Deadline: 3-Mar-25
Applications are now open for the Woods Fund Chicago Grants to fund grantee partners who organize their communities in the fight for racial and economic justice.
Funding Information
- Woods Fund Chicago distributes core grants up to $35,000 for new grantee partners.
What they are looking for?
- Majority BIPOC-led organizations that work within and collaborate with communities of color and systemically marginalized populations, including people of marginalized genders and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, communities under economic and environmental duress, people with disabilities, and all communities impacted by structural racism and economic injustice.
- Strategy for systems change that articulates a critique of institutions of power, addresses changes in policies, practices, structures, and/or systems, and builds strategic partnerships with other organizations (including coalitions) to challenge power and invoke change.
- Community Organizing that involves impacted communities in the decision-making process, providing opportunities and resources to further develop the leadership of those impacted by the issue that the organization is working towards dismantling.
- Small and grassroots organizations, where grassroots organizations are defined as any organization with a budget less than $1M and small organizations as an organization with a budget between $1-3M.
Eligibility Criteria
- In order to be eligible for a Woods Fund Chicago grant, your organization or coalition must:
- Be based in the Chicago metropolitan area (city proper with some consideration of other cities in Cook County).
- Be a registered 501(c)(3) organization or fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization.
- Build power through community organizing and/or public policy advocacy.
- Utilize a framework of racial equity and/or justice within organizing efforts.
What they don’t Fund?
- Organizations outside of the Chicago metropolitan area (Chicago city proper and its surrounding suburbs)
- Business or economic development projects
- Capital campaigns, capital projects, capital acquisitions, housing construction/rehabilitation
- Endowments
- Health care institutions, including, but not limited to, hospitals and clinics
- Organizations that only provide direct services
- Medical and scientific research
- K-12 and post-secondary education scholarships
- Religious programs
- Leadership development or fellowship programs
For more information, visit Woods Fund Chicago.