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Eligibility & How To Apply

Please refer to the Program Areas section for a description of priorities for funding. In any program area CFF is looking for:

• Organizations that support residents of the West Side of Chicago, especially the Austin neighborhood.
• Programs with an articulated standard for excellence.
• Organizations that are actively and always trying to learn from their work, and improve their approaches, even if that involves risk.
• Openness to shared learning, to working collaboratively, and to advancing the field.

In all program areas, CFF wants to see good program design, clear measurements for success, and incorporation of evaluation. The Foundation wants to know what will be different, not just what was done.

CFF only funds nonprofit organizations. CFF will consider a grant for general operating support for an organization that meets Foundation criteria. While the Foundation has funded capital projects in the past, it prefers applications for programmatic or general support. We invite very few new organizations to submit proposals annually.

What The Foundation Does Not Fund

In general, the Foundation does not make grants to individuals, governmental entities, or 509(a)(3) supporting organizations, although exceptions are sometimes made for publicly supported charities. The foundation does not fund policy advocacy.

How To Apply

The Foundation has two grant cycles per year. Grants in the Education program area are made in the first half of the year, and grants in the Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Food Security programs are made in the second half of the year. Applications begin with a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) that asks for a brief history of your organization, a brief description of the project for which you are seeking support, and the amount that you would like to request. Some of the organizations submitting LOIs are then invited to submit full proposals.

To begin the application process, all organizations must create an account in our online portal. Once you have created an account, you will be able to access any current grant applications and apply for future grants.

If you are a new applicant, we strongly encourage you to reach out to our Grants Manager (monica@christopherff.org) before submitting an LOI. Initial eligibility is based upon two criteria: geography and program alignment with Foundation priorities. Please also check out our FAQ section.

We consider the following questions when determining an organization’s geographic alignment:

• Is the organization located in Chicago?
• Is the organization based in and/or currently serving residents of Chicago’s West Side? (The Foundation does not typically provide funding to organizations who hope to expand to the West Side in the future, but have not yet begun to identify key partners and relationships needed to do so.)
• Approximately what percentage of your clients resident in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood? CFF defines an Austin participant as an individual living in these zip codes: 60644 (entire) and parts of 60639, 60651, and 60707.

Deadlines for 2025

• For the Education program area:
  • The LOI application link will be available January 6, 2025. Preview LOI questions here.
  • LOIs are due February 14, 2025.
  • Full proposals, for those invited to submit, are due April 4, 2025.
  • Applicants will be notified of funding decisions in June 2025.

Information Session:
For those interested in learning more about our eligibility requirements or wanting technical assistance with the new dashboard of our grant management system, please join us at an upcoming virtual Information Session on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. CST. You may register using this link.
Note: Attending an information session is not required to apply for funding.

• For the Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Food Security program areas:
  • The LOI application link will be available on June 9, 2025.
  • LOIs are due July 11, 2025.
  • Full proposals, for those invited to submit, are due September 5, 2025.
  • Applicants will be notified of funding decisions in November 2025.