Search Through Grants for International Development in Illinois in the U.S.

Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust is a private foundation practicing values-based grantmaking. Because of this approach, a wide spectrum of funding opportunities falls within the scope of the Trust’s grant making.The Trust's Values Statement:

• Tenet 1—Promoting “THISS:” promoting, instilling, and/or reflecting the values of individual and/or organizational thrift, humility, industry, self-sacrifice, and/or self-sufficiency.
• Tenet 2—Relieving Human Suffering: relieving human suffering by:
• performing research and/or promoting education regarding the treatment of disease;
• assisting youth who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, have troubled childhoods, have physical or mental disabilities, or experience emotional disorders;
• addressing the concerns of the elderly; and/or
• providing succor to humankind during time of natural or human-made disasters.
• Tenet 3—Developing Individual Self-Esteem and Dignity: developing within individuals, especially youth from underserved and/or under-resourced communities, a sense of self-esteem and dignity.
• Tenet 4—Encouraging Vigorous Athletic Activity: encouraging vigorous athletic activity, leading to physical health and/or spiritual well-being.
• Tenet 5—Developing Regional Solutions to Chicago’s Regional Challenges: developing regional solutions to Chicago’s regional challenges, thereby protecting and/or improving the quality of life for all its citizens.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Northern Illinois Community Initiatives

All of NICI’s programs are rooted in racial equity to ensure we are supporting communities, organizations, and people who need it most. Together, these programs will foster innovative ideas, research, development projects, and wealth-building for lasting regional impact.

Critical Needs Fund

Grants available for nonprofit organizations to use for emergency events that have directly impacted their ability to provide essential services. Ideally, nonprofits can begin the work to address this issue within 30 days. These funds are available to organizations across the entire Nicor service area.

The Retirement Research Foundation awards OCB grants to help Illinois nonprofits that serve older people make fundamental improvements to key management systems and governance.

Standard OCB Grants

RRF provides Standard OCB Grants to help Illinois nonprofits make long-term improvements in their management, governance, or organizational capacity. Standard OCB funds generally support consulting, training fees, information technology, and other costs directly related to capacity building activities. Applications for Standard OCB Grants coincide with the Foundation’s regular grantmaking cycles. These grants may be used to support capacity building activities that include, but are not limited to:

• Strategic planning
• Financial management, including cash flow, budget development, financial controls
• Program evaluation planning
• Communications and marketing, including Website development, public relations, use of social media
• Resource development and fundraising
• Human resources, including professional development, succession planning, staffing structure, assessment, and retention
• Information systems management, including technology enhancements
• Board development including assessment, recruitment, training, and structuring
• Restructuring and building relationships with other nonprofit organizations to strengthen service delivery, reduce costs, share resources, etc.

Standard OCB funds generally support consulting, training fees, information technology, staffing, and other costs directly related to capacity building activities.

Mission & Vision

RRF Foundation for Aging’s mission is to improve the quality of life for older people. RRF is one of the first private foundations devoted exclusively to aging and retirement issues.

RRF’s vision is that ALL older people continue to be valued and respected as participants and contributors in community life.

What We Fund - Priority Areas

RRF Foundation for Aging focuses on improving the quality of life for older people. In an effort to strengthen the Foundation’s impact, RRF has established Priority Areas. These Priority Areas are specific topics in aging that will be given higher priority within the Foundation’s grantmaking program.

While these reflect RRF’s primary funding interests, the Foundation will remain open to considering compelling applications on other topics.

• Caregiving: Ensuring that caregivers are informed, well-trained, and supported, while providing care to older people in community settings
• Economic Security in Later Life: Valuing the dignity of older people through efforts that ensure and protect their economic security and well-being
• Housing: Promoting efforts that make housing more affordable and provide coordinated services that enable older people to live safely in community settings
• Social and Intergenerational Connectedness: Strengthening social bonds through efforts that promote meaningful connections, including those that span generation
• Organizational Capacity Building: Improve management and governance of organizations in Illinois
• Other Promising Projects: While Priority Areas reflect RRF’s primary funding interests, we remain open to supporting other opportunistic aging projects (on a selective basis)

Direct Service Grants

By funding direct service, RRF strives to achieve a profound, positive, and enduring effect on large numbers of older people in Illinois.

RRF awards Direct Service Grants for projects that:

• Address an RRF Priority Area;
• Implement a new program or significantly expand/strengthen an existing program to fill a gap in service delivery;
• Are transformative for the organization, community, or the field; and
• Apply an equity-focused, race conscious lens (where appropriate). 

Organizational Capacity Building Grants

The Organizational Capacity Building (OCB) grant award program helps nonprofit organizations in Illinois strengthen their infrastructure and capacity to better serve older people. These grants support a variety of initiatives. For example, OCB-funded activities include:

• Board Development
• Communications and Marketing
• Evaluation
• Fundraising
• Human Resources
• Information Technology Improvements
• Internal Operations/Financial Management
• Organizational Strategy Planning
• Strategic Program Planning

OCB Flexible Fund Grants

RRF offers an OCB Flexible Fund Grant (OCB Flex) to respond to the needs of organizations serving older people – with smaller, quickly reviewed, short-term grants. RRF accepts OCB Flex Fund grant applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Funding requests must be $5,000 or less, and the applicant should complete the project within a six-month timeline. OCB Flex allows a simplified application process, and funding decisions are generally made within four to six weeks.

OCB Flex grants can be especially effective for planning purposes, staff training, and short-term technical assistance. OCB Flex grants are often used to support consultants, and if so, a bid must be submitted with the application. 

Background

The Citi Foundation’s Global Innovation Challenge is an open call for applications or request for proposals (RFP) designed to provide catalytic grant funding to community organizations across the world. This year, the Foundation invites proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24.

Funding Overview

Despite recent progress, young people globally continue to experience challenges in their pursuit of employment, including skills mismatch and gaining access to quality jobs. According to the International Labour Organization, 65 million young people globally are unemployed. Since the Citi Foundation’s inception, advancing youth employability has been integral to our mission of supporting low-income communities globally. The Citi Foundation invested more than $300 million over the last decade alone in programs that supported over one million young people in expanding their skills, experience and networks through its Pathways to Progress initiative. Building on our funding journey, this year’s Global Innovation Challenge is focused on youth employability, and we invite proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24

These innovative solutions could include, but are not limited to:

• Technical and vocational training programs that upskill or reskill low-income youth and move them into employment, which could include paid internships, apprenticeships or formal employment.
• Entrepreneurship programming that specifically focuses on the incubation or scaling of youth-led enterprises to increase job creation and access to selfgenerated income.
• Efforts to embed financial education programming into workforce development initiatives equipping low-income youth with financial skills and access to safe and affordable financials tools. 

Community Foundation of Central Illinois

The Community Foundation of Central Illinois invests in our community by supporting projects that address community needs and have lasting value. Therefore, CFCI’s grantmaking is:

• Focused by addressing established CFCI and donor designated priorities.
• Strategic by supporting programs with well defined objectives and measurable outcomes that improve the quality or scope of charitable work in the community.
• Collaborative by leveraging resources and cultivating partnerships.

The Arts Mean Business Grants

The Arts Mean Business Fund was established to support the generation of economic growth in the Peoria region through arts tourism, increased successful arts businesses, greater community participation in the arts, and financial support of the arts from local governments and economic development councils.

RFP: Transfer Innovation Impact Model (TIIM) – Household Wealth

Background

The Transfer Innovation Impact Model (TIIM) initiative creates a learning community for grant recipients to participate in opportunities to share data and best practices to learn from each other in pursuit of improving student outcomes. TIIM is led and supported in part by Bridges to Brighter Futures, a collaboration between the Kinship Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.

The TIIM RFP invites organizations to apply for a one-year planning grant to develop and advance a transfer model that dramatically improves the bachelor’s degree completion of Chicago community college students. This model will be driven by innovation, research, reporting, and supporting partnerships to create intentional learning communities.   

Successful partnership models will:

• Uncover and address the needs of specific populations of Chicago students, including the most underserved populations and underinvested neighborhoods.
• Collect and share data to understand barriers on individual campuses and demonstrate the effects of interventions over time.
• Create bold, innovative practices that have the potential to improve outcomes for students.

Need/Opportunity Statement

While middle skills certifications provide access to quality jobs, degree attainment remains the strongest pathway to economic mobility, particularly when students pursue college majors related to in-demand fields. Given the diversity of community college students, effective transfer practices have the potential to diversify the bachelor’s degree institutions where community college students enroll after transfer, an even more important strategy for equity now that the U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated race-based admissions strategies.

Currently, 79 percent of students who start at community college in hopes of a more affordable pathway to a bachelor’s degree get their plans derailed by a fragmented system full of unexpected costs and administrative burdens that deter many students from completing the transfer process.

Goals & Outcomes

The goal of the TIIM initiative is to identify and promote strategies that improve bachelor’s degree completion within two to three years of transfer from community college programs for students who traditionally have had lower rates of completion, including Black, Latine and low-income students in Chicago. 

Grant Amounts Available & Grant Term

This grantmaking opportunity will occur in two phases.

• In Phase 1, the TIIM initiative will award five one-year planning grants of $300,000 each.
  • Successful Phase 1 grant applicants will be invited to submit an Implementation application during the planning grant phase.
• TIIM Phase 2 Implementation grants of up to $1,700,000 over three years will be awarded to support the plans created during the planning process.

Please Note: Phase 2 Implementation applications will be invited and submitted in the Winter/Spring of 2026 and will be evaluated competitively among all applying institutions. TIIM will look for plans that set dramatic targets and clear plans for improving the key program outcomes.

 Communityworks Grant Competition

The Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley’s mission is to build endowment funds for our region over time, and it strives to bring together individuals and organizations to assess community needs, to build greater endowment funds, to convene area leaders around important issues, and to distribute grant awards to worthy nonprofit organizations. The Foundation also serves as a neutral leader with no direct affiliation with any group, religion, political or governmental entity.

The goal of the Community Foundation is to improve the quality of life in both greater Kankakee and Iroquois Counties by supporting initiatives that are not currently being adequately funded. Grants awarded by the Community Foundation originate from income generated by our Communityworks Endowment Fund, a visionary initiative to help the Community Foundation build endowments for making grant awards, particularly in the following focus areas:

• Early Childhood Education
• Land Use & Protection
• Workforce Development

Grant-funded recipients of the Communityworks Endowment Fund are encouraged to address one or more of the above-identified focus areas and to make it publicly apparent how it is accomplished. 

Focus Areas

Early Childhood Education

• The community has determined that the Community Foundation can have the greatest impact on Early Childhood Education (birth to age 8) by supporting:
• The improvement of the quality of child care;
• The support for parent education;
• The improvement of the quality and accessibility of early childhood education services, and
• The improvement of opportunities to access children’s mental health services.
• More specifically the Community Foundation seeks to:
• Land Use & Protection

The community has determined that the Community Foundation can have the greatest impact in these areas by:

Workforce Development

Our area’s communities have determined that the Community Foundation can have significant impact by supporting:

• Increased work opportunities for unemployed/underemployed youth through collaboration with the Workforce Board and other governmental and community-based organizations.
• Youth programs that prepare entry-level employment through the development of soft skills and work experience.

More specifically the Community Foundation seeks to:

• Increase Work Opportunities for unemployed/underemployed community youth through collaboration with the Workforce Board and other governmental and community service providers via training partnerships, work experience, resource identification, workshops, surveys and other information-gathering efforts as well as through coordinated partnerships for workforce development strategies, initiatives and sponsorships.
• Prepare youth for entry-level employment through the development and sponsorship of programs designed and implemented to prepare youth with employment soft skills, job-seeking and job-retaining skills and youth work experience. The Community Foundation also seeks to collaborate and coordinate efforts with appropriate community partners to seek external funding resources or to underwrite costs as well as to assure quality employment preparation of youth including supportive, on-the-job work experience and workplace expectations.

RFP: Together Fund (Local Business) – We Rise Together

Background

We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery is a coalition of public and private funders and communities accelerating equity in the Chicago region’s economic recovery so everyone who lives here can reach their full potential. To catalyze an equitable economic recovery from the COVID recession, We Rise focuses on grantmaking and engagement in communities hardest hit by COVID and those that are a majority Black and Latine because they are the places and people disproportionately affected by the pandemic. 

Need/Opportunity Statement

In historically underserved, low-income neighborhoods across the Chicago area, mid-stage businesses and worker-owned cooperatives play a critical role in fostering economic vitality, creating jobs, and strengthening social connections. However, many of these businesses face persistent challenges in scaling their operations, securing the tools and resources necessary for growth, and effectively harnessing growth opportunities.  

We know that mid-stage businesses are uniquely positioned to drive inclusive economic growth. However, they often operate with constrained resources and limited access to the capital, vendors, and infrastructure needed to achieve their full potential. Similarly, worker-owned co-ops offer a powerful model for shared ownership and wealth-building, empowering employees with a direct stake in the success of their enterprises. Yet, co-ops face unique challenges in securing resources for infrastructure, awareness, and technical support, particularly in sectors like retail, manufacturing, and trucking that are traditionally underfunded. 

By moving resources directly to nonprofits working alongside these businesses, we aim to catalyze their ability to grow revenue, expand capacity, and invest in transformative initiatives like acquiring commercial spaces, adopting advanced tools, and strengthening their operational resilience. This RFP invites applications that present strategic approaches to strengthen these enterprises, supporting a sustainable recovery and fostering a resilient economic foundation across the region.

Goals & Outcomes

While this is a one-year grant, the activities supported through this funding should be designed to contribute to the broader, long-term goals of improving local economic resilience. Work completed during the grant period should build a strong foundation for continued progress toward the following goals:  

• By supporting business growth and cooperative development, projects should create stable job opportunities, increase local spending, and increase economic resilience within low-income neighborhoods. 
• Through cooperative models and local business growth, projects should promote shared wealth-building, economic autonomy, and the growth of the local economy. 
• Programs should enable businesses to scale effectively, increasing their capacity to serve and uplift their communities. 
• Measure changes in access to capital, financial literacy, and use of business management tools. 
• Track the number of new jobs created or maintained, particularly full-time roles with family-sustaining wages. 
• Monitor improvements in operational resilience, such as enhanced access to infrastructure, technology, or technical assistance.

While this is a one-year grant, the activities supported through this funding should be designed to contribute to the broader, long-term goals of improving local economic resilience. Work completed during the grant period should build a strong foundation for continued progress toward the following goals:  

• By supporting business growth and cooperative development, projects should create stable job opportunities, increase local spending, and increase economic resilience within low-income neighborhoods. 
• Through cooperative models and local business growth, projects should promote shared wealth-building, economic autonomy, and the growth of the local economy. 
• Programs should enable businesses to scale effectively, increasing their capacity to serve and uplift their communities. 
• Measure changes in access to capital, financial literacy, and use of business management tools. 
• Track the number of new jobs created or maintained, particularly full-time roles with family-sustaining wages. 

Monitor improvements in operational resilience, such as enhanced access to infrastructure, technology, or technical assistance. 

Outcomes include up to three of the following:

• Build Knowledge and Narrative 
• Improve Overall Financial Health 
• Increase Fundamental Business Finance Knowledge and Application 
• Strengthen Workforce 

IL Armed Forces Legal Aid Network

The IEJF awards grants to organizations providing legal assistance and information as part of the IL Armed Forces Legal Aid Network (IL-AFLAN). IL-AFLAN is a one-stop shop where veterans, military members, and their dependents can obtain free legal help to:

• access hard-earned benefits
• obtain discharge upgrades
• solve other urgent problems like family law and housing issues

Available Funding

Public Act 99-0281 creates the Access to Justice Fund in the State treasury, financed by a fee of $2 on the filing of the first pleading, paper, or other appearance by each party in all civil cases. The money available in the Fund therefore fluctuates with the volume of civil filings. The current amount available for FY24/Year 8  grants is approximately $900,000.

Important Note Regarding the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act

These funds are subject to the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act (30 ILCS 705/5). Please familiarize yourself with the Act before applying.

Charitable Trust – Helping Small Nonprofits Across Illinois

The Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund (“Fund”) was created in 2007 to help small non-profits across Illinois. Money for the Fund comes from the filing fees not-for-profit organizations pay to incorporate with the State of Illinois. The program is funded by non-profits and exists to support non-profits. 

The Spring 2024 Grant Cycle, running from January 1 – March 31, will award grants to non-profit charitable programs in two categories:

• Food
• Housing

The Fall 2024 Grant Cycle, running from July 1 – September 30, will award grants to organizations in two categories:

• Food
• Economic & Workforce Development

In each area, the Charitable Trust Board will consider a range of programs such as but not limited to the following:

Food Programs:

• Food Pantries
• Supplemental School Feeding Programs 
• Summer Feeding Programs 
• SNAP Outreach 
• Farmer’s Market SNAP expansion 
• Access to fresh produce 
• Meal Deliveries

Housing:

• Short Term Housing and Supportive Services
• Emergency Financial Support to prevent homelessness 
• Foreclosure Prevention Counseling 
• Affordable Housing advocacy/construction/rehabilitation 
• Accessibility in Housing 
• Fair Housing Counseling/Education 
• Homeownership Counseling 
• Renters Rights

Workforce & Economic Development:

• Small Business Development Councils 
• Entrepreneurship Training or Services
• Resume Preparation 
• Interview Training 
• Placement and Retention Services 
• GED Classes 
• Vocational Training 
• Apprenticeship Training 
• Industry Certifications 
• Workforce Development for People with Disabilities

Our Mission

We are committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

The world is more just when actions are inclusive, and fair, where past and present barriers are removed to provide equitable access, treatment, consideration, and opportunity.

The world is more verdant and abundant when the planet and its people flourish.

The world is more peaceful when people are free from fear, conflict, violence, and war.

We believe that the people closest to the ground know best how to respond to the pressing challenges of the communities we seek to serve. Our support is centered on mutual respect, learning, and relationship building. We follow the lead of individuals and organizations rooted in spaces, communities, and experiences, investing in their ideas and giving them space to grow.

We focus resources on promising solutions to pressing challenges and embrace creative thinking to increase the odds of meaningful change.

Chicago Commitment

Chicago is a global city with vibrant, diverse neighborhoods and a strong civic culture. And yet historical and current systemic racism creates unequal access to resources and opportunities for Black, Latine, Indigenous, Asian, LGBTQIA+, and disabled people and communities—especially when these multiple identities intersect. A resilient and dynamic Chicago region is dependent upon a more equitable Chicago, where every Chicagoan has the opportunity to prosper and contribute to their community and where Chicago’s diverse voices are elevated, recognized, respected, and included.

We focus on strengthening local organizations including the creative sector; supporting civic partnerships on timely issues; investing in vital communities; and advancing influential leaders with a diversity of experiences and a commitment to racial equity.

Our Areas of Focus

Our focus areas were designed with the priorities of Chicagoans in mind—taking heed of what residents and leaders believe are the most urgent concerns and promising solutions.

• Civic Partnerships
  • Leading or participating in partnerships to address critical or timely challenges with the goal of advancing racial equity and building a more inclusive Chicago.
• Vital Communities
  • Investing targeted resources in a small number of place-based initiatives and organizations that provide infrastructure support to neighborhoods.
• Advancing Leadership
  • Promoting and advancing leaders committed to diversity whose influence will inform and improve decision making across the city.
• Culture, Equity, and the Arts
  • Reflecting diverse creative sector voices and sustaining the creative life of the city.

Culture, Equity, and the Arts Grant

The Culture, Equity, and the Arts (CEA) program is based on the ideal that arts and culture are essential to furthering the Chicago Commitment’s goal: To invest in people, places, and partnerships to advance racial equity and build a more inclusive Chicago.

The arts help to introduce people to diverse perspectives, build bridges across social boundary lines, expose people to culturally relevant experiences, and develop human empathy.

Through this program, we offer unrestricted general operating support, directly and through regranting partners, to large, mid-sized, and small organizations. These resources provide flexible, reliable funding that helps organizations maintain stability, plan ahead, pursue new ideas, and invest in new artistic directions.

We offer multi-year, general operating support directly to organizations with budgets above $1 million. Grant sizes range from $55,000 to $80,000 per year, typically for three years.

About

The Illinois Department of Human Services was created in 1997 to provide our state's residents with streamlined access to integrated services, especially those who are striving for economic independence, and others who face multiple challenges to self-sufficiency.

Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)

Program Summary

The Housing First PSH Model is intended to prioritize systems rebalancing, the development and expansion of Permanent Support Housing (PSH) for individuals who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness and/or have been institutionalized.

Funding Priorities or Focus Areas

IDHS is working to counteract systemic racism and inequity, and to prioritize and maximize diversity throughout its service provision process. This work involves addressing existing institutionalized inequities, aiming to create transformation, and operationalizing equity and racial justice. It also focuses on the creation of a culture of inclusivity for all regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ability.

What We Fund

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation supports innovative, cost-effective civil legal aid programs that help people in crisis address life-changing problems and improve their lives. These programs offer:

• Legal representation to people who can’t afford a lawyer
• Easy to understand legal forms and information
• Easy to access legal aid hotlines
• Legal self-help centers that help people understand their rights
• Mediation services that help people resolve conflicts and avoid court

New Leaf Illinois Grant

The IEJF awards grants to organizations to provide legal services to help people clear cannabis convictions off their record as part of New Leaf Illinois. New Leaf Illinois is a statewide network of nonprofit organizations who are committed to equal justice for all those who were previously arrested or convicted for cannabis use, production and sale.

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation will make New Leaf Illinois grants in four categories:

Telephone Advice & Referral Services

Grants will be made to support the operating expenses of legal services hotlines. These operating expenses include staff salaries and benefits, as well as other costs directly related to providing advice and referral services to callers, including technological infrastructure costs or maintenance.

Legal Services

Grants will be made to support direct service staff positions at eligible legal services providers, including attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, intake staff, and/or pro bono coordinators. Grant funds can be used to pay for salaries, benefits, and limited overhead, including administrative costs, not to exceed10%. The applicant must demonstrate how the proposed staff position(s) will help the organization provide efficient and effective legal assistance to persons seeking cannabis expungement. Grant funds may also be used for client costs associated with accessing cannabis expungement relief, such as criminal history reports, required court documents, or other necessary expenses to determine eligibility or file for relief.

Community Outreach

In the Community Outreach category, the IEJF will make grants to support:

• Operating costs for community outreach projects, including personnel costs, marketing, and related events costs.
• Technology investments to provide for the registration of individuals for New Leaf Illinois.
• The creation, distribution and delivery of legal information and self-help materials.
• Marketing materials for events and other associated costs related to public forums.
• Projects that will offer printed, video and/or web-based materials on cannabis expungement and related topics and how individuals access services through New Leaf Illinois.
• Projects can include the preparation and distribution of materials; targeted outreach to community organizations and members; legal information classes taught by attorneys or under the supervision of a licensed attorney; know your rights or community education events conducted by staff with approved materials; and/or other creative efforts to help give Illinois residents the information and resources to seek legal relief through cannabis expungement.

Technical Assistance

In the Technical Assistance category, the IEJF will make grants to support:

• Training and supportive materials for New Leaf Illinois grantees.
• Consultation services for network organizations.
• Communication to network grantees on status of cannabis-related
• Personnel costs to provide technical assistance, in addition to travel, meeting and other associated training costs.

 MissionThe DRA, through its gaming and entertainment facilities provides for social, economic and community betterment and lessens the burden of Dubuque city and area government, while contributing to the growth and viability of Dubuque area tourism.

Focus for Grant Applications

All requests for funding in 2022 should tie to the mission of People Attraction: Population Growth, Retention and Tourism. This aligns with the DRA’s mission of providing social, economic and community betterment and lessening the burden of Dubuque city and area government, as well as our vision of being a dynamic community resource, acting as a catalyst to enhance the quality of life and financial well-being of the tri-state community.

Background

African American Legacy (AAL), an initiative of The Chicago Community Trust, is a philanthropic and educational initiative led by Black civic and community leaders who share the common goal of improving the quality of life among Black people throughout metropolitan Chicago. AAL engages leaders in philanthropy, collectively and individually, and provides support to non profit organizations that work at the community level to educate and engage communities, and to provide neighborhood-based services and solutions to address community problems. Grounded in the philosophies of collective giving, community engagement, and grant making, AAL serves as a convener and catalyst to promote significant impact in Black communities through the organizations that it supports.

Focus Areas

AAL will support community organizations who share the common goal of improving the quality of life among Black people throughout metropolitan Chicago working in working in the following areas:

Community Wealth Building:

We seek to support organizations focused on the shared wealth of their communities, as connected groups of people. It is the shared wealth, not the sum of wealth, of multiple households or whole communities. For this focus area, successful applicants approach economic development in a manner that promotes the local, democratic, and shared ownership and control of community assets. Such initiatives include:

• Worker-Owned Cooperatives: Values-driven businesses that are collectively owned and democratically operated by their employees. Worker Cooperatives generate worker and community benefits.
• Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives: Housing that is collectively owned and democratically managed by residents and that aims to maintain permanent affordability, accessibility, and stability.
• Community Land Trusts: Community-based nonprofits that acquire and steward community land and assets for the explicit purpose of preserving affordability and mitigating displacement from residential and commercial properties.
• Community Investment Vehicles: Legal mechanisms for community investment in neighborhood assets based on shared values and development goals. In its ideal form, CIVs are designed, majority-owned, and majority-controlled by residents or local members.

Community Mobilization

We seek to support organizations doing work in the areas of voting rights/access activism, immigration reform, education inequity, and fighting the erasure of Black people, Black history, and Black stories.

Community Care

We seek to support organizations that actively respond to the disproportionate impact of issues such as employment instability, housing instability, and trauma on Black people and Black communities through the delivery of mental health and wellness services as their primary service.

Grantmaking Criteria

• Black-Led or Black-Serving. AAL is committed to supporting Black leaders in organizations or organizations that serve underinvested communities whose residents or constituents are predominately Black. Black-serving means constituents are predominantly (51%) Black and/or from the African Diaspora (Africans brought primarily to the Americas as slaves who live around the globe—Brazil, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Europe, and Asia). Organizations that are older than five years will not be considered if the Executive Director and Board Chair are the same individual.
• Place-based. Primarily located in the Chicago metropolitan region (which includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and/or Will Counties, Illinois), and accessed by Black people living in this region.
• People-driven. Program direction and design are grounded in the needs of the constituency and the community served. Using an asset-based approach means that the organization’s work is done not only for the people involved but also by them.

Funding Amount

Community Wealth Building Applicants Only:

Grants under these priority area for 2025 will range in size between $50,000 to $75,000 based on the scope of the applicant’s general operations or project-based needs. Community Mobilization and Community Care Applicants Only:

Grants under these priority areas for 2025 will range in size between $15,000 to $25,000 based on the scope of the applicants general operations or project-based needs.

Our Mission

The DRA, through its gaming and entertainment facilities provides for social, economic and community betterment and lessens the burden of Dubuque city and area government, while contributing to the growth and viability of Dubuque area tourism.

Core Grant

• Focus on People Attraction: Population growth, retention, and tourism
• Coaching opportunities provided by the DRA and community partners throughout the grant cycle

Focus for Grant Applications

Applications should align with the mission of People Attraction: Population Growth, Retention and Tourism. This supports the DRA’s mission of fostering social, economic and community betterment while reducing the burden of the City of Dubuque and area government. It also reflects our vision of being a dynamic community resource, acting as a catalyst to enhance the quality of life and financial well-being of the tri-state community.

Capacity Building vs Material Purchases

Historically, the DRA primarily funded material items. However, in 2022, we shifted our approach to prioritize applications that include capacity building alongside material purchases.

What is Capacity Building?

Capacity building is the process of developing and strengthening the skills, processes, resources, and strategies that organizations and communities need to adapt, grow and thrive in a rapidly changing world. 

Examples of capacity building activities and potential projects:

• Planning Activities: Organizational assessments, strategic planning, and creating development plans/strategies.
• Donor Development: Marketing and communications, online donor portals, and enhancements to the donor experience.
• Strategic Relationships: Strengthening relationships with professional advisors and nonprofit partners.
• Internal Operations: Improvements to donor database, financial management systems, volunteer management, and organizational websites.
• Professional Development: Staff, contractor, or affiliate volunteer attendance at regional or national conferences, or participation in local or online training.
• Financial Audits: First-time audits that open additional funding opportunities for the organization.
• Organization Marketing: Website creation/design, marketing materials, and tools to help promote the organization externally.

The Community Foundation of East Central Illinois (CFECI) will be awarding $60,000 in grants to strengthen the nonprofit sector as part of its vision of raising the quality of life throughout the region it serves.

CFECI will provide grants of up to $5,000 to eligible nonprofits for capacity building and technical assistance to improve an identified area of operations. These Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants require a 10% matching contribution.

Purpose

Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants strengthen nonprofits by increasing their core systems and operations. By improving infrastructure, these time-limited projects help nonprofits more effectively carry out their missions – now and into the future.

This grant program focuses on projects that improve capacity in an identified area of organizational operations, including (but not limited to):

• Communications
• Data management
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• Financial management
• Fundraising
• Governance
• Leadership
• Mission & strategy
• Program delivery
• Program evaluation

Examples of capacity building projects include:

• Leadership development: supporting a leadership training experience for two or more members of the organization’s leadership/ management team.
• Planning activities: including organizational assessments, strategic planning, fund development, communications/marketing, or business planning.
• Board development: may include activities such as leadership training, executive coaching, defining the role of the board, and strengthening governance.
• Internal operations: improvements to financial management, human resources or volunteer management.
• Technology improvements: IT capacity through upgrades to hardware and software, networking, websites, and staff training to optimize use of technology.

Applicants are encouraged to identify training, consulting and/or 1:1 coaching opportunities that best meet their organizational needs. Upon request, CFECI can provide a list of local consultants with various specialties in nonprofit capacity building.

Amount

Applicants may request up to $5,000, which requires a 10% matching contribution from the applicant organization.

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund (SOS) strengthens the Greater St. Louis community through informed, focused grant-making by educating and inspiring women to engage in significant giving.

SOS Commitment To Diversity, Equity And Inclusion

SOS is committed to equity, diversity, collaboration, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability because all people deserve to live full and abundant lives free of prejudice, discrimination and oppression.

We will prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in our philanthropy.

means full participation of all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender orientation, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ability, citizenship status, language, religion, geographic location, and national origin, among other identities.

is the condition that would be achieved if one’s identity no longer predicted how one fared in life.

creates a culture and environment for diverse individuals to bring their authentic and full selves. Inclusion results when underrepresented people are seen as fully belonging in a community.

Focus Areas

Grants are not restricted to issues dealing exclusively with women, but are made to organizations focusing on at least one of the following areas:

• Arts and Culture
• Education
• Environment
• Health
• Social Services

Single-year Eligibility

Single-year grants of $5,000 – $25,000 are awarded to nonprofit organizations in the Greater St. Louis community. Applicants are encouraged to submit Letters of Inquiry for general operating support, project/program support, and capacity building. Capacity building strengthens the development of an organization’s core skills and capabilities, such as leadership, management, finance/fund-raising, programs, and evaluation, in order to build the organization’s effectiveness and sustainability.

Multi-year Eligibility

In the 2022-2023 granting cycle, SOS will be investing in one, renewable, three year accelerator grant for $33,333 a year, totaling $100,000. The application can be for a specific project or for general operating support.

Organizations that apply for multi-year grants must:

• Demonstrate a history of successful programming and financial stability
• Show collaboration with other agencies
• Exhibit strong leadership in board and organizational management
• Have a clear multi-year plan that is visionary, meets an urgent community need and significantly enhances the applicant organization’s ability to serve their mission into the future
• Demonstrate how having consistent funding will allow your agency to think big and take chances
• Have specific and numerically measurable project goals, objectives/actions and outcomes/impact described for each year
• Include a three year budget:
  • If applying for a project include a separate project budget for each year
  • If applying for general operating support, submit the organization’s budget for the current year and two subsequent years
  • Have the option to include up to 2 additional supporting documents such as an Annual Report or Strategic Plan
• Organizations that have received single-year SOS grants for the past two consecutive years CAN apply for a multi-year grant. However, organizations applying for a multi-year grant CANNOT apply for an SOS single-year grant in the same grant cycle.

FY26 - Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children Program

Description

The Illinois Department on Aging, through the Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children Program (GRG), provides assistance to relatives, regardless of their age or income, who are raising children. The term “grandparent or older individual who is a relative caregiver” means a grandparent or step grandparent of a child, or a relative of a child by blood, marriage or adoption.

A Grandfamily is a family unit in which a grandparent is the head of household and is actively parenting one or more grandchild(ren). It’s a form of kinship care, in which a relative of a child takes over the parenting responsibilities. Another name for these households is “skip-generation families,” and they are increasingly common.

One main reason for the increase in Grandfamilies is substance abuse and alcoholism have created a need for grandparents to step in and parent their grandchildren. The opioid crisis has created a number of young parents who are unfit to parent and the numbers continue to increase. There are a number of other drugs, as well as alcohol that have turned families upside down as children are neglected or abused by their addicted parents.

The GRG program establishes and funds:

• Legal services,
• Respite,
• Support groups,
• Counseling (includes training),
• Gap-filling funds, and
• Develops resources through a competitive grant process.

Program personnel provides technical assistance to providers, refers relatives to services, and advocates on their behalf when they experience difficulty accessing services. Program personnel collaborate with state agencies including the Departments of Human Services, Children and Family Services, Health Care and Family Services and Public Health, Area Agencies on Aging, private social service agencies, legal assistance programs, law schools and clinics, extension services, educational advocacy groups, information and referral services, hospitals, clinics, churches, schools, police, and social work organizations.

The Goal of GRG is to provide assistance to relatives who are seeking resources and referrals in their efforts to provide safe, stable and loving homes for children.

Foundation Office at Fifth Third Bank

The respective Committees review all grant requests for the following trusts and foundations for which Fifth Third Bank serves as trustee or agent. Grants for programming in education, the arts, community development, and health and human services in Greater Cincinnati region are considered, in addition to the specific funding interests originally identified by each of the individual benefactors.

Effingham County, IL Foundation

• Paul and Virginia Kobodt Charitable Trust: To relieve or alleviate human suffering in Effingham County, Illinois.

Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation is the charitable arm of Delta Dental of Illinois. In the past 10+ years, combined efforts of both organizations have provided more than $5 million to programs and organizations in Illinois that improve the oral health of the residents of Illinois. Charitable contributions to the Foundation support our priorities that include: Access to Oral Health Care, Student Excellence, and Oral Health Education and Awareness.

Community Grants Overview

Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation primarily focuses its grantmaking on programs and/or organizations targeting children that address many of the needs mentioned above. Our three key priority areas are:

• Oral Health Education and Awareness
• Access to Oral Health Care – specifically programs that also educate and inform
• Oral Health Workforce development – training, staff to increase access, sponsorship/mentorship

Organizations may apply for a one-year grant ranging from $1,000-$20,000. Organizations are allowed to reapply if they have already received a grant in a previous year. However, each year’s request is considered separately by the Grants Committee. Prior funding does not imply consecutive funding.

Women to Women Giving Circle Grants

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation connects people who care with causes that matter by offering philanthropic leadership, organization and grant-making for the long-term enrichment of our community

Grants available for projects and programs that encourage advancement and opportunities for local area women and children and may be limited in scope to particular area concern.

The W2W grant focus for 2026 will be similar to the previous years:

• Programs offering assistance/solutions for women and children facing insecurities with housing, food, transportation and/or childcare;
• applicants are encouraged, but not required, to collaborate with another nonprofit organization on the grant program

The Women to Women Giving Circle was created to encourage and inform the philanthropic giving of local area women.

Goals of Women to Women:

• Raise financial resources through the generosity of local women to provide funding for Women to Women grants to meet important needs of local women and children (more info on Women to Women grants). 
• Provide women with opportunities to further develop philanthropic leadership skills

About

Investing in Southeastern Illinois for good, and forever.

Across America, more than 700 community foundations help individuals, families and organizations make permanent charitable investments in their communities. Each works to create vibrant communities within their specific geographic area. Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is proud to be in their company.

Mission

Cultivating philanthropy to build better communities.

In support of our mission, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is committed to bringing the full capabilities of an independent community foundation to smaller communities in our region by working with local volunteers and donors to improve their hometowns.

Fall Grant Cycle: Siemer Milling Company Fund for Youth Leadership Development

Siemer Milling Company is a family and employee-owned company with mills located in Hopkinsville, KY, W. Harrison, IN, and Teutopolis, IL. The organization has realized success to date because of the commitment of many fine people and their sincere desire to do a good job and deliver a worthwhile product. As the company grows, it will always emphasize attentiveness to the legitimate needs of its employees, customers, and the communities of which they are a part.

The Siemer Milling Company Fund established in 2006 provides a permanent source of funding to programs in Effingham County, Illinois and Christian County, Kentucky, and Dearborn County, Indiana that support the development of young leaders.

Why is Youth Leadership Development important?

For youth to be prepared to work in partnership with adults, they need to develop and enhance their leadership skills. Leadership training prepares youth to manage time, work as a team, set goals, start conversations, facilitate meetings, and make a difference. Promoting youth leadership development is a great way to promote positive life skills learning and prepare the next generation of leaders in our businesses, churches, and community.

The Siemer Milling Company Endowment awards grants to programs aimed at developing youth (ages 19 and under) to become extraordinary leaders by investing in the leadership skills required for improving our shared life, such as:

ENTERPRISE SAVVY — The ability to leverage opportunities with integrity and innovation; to make the right decisions and achieve results.

CONSCIENCE — Strong moral/religious character, working to have an ethical impact on the community.

COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATION — The ability to engage others inclusively across teams, functions, and cultures, effectively marketing ideas.

About

Investing in Southeastern Illinois for good, and forever.

Across America, more than 700 community foundations help individuals, families and organizations make permanent charitable investments in their communities. Each works to create vibrant communities within their specific geographic area. Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is proud to be in their company.

Mission

Cultivating philanthropy to build better communities.

In support of our mission, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is committed to bringing the full capabilities of an independent community foundation to smaller communities in our region by working with local volunteers and donors to improve their hometowns.

Fall Grant Cycle: Teutopolis State Bank Designated Fund 

Since its inception in 1913, Teutopolis State Bank has been a fixture on Main Street in Teutopolis, Illinois. Over the years, they have helped local businesses, individuals and families develop, grow and sustain prosperity through their wide range of financial services. Teutopolis State Bank takes pride in giving back to the community. It is the bank’s desire to leave a lasting footprint in the communities it serves. The amount of time and effort put forth by every employee, matched with the financial resources of the institution, enables Teutopolis State Bank to support various community events that enrich and improve the lives of the people in the community. With the bank’s extensive range of civic involvement, no individual or charity is too big or too small to forego support. As the Teutopolis State Bank continues its civic involvement throughout the community, it remains dedicated to serving shareholders, clients, neighbors, and friends.

The Teutopolis State Bank Designated Fund provides grants for projects that benefit the Teutopolis, Illinois community in the following areas: civic, cultural health, health, education, and social services.