ABOUT SPRING FLING
It started as a small gesture among friends. In 1988, John Buck and several founding partners found themselves at a beer garden one sunny spring day. Not wanting to totally waste the afternoon, John suggested they make the outing a charitable function. Everyone put $50 into a baseball cap, then wrote their favorite youth or education program on a slip of paper and put it in a second cap. The moment a waitress pulled the winners, Spring Fling was born.
Today, The John Buck Company’s Spring Fling stands as the premier charity celebration in the Chicago Real Estate community. Over the past 30 years, Spring Fling has raised 1,800 attendees annually.
JOIN US JUNE 18, 2025
The 35th Annual Spring Fling will be held Wednesday, June 18. Join us for delicacies from some of the top chefs in Chicago, drinks, music, and more all along the beautiful landscape of the Merchandise Mart Plaza!
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
The support of our Corporate Sponsors is crucial to undewrite our Annual Spring Fling Event. The proceeds raised from Spring Fling help to provide quality education to under-served children of Chicago. There are several participation levels to correspond with the resources of our sponsors.
Structured for Giving Back: The Civic Involvement Committee
At The John Buck Company, we take a holistic approach to improving both our internal and external communities. We created a ten-employee Civic Involvement Committee (CIC) to strategically manage our charitable efforts. CIC oversees the company’s Corporate and Foundation charitable giving supporting families and children in the Chicagoland area with a concentration on education in some of Chicago’s most underserved neighborhoods.
The CIC not only manages our charitable giving, it also provides employees with opportunities to give back through a Volunteer Day with local schools or park programs, assembling school supplies for back to school programs, playing Santa for Holiday Gift programs, and supporting other JBC employee programs like Spooky Zoo at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
With extraordinary levels of employee participation in every aspect, The John Buck Company Foundation has become an integral part of our organization.
Building Better Communities: The John Buck Company Foundation
Since inception in 2003, The John Buck Company Foundation has donated over $20 million to support over 400 Chicago-area children and family organizations with strong commitments to education and well-being of our youth. Additionally, the JBC Foundation supports organizations which have active employee participation channeling that in the form of financial contributions and services.
The major source of funding for grants and donations is our Annual Spring Fling event, which is traditionally held in June.