Best Lake County Grants for Nonprofits in Illinois

League of Chicago Theatres 

The League of Chicago Theatres was founded in 1979 by a small group of theaters formerly known as the Off Loop Producers Association. Their mission was to enrich and sustain the economic and cultural life in Chicago by developing marketing, advocacy and information services to strengthen the operations of member theatres. 

Today the League serves many functions for the community including audience development, advocacy, government relations, grant-making, and professional development. The League remains an organization that is governed by our membership and is proud to serve more than 200 theaters. Our membership encompasses a diverse list of companies including not-for-profit and commercial operations, suburban and city-based, all-volunteer storefront operations and large regional theatres. 

ComEd Powering the Arts Program

Purpose and Overview

Exposure to the arts is vitally important for the health of our communities. Coming together to share a cultural offering is a way to cultivate community and achieve social connection, which inspires and uplifts us all. Arts and culture should be accessible to everyone. Through this program, ComEd and the League of Chicago Theatres look to reach audiences that have otherwise been unable to access the richness of cultural offerings throughout the ComEd service area.

Experiences in the arts increase creativity across the spectrum of human endeavor. Each experience provides audiences with further opportunities for interaction, whether they are inspired to educate themselves further about the topic, create a work of art themselves, or perhaps to attend another event. Each exposure enhances the quality of life for the audiences but can also change lives in profound ways.

Recognizing that access to art is crucial to the quality of our lives, ComEd has partnered with the League of Chicago Theatres to support cultural institutions in northern Illinois in their efforts to reach new and diverse audiences. The ComEd Powering the Arts program has been designed to assist local institutions in these efforts by providing funding for some expenses toward these goals.

Applicants may request funding for either $20,000 or any amount up to $10,000. Requests for funding between levels ($10,001-$19,999) will not be considered.

The Jean Griswold Foundation

The Jean Griswold Foundation (JGF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Caregivers through educational opportunities and scholarships. 

Our Mission

The mission of the Jean Griswold Foundation is to support Caregivers by providing educational scholarships* to enable them to further their training, enhance their careers, and better assist the clients they serve.

By offering educational scholarships*, our Foundation will not only make a positive impact on the Caregivers themselves, but also the clients they assist and the home healthcare agencies where they are employed, as well as help advance the overarching home-care industry.

Scholarships will be paid directly to the federally accredited educational institutions of the winning Scholars’ choosing.

Empowering Caregivers Through Education

The Jean Griswold Foundation Scholarship Program awards scholarships to deserving Caregivers who wish to further their education in a care-related field. Applicants do not have to be associated with Griswold in any way, and the funds will be paid directly to the institution where the caregiver will be receiving education.  

Our Winter 2026 Scholarship Application period is now open! Applications will be accepted until 11:59pm ET August 31, 2026. Join our email list to get the first notice of all Scholarship happenings.  

Where would we be without Caregivers? 

Their selflessness is astounding, yet they are often overlooked and underappreciated. 

The Jean Griswold Foundation is dedicated to supporting Caregivers, the backbone of the care industry. We provide educational scholarships so Care Professionals can further their training, enhance their skills, elevate their careers, and better assist the people they serve.

Broadening Narratives

Broadening Narratives supports diverse stories and collections that expand our understanding of who we are. ​

Our Vision for Broadening Narratives

We work to ensure that those whose stories are being told through collections are included in the decisions about how those stories are told. We seek to broaden the kinds of narratives being told, particularly stories that have never been told, or have been told incompletely or inaccurately.  

This includes stories from culturally specific communities including people of color, LGBTQ+ perspectives, working-class experiences, and small community stories.

We support collections that tell stories that have not been told, have been told incompletely, or have been told inaccurately. We require that those whose stories are being told be included in the decision-making process.

What is broadening narratives?

Why collections? And what do you mean by “Broadening Narratives”? What drove this change in strategy and approach to your collections work? ​

Read this answer and more here.

NM Community Impact Donations

Introduction

Northwestern Medicine provides financial support to designated nonprofit organizations and governmental and public entities that are working to address identified community health priorities. Many needs are determined during each hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessment, which is conducted every three years. View a list of priority health needs for each hospital.

IDNR Mission Statement

To manage, conserve and protect Illinois' natural, recreational and cultural resources, further the public's understanding and appreciation of those resources, and promote the education, science and public safety of Illinois' natural resources for present and future generations.

Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant

Purpose

Projects must emphasize student/youth involvement with planning, development and maintenance and increase the educational and wildlife habitat values of the site. The applicant must be prepared to maintain and commit resources to the project for at least five years. The project must be implemented on school grounds or another public place (for example, a park or nature center/forest preserve district land). Illinois Conservation Foundation sites and Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) sites do not qualify for funding. Admission fees cannot be charged to obtain access to the site. Individual student projects will not be funded.

The Illinois Schoolyard Habitat Action Grant includes three options: Option One; Option Two; and Option Three.

Option Three: For Chicago and East St. Louis metro areas schools that have no soil on their school grounds for planting

Option Three is for schools only in Chicago and East St. Louis metro areas that have no soil on their school grounds in which to plant. Other schools may be considered if they have no soil around their school. This is not for every school to use instead of putting plants in the ground. It is creating a container garden at your school to have native species onsite. It must be developed following the criteria stated in the instructions for the application form. Schools that choose this option have additional reporting that needs to be done as they will be part of a scientific study. You must check with us before you apply for this grant. 

Funding requests will include containers, insulation, soil, plants, and mulch.

This grant will pay for the purchase of simple gardening tools such as child- and adult-sized gloves, spades, shovels, rakes, trowels and hoes. Tool costs shall not account for more than 25% of the total project cost.

Our Work:

The Citi Foundation commits $20 million to help nonprofit housing developers overcome financial and operational barriers to building and preserving affordable housing in the U.S.

Apply for Funding

Citi Foundation primarily provides funding through open Requests for Proposals (RFP). This model enables us to engage and support a broad range of organizations across the globe to tackle some of the most pressing social issues of our time. Each RFP launched is accompanied by detailed information on goals, selection criteria and relevant application deadlines.

Housing Affordability

Citi's Blueprint for Housing Opportunity

Recognized as the number one affordable housing lender in the U.S. by Affordable Housing Finance magazine, Citi knows increasing supply is essential to addressing housing affordability — one of the defining economic challenges of our time. That’s why we are putting our capital, community impact and expertise toward helping more Americans access housing they can truly afford.