizations serving communities across Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. This is Lauren and Gene’s personal family giving, separate from Advocate Health’s institutional philanthropy.

Education

We are interested in organizations that work alongside students and families as they learn, consider their options, and continue their education. Our focus includes student support, scholarships, and the guidance that helps people pursue their own goals.

Music and the arts are part of that exploration, including opportunities for students to study, practice, and develop their talents over time.

Leadership

We want to support opportunities for people to build skills, find mentors, explore careers, and develop as leaders when that is their ambition. Each person should have room to decide what a meaningful next step looks like for them.

Opportunity

Opportunity often begins with access: an introduction to a new profession, a mentor who shares their experience, a first job, exposure to the arts, or the resources and relationships that make a new direction possible.

The Woods Canopy Fund supports organizations connecting people with experiences, networks, and pathways that broaden their choices and support their individual aspirations.

Community

We are interested in organizations that work with families and residents to strengthen neighborhood life. The people who live and work in a community bring knowledge, relationships, and priorities that should help guide that work.

Military Service

Military service is woven into both sides of our family history and is one of the fund’s five areas of focus. We plan to support organizations serving service members, veterans, and their families.

Continue exploring

About the organizations section

Organizations

Get to know the work.

This is a place to learn about the organizations connected with our family’s giving, in their own context and with credit to the people doing the work.

Organizations making a difference

Meaningful work begins with people who care deeply about their communities.

Across the places where Woods Canopy focuses its giving, nonprofit organizations bring together dedicated people, local knowledge, and a shared commitment to expanding opportunity.

We are pleased to support organizations whose work reflects the values and experiences that inspired the fund.

Here, we share more about their missions, the communities they serve, and the work our family is honored to support.

Organization profiles

Information about supported organizations will be shared as announcements become available.

An organization’s inclusion on this website is not a condition of support. Any participation in publicity is voluntary and separate from funding.

About the fund

A few useful details.

What is the Woods Canopy Fund?

The Woods Canopy Fund is the personal family donor-advised fund of Lauren Dominique Woods and Eugene A. “Gene” Woods.

Is this part of Advocate Health’s philanthropy?

No. This is the personal family giving of Lauren Dominique Woods and Eugene A. Woods, separate from Advocate Health’s institutional philanthropy. Advocate Health does not fund or administer the Woods Canopy Fund, select its recipients, or endorse individual family grants.

Can organizations request funding?

The Woods Canopy Fund is a donor-advised fund. We do not consider unsolicited requests for funding.