Dan Bassill, founder of Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, turns 79 on December 19, 2025.
Every year since 2011 I've invited friends and supporters to
help me celebrate my birthday by "lighting a candle" on my
birthday cake. Each candle stands for one year,
so a $7.90 gift lights one candle.
Use the PayPal button at bottom of this page to contribute using PayPal or secure credit card.
Dan Bassill has received many awards and recognition for the work he has done to help Chicago kids. However, the best recognition comes from the "Thank you, Dan" messages he recieves from former students and from people in other programs who I've helped over the past 50 years.
Please help Dan celebrate his 79th birthday with a gift that enables him to continue this service into another year.
Dan Bassill became a volunteer tutor in 1973 when he joined Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago. In 1975 he became leader of the program at Wards. In 1992 while forming a new program (Cabrini Connections) to help teens he also created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to support the growth of similar programs in all high poverty areas of the Chicago region.
Dan shares ideas weekly on the Tutor/Mentor Blog and the MappingforJustice blog and maintains a library of links to Chicago area tutor and mentor programs in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC Library
In 2025 Dan was honored to be interviewed for Tutoring Chicago's 60th Anniversary. That is the program Dan led in the 1970s and 80s. Watch the video. Also in 2025, Phil Shapiro, a librarian from the Washington, DC area, shared an interview he did with Dan several years ago. You can listen here.
In July 2011 Dan created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to continue this vision in a new structure. A birthday gift is NOT tax-deductable, but does recognize Dan's vision, long-term service, and gives you a share of Dan's vision.
See complete list of awards and recognition
at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/awards-and-recognition
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If you share the same vision Dan does, then please share some of the responsibility for financing this work and providing a salary for Dan to cover his own personal and family expenses.
Dan seeks sponsors, investors and partners to take ownership of his history and archives and help build a new Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago and other cities with high concentrations of persistent poverty.
However, the first step to winning is to get into the game....and staying there. If you can help Dan keep this vision growing in 2026 and beyond with a Birthday or year end contribution .... please do.
If you can become a sponsor or investor or help find such people, please take that role. Connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky, Mastodon, Facebook and offer other ways you can help.
Or, Mail contributions to
TUTOR/MENTOR INSTITUTE, LLC
c/o Daniel F. Bassill
932 N. Salem Ave
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
(note: the PO Box is no longer available)
* Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC is not a 501-c-3 non-profit.
It is a social enterprise dedicated to making good things happen for inner city kids.