Girl's Best Friend Foundation (GBF) closed November 2007. 
GBF’s records are archived with Special Collections of the University
of Illinois, Chicago.  In fall 2008, they will be made public: www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll.

About Girl's Best Friend Foundation

Mission

To promote and protect the human rights of girls and young women by advancing and sustaining policies and programs that ensure their self-determination, power, and well-being. We support those who challenge the status quo by offering alternatives to the societal messages that girls and young women receive.

Coming to a close

Girl's Best Friend Foundation is in the process of closing. We will make no grants after December 2007.

When Cyndie McLachlan founded GBF in 1994, it was with the plan to be a short-term foundation, not a perpetual one. The foundation has chosen to use our relatively modest resources for the greatest impact. We are spending down assets over the next three years and will close after making the final grants in fiscal year 2008.

In 2006 staff size began to shrink and in 2007, GBF’s grants began to decline. We are working with grantees to help them secure funding to replace their current GBF grants.

Farewell to our founder

Cynthia K. McLachlan, the beloved founder of Girl's Best Friend Foundation, died on November 24, 2005. Cyndie never failed to be galvanized by the energy and creativity of girls and young women. She and her adult children created GBF to make sure that girls had opportunities that were not available to her as a girl. In doing so, she opened doors and raised a few eyebrows. All who knew her know how much this delighted her. We grieve for Cyndie and her family.