Best Grants for New Nonprofits in Illinois

The Furci Family Scholarship Fund, offered by the National Italian American Foundation, supports outstanding Italian American undergraduate students enrolled in at least 10 credits of Italian language or studies. Applicants must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher and hold an active NIAF membership, which can be through a parent or grandparent. This scholarship aims to promote the rich Italian heritage and culture among future generations.

The Frank D. Stella Scholarship, offered by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), supports outstanding undergraduate students of Italian descent pursuing business-related fields. Applicants must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher and hold an active NIAF membership, which can also be from a parent or grandparent. This initiative encourages the preservation of Italian culture and heritage while fostering academic excellence among Italian American students.

The Getty Foundation's Connecting Art Histories initiative enhances global art historical scholarship by fostering intellectual exchange among scholars, particularly in underrepresented regions. This ongoing grant program supports seminars and workshops that connect over 1,000 early to mid-career researchers from diverse areas, including Africa and Latin America, to promote collaborative research and career development. The initiative not only builds professional networks but also aims to strengthen the discipline of art history by addressing geographic and political barriers.

The Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers Program (P30) invites grant applications to support innovative research in environmental health. These centers serve as critical hubs for advancing the goals of the 2025-2029 NIEHS Strategic Plan, providing essential infrastructure and resources for collaborative research. By fostering community engagement and translational research, the program aims to enhance understanding of the connections between environmental factors, human biology, and disease, ultimately improving public health outcomes.

The Dr. Doris R. Corbett-Johnson Leaders for Our Future Award, presented by SHAPE America, honors young professionals under 36 who exhibit exceptional promise in scholarship, teaching, and leadership. This prestigious award is available in two categories: college/university and non-college/university, with a maximum of two recipients per category each year. By recognizing emerging leaders, SHAPE America aims to inspire a new generation dedicated to advancing health and physical education.

The ANCHOR Grants program, funded by Northwestern University, supports collaborative projects aimed at improving community health and resilience in Evanston and Chicago. With over $500,000 available annually, grants range from $25,000 to $65,000, primarily benefiting community-based organizations. Partnerships can involve students, faculty, or staff, focusing on addressing social and economic disparities. This initiative encourages sustainable solutions through co-creation and teamwork, fostering positive community impacts.

Community Foundation of the Ozarks

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) provides philanthropic leadership to build stronger communities. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life in our region through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.

We help donors achieve their philanthropic goals through professional management and investment of charitable funds. We work with nonprofit organizations to help them fulfill their missions through fund administration, grantmaking and learning opportunities. We award scholarships to deserving students to help them achieve their educational goals.

Clonts Anderson Scholarship

• Graduating high school senior from El Dorado Springs High School who is female
• GPA between 2.5 and 3.5; submit transcript
• Must be applying to a two-year or four-year accredited college, university or vocational school
• Demonstrate financial need; submit FAFSA-SAI form
• Describe participation in community service, school activities
• Essay required

Scholarships are available to graduating high school seniors. Applications are accepted from mid-November until mid-March. Scholarship award recipients will be announced at the high school awards ceremony. 

Matthew VanFleet Memorial Automotive Scholarship

Established by Matthew’s parents and his sister in memory of Matt who passed away in an automobile accident. The scholarship provides assistance to a student who will study automotive technology. The scholarship is available to students from all the school districts in Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties.

About Samaritan Health Services

We’re a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and health services caring for more than 290,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast and portions of Marion and Polk counties. We work together to provide highly reliable and innovative medicine with world-class quality in a way that supports the values of the communities we serve. That includes caring for all people, regardless of their ability to pay.

Health Education Scholarships

One of the many keys to maintaining a healthy, prosperous community is ensuring a sustainable supply of excellent health care providers. To achieve this, Samaritan Health Services offers numerous scholarships to local students pursuing careers as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well continuing education or specialty training for current medical providers.

Each year, Samaritan awards more than $25,000 in scholarships for health care education to ensure the communities we serve receive the best care possible well into the future.

Virginia Welch Scholarship

Each year the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center Auxiliary awards the Virginia Welch Scholarship to students planning to pursue a career in a medically-related field. The scholarship is named in honor of Virginia Welch, a head nurse who became Good Samaritan’s administrator in 1951 and served until 1967. To date, more than $320,000 has been awarded to students pursuing a career in health care.

High school seniors, undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in, or accepted to, a program to pursue a career in a medically-related field in a hospital setting are eligible to apply.

About Samaritan Health Services

We’re a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and health services caring for more than 290,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast and portions of Marion and Polk counties. We work together to provide highly reliable and innovative medicine with world-class quality in a way that supports the values of the communities we serve. That includes caring for all people, regardless of their ability to pay.

Health Education Scholarships

One of the many keys to maintaining a healthy, prosperous community is ensuring a sustainable supply of excellent health care providers. To achieve this, Samaritan Health Services offers numerous scholarships to local students pursuing careers as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well continuing education or specialty training for current medical providers.

Each year, Samaritan awards more than $25,000 in scholarships for health care education to ensure the communities we serve receive the best care possible well into the future.

North Lincoln Hospital Foundation Medical Training Scholarship

The North Lincoln Hospital Foundation is committed to supporting the growth and development of healthcare professionals. Through the Medical Training Scholarship program, eligible applicants can receive up to $1,500 to help cover tuition costs for certification programs or degrees in nursing, diagnostic imaging, laboratory sciences, and other medical or technical fields.  

Community Foundation of the North State

The Community Foundation builds trust through relationship, integrity, and by providing safe places for donors to give their resources.

We are a nonprofit, public charity serving the people of Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties, with a mission to impact the region through the power of giving.

Scholarships

The Community Foundation of the North State manages many scholarship funds that are awarded to graduating high school seniors as well as students already in an undergraduate program. Some scholarships were started by families or individuals; others by businesses or organizations. All scholarships share one important focus: helping young people reach their educational goals.

The Tom and Nancy Driscoll Foundation Scholarship

Nancy Driscoll’s lifetime wish was to support young women in discovering their “magic.” Whether working directly with young people or coaching board and staff members at organizations large and small, Nancy always found a way to inspire, lift up, and empower.

Nancy was also a protector of nature. Nancy felt that the forests and mountains of Northern California were her temple, and she worked tirelessly to protect wild and sacred places and to bring our community into nature’s presence.

The Tom and Nancy Driscoll Foundation Scholarship was established to benefit and support Siskiyou County high school graduates planning to attend an accredited two or four-year college or vocational school.

Learning from Abroad to Reimagine Health Knowledge Systems for Equity and Wellbeing Grant

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to dismantling structural racism and eliminating barriers to health equity by working alongside communities, practitioners, and institutions. One way we support this mission is by investing in the knowledge of historically marginalized communities and deepening the relationships that build community power, evidence, and systems of change. Another way we do this is by looking beyond the U.S. borders. The Global Ideas for U.S. Solutions team looks abroad for ideas to improve health equity, justice, and wellbeing in the U.S.  

This funding opportunity invites organizations to learn and produce solutions to build a more inclusive and equitable health knowledge system, inspired by other countries that have faced or are currently facing similar health equity challenges. It allows organizations to learn from efforts outside of the U.S. to reimagine and rebuild the health knowledge system in ways that can withstand systemic threats while advancing health equity and wellbeing for the future. Among many other characteristics yet to be identified, our learnings to date suggest that the following contribute to this reimagined version of the health knowledge system:  

• The experience of people most affected by health inequities is centered in the generation of data and evidence and in policymaking;
• Health is more than the absence of disease. It is about individual and collective healing and wellbeing;
• Mis- and disinformation are eliminated and public trust in science and evidence is restored;
• History, culture, and language are preserved and protected, and ecological and biomedical sciences are braided with Indigenous, traditional, holistic, and community frameworks; and
• Cross-sector approaches and global learning networks break down siloes and allow for more effective and equitable solutions. They leverage lessons from resistance movements and connect artists, researchers, public health, and civil society.

The purpose of this CFP is to support organizations in pursuing action-oriented projects that leverage learning from outside the U.S. to create a more durable and equitable health knowledge system in the U.S. These efforts will advance health equity, justice, and wellbeing through community-driven knowledge generation, preservation, and narrative. Together, these actions lay the foundation for a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient health knowledge system in times of crisis and beyond. 

Total Awards

Type of Award: Awards will be structured as grants and will be made to organizations, not to individuals.

• Number of Awards: Up to 15 awards will be funded.  
• Amount of Award: Awards will be up to $500,000 each. Please request only what is necessary to allow us to fund as many recipients as possible. We expect larger awards to correspond with more distributed funding (e.g., multiple people’s salaries or multiple activities). See more information on RWJF budget categories and allowable costs here.  
• Award Duration: Awards will be up to 36 months.  

About Samaritan Health Services

We’re a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and health services caring for more than 290,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast and portions of Marion and Polk counties. We work together to provide highly reliable and innovative medicine with world-class quality in a way that supports the values of the communities we serve. That includes caring for all people, regardless of their ability to pay.

Health Education Scholarships

One of the many keys to maintaining a healthy, prosperous community is ensuring a sustainable supply of excellent health care providers. To achieve this, Samaritan Health Services offers numerous scholarships to local students pursuing careers as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well continuing education or specialty training for current medical providers.

Each year, Samaritan awards more than $25,000 in scholarships for health care education to ensure the communities we serve receive the best care possible well into the future.

Mary Decker Scholarship

The North Lincoln Hospital Foundation is honored to offer scholarships to aspiring health care professionals who live in Lincoln County. The Mary Decker Scholarship Fund was created in 2006 with the support of many friends and colleagues in the health care community and the North Lincoln Health District Board. The intent is to honor and recognize Mary’s many years of service to her community and the state by providing scholarships to further career development in health care. The fund provides scholarships for qualified applicants to pursue a degree in a medical or paramedical field at an accredited school of their choice.

About Samaritan Health Services

We’re a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and health services caring for more than 290,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast and portions of Marion and Polk counties. We work together to provide highly reliable and innovative medicine with world-class quality in a way that supports the values of the communities we serve. That includes caring for all people, regardless of their ability to pay.

Health Education Scholarships

One of the many keys to maintaining a healthy, prosperous community is ensuring a sustainable supply of excellent health care providers. To achieve this, Samaritan Health Services offers numerous scholarships to local students pursuing careers as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well continuing education or specialty training for current medical providers.

Each year, Samaritan awards more than $25,000 in scholarships for health care education to ensure the communities we serve receive the best care possible well into the future.

Samaritan Albany General Hospital Volunteer Services Scholarship

The Samaritan Albany General Hospital Volunteer Services is proud to offer scholarships each year for tuition, books and required program supplies to students pursuing higher education in a human medical field. Samaritan Albany General Hospital Gift Shop sales and miscellaneous special event proceeds are used to fund the scholarships.

Linn County students currently attending college and majoring in a medical field are invited to apply for the Samaritan Albany General Hospital Volunteer Services Scholarship. 

About Samaritan Health Services

We’re a nonprofit network of hospitals, clinics and health services caring for more than 290,000 residents in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon Coast and portions of Marion and Polk counties. We work together to provide highly reliable and innovative medicine with world-class quality in a way that supports the values of the communities we serve. That includes caring for all people, regardless of their ability to pay.

Health Education Scholarships

One of the many keys to maintaining a healthy, prosperous community is ensuring a sustainable supply of excellent health care providers. To achieve this, Samaritan Health Services offers numerous scholarships to local students pursuing careers as doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well continuing education or specialty training for current medical providers.

Each year, Samaritan awards more than $25,000 in scholarships for health care education to ensure the communities we serve receive the best care possible well into the future.

Frank Girod, MD, Medical Scholarship

The Frank Girod, MD, Medical Scholarship was established by the Lebanon Community Hospital Development Council and was funded by numerous contributions made by the late Girod’s friends and family.

The Girod Medical Scholarship is awarded to medical students in honor of the lifetime contribution to health care made by Girod of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and to assist new students of medicine to make similar contributions. The scholarship is coordinated by the Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation and is designed to help residents of east Linn County who are attending medical school.

The National Cancer Institute's PAIRS program aims to explore innovative cancer therapies by leveraging synthetic vulnerabilities that interact with tumor responses to radiation therapy. This initiative supports the development of targeted drug-radiation combinations, focusing on precision medicine to optimize treatment efficacy while minimizing harm to normal tissues. By consolidating prior funding opportunities, PAIRS encourages research that addresses context-dependent vulnerabilities, enhancing therapeutic strategies and aligning with NIH's scientific goals.

The Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Awards in Neuroscience support early-career investigators conducting basic or clinical research focused on neurological and psychiatric disorders. Awardees receive $150,000 annually for three years, aimed at fostering innovative research that contributes to understanding and treating these disorders. The fellowship encourages applications from underrepresented groups and prioritizes candidates with promising scientific careers who may not have received substantial prior funding, promoting collaboration and mentorship in the neuroscience community.

The John and Marlene Heslip Architecture Student Scholarship Program supports full-time undergraduate and graduate architecture students at accredited institutions in the U.S. and Canada. With a focus on innovative design using manufactured concrete masonry and hardscape products, the program awards a $5,000 scholarship each academic year. The scholarship aims to advance the education of future architects while fostering a commitment to excellence and diversity in the field.

The PIDS Foundation's Apprenticeship Program fosters early-career pediatric infectious diseases physicians, enhancing their skills in academic publishing. Named in honor of Ralph D. Feigin, the program offers junior faculty members the opportunity to engage with the editorial process of the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Recipients will contribute to manuscript discussions and special projects, committing approximately four hours weekly. The award will be presented during the PIDS Annual Membership Meeting at IDWeek 2025, with the term spanning October 2025 to October 2026.

The Federal Pell Grant provides financial assistance to undergraduate students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. Administered by the U.S. Department of Education, eligibility is determined through the FAFSA application. Award amounts vary based on the student's financial situation and enrollment status, with a maximum duration of six years of full-time enrollment. This grant aims to make higher education accessible to all qualified individuals, facilitating lifelong learning opportunities.

Western Michigan University

Mission: We are an access-oriented institution that provides an impactful and inclusive education that integrates discovery and fosters holistic growth and well-being "so that all may learn."

Vision: We empower every person to grow, thrive and belong. We contribute to making the world a better place through creativity, research, innovation and compassion.

CEHD Scholarships

At the College of Education and Human Development, we are dedicated to supporting our students' academic and professional goals. On average, we award close to one million in scholarship dollars annually to help make education more affordable.

Whether you're a prospective student, a current undergraduate, or a graduate student, CEHD scholarships are here to help you succeed.

Scholarship America Essential Visionaries Fund

The Essential Visionaries Scholarship Fund offers renewable scholarships to undergraduate students pursuing degrees or certificates in education, counseling, psychology, or nursing through college or vocational school programs. This program is dedicated to empowering future professionals committed to making a meaningful impact, particularly within K-12 school systems and healthcare fields.

This program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals.

The Paul and Barbara Yamber Memorial STEM Scholarship, administered by the Quad Cities Community Foundation, provides need-based financial support for students pursuing STEM fields. Annually, up to $10,000 is awarded, renewable for up to four years. Applicants must demonstrate financial need and a commitment to STEM education, ensuring that this scholarship significantly impacts their ability to attend college. Preference is given to undergraduates, making this a vital resource for aspiring STEM professionals.

The Cohen Gordon B Great Scholarship Fund honors Judy Gordon's legacy as a dedicated social worker and educator in Duluth. This fund supports students overcoming adversity, encouraging their pursuit of two-year or four-year degrees. Eligible applicants are graduates from any Duluth high school, with a preference for ESL or non-native English speakers. The scholarship awards $2,000 for one academic year, emphasizing the importance of resilience and belief in every student's potential.

The Community Foundation of Shelby County

Our Mission

To inspire donor generosity and transform it into meaningful, lasting impact through charitable gifts.

Our Vision

To be the primary partner for donors who want to advance the community’s quality of life and capacity for excellence.

Dr. Edward and Anne Link Scholarship

Shelby County residents maintaining a college GPA of not less than 3.0 and are pursuing a major in visual arts, performing arts, or creative writing toward a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Art education majors are not eligible. No recipient may be awarded this scholarship more than once.

Selection based upon:

Academic ability, community and school service, and recommendations.

Awards

• One $2,500 scholarship

The Harvard Extension School Grant provides financial assistance to admitted degree candidates who demonstrate financial need and maintain satisfactory academic progress. To be eligible, applicants must submit all required financial aid materials by the priority deadline. The grant covers a portion of tuition charges based on the student's aid index and credit enrollment per term, ensuring that a world-class education remains accessible and flexible for adult learners.

Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri

The Community Foundation of Northwest Missouri Inc. was established in 2009 as a 501(c)3 public charity to help donors support their favorite charities while receiving maximum tax advantage.

We serve as a vehicle for charitable giving, helping donors give to the causes they care about. Donor gifts will strengthen nonprofits increasing programs and services. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to establish a fund with us. 

Townsend, R.E. Educational Scholarship

This fund was established by the trustees of the R.E. Townsend Educational Fund to provide academic scholarships to students intending to further their education.

Guidelines:

Scholarships will be awarded on an annual basis and disbursed in August.

Amount:

Minimum of $1,000 and maximum of $2,000 per recipient depending on the fund balance. 

The Community Foundation of NCW is a tax-exempt philanthropic organization that helps individuals, families, businesses, and agencies support charitable causes throughout Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties.

Fern Cousineau Duncan Art Scholarship

Mrs. Duncan was an art teacher at Wenatchee High School from 1929 to 1959. She also taught at Wenatchee Valley College until she retired. This scholarship, established by Ms. Duncan’s will, supports graduating seniors from North Central Washington, with special emphasis on students who are pursuing a career in the field of art. As part of the application process, students must submit a portfolio of their work, which is reviewed by a panel of local artists.