Community Grants Program

The application for Community Grants has seven sections:

1. Summary: Asks for basic information about your organization and proposal, including your proposal’s Focus Area
2. Community Need: Asks why your activity is needed and who it will serve in terms of location, age, ethnicity, and gender
3. Proposal Plan: Asks for a detailed description of your activity, including any collaboration between your organization and other entities using the Collective Impact model
4. Proposal Budget: Asks for a detailed proposal budget and narrative
5. Measuring Results: Asks about your charitable activity’s anticipated results and your plan to track and measure those results
6. Organizational Capacity: Asks for information about your organization’s staff, history, mission, and finances, including information from your 990 or another relevant financial document
7. Grant Agreement: States the terms and conditions of applying for and administering a grant from CFNIL’s Community Grants Program

The Summary and Grant Agreement sections are not scored by grant reviewers. The Measuring Results, Community Need, Proposal Plan, Proposal Budget, and Organizational Capacity section are scored on a 1 – 5 scale by grant reviewers. The Measuring Results and Proposal Plan sections receive weighted scores.

While all applications must be submitted through the Web Portal, CFNIL provides a Word version of the application. Many applicants find it easier to initially work on the application in Word then copy and paste responses into the Web Portal. 

Download the Word version of the application.

CFNIL accepts proposals in the following Focus Areas. Generally, 50% of CFNIL’s grants will be allocated for Education, while 10% will be for each of the following Focus Areas: Arts & Humanities, Health, Human Services, Sustainable Communities, and Youth & Families.

Many donors have created named funds which support the Community Grants Program. You may view the full list of these named funds on our Donor Named Funds page.

1. Arts & Humanities

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Increase the availability of and access to artistic and cultural experiences, especially those that represent the diversity of our community’s culture
• Celebrate the region’s history and preserve historical integrity

2. Education (encompasses both Complementary Education and Career Pathways)

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Align with CFNIL’s Education Works guidelines
• Provide creative and systemic approaches to educational improvement
• Support the education of current and future medical professionals

3. Health

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Improve the quality of and access to health services
• Support community wellness
• Conduct research to promote the health and well-being of our community

4. Human Services

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Serve the basic needs of individuals and families
• Provide services to persons with disabilities, especially activities that promote inclusion
• Promote the equitable treatment of others

5. Sustainable Communities

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Promote neighborhood and economic development
• Support efforts to ensure safety and access to quality, affordable, and permanent housing
• Preserve our natural environment, especially activities that increase the region’s understanding and appreciation of the environment

6. Youth & Families

CFNIL funding priorities are for those proposals that:

• Provide pathways to self-sufficiency
• Strengthen families
• Support intellectual, emotional, physical, and social development

Application questions will vary depending on the type of proposal submitted:

• Event – Choose “event” if the duration of the charitable activity described in the proposal is less than a week. Example: a weekend-long concert or a one-day neighborhood block party.
• Project – Choose “project” if the duration of the charitable activity described in the proposal has a beginning and ending date, and lasts between one week and three years. Example: a summer-long camp or a two-year archiving initiative.
• Program – Choose “program” if the duration of the charitable activity described in the proposal is ongoing. Example: a year-round health facility. All proposals related to educational activities that occur annually, like after-school or summer-school programs, should be included here.
• Capital/Commodity – Choose “capital/commodity” if you are purchasing equipment, a commodity, or making a minor capital improvement that will allow you to serve or further your ability to serve your clients. If a capital/commodity purchase is part of a larger charitable activity, such as purchasing books for a reading program, choose Event/Project/Program as appropriate. Examples: Van purchase to transport clients; food purchase for pantry; school backpacks for at-risk youth, bathroom remodel to make ADA compliant. Please note: Capital/Commodity requests are not eligible for multi-year grants.

An organization can only apply for a multi-year grant if seeking funding for charitable activities that align with the following criteria:

• Education Works,
• Medical education, or
• Medical research.

While evaluating grants, CFNIL reviewers want to know who is applying, how they will put a plan into action, and what that plan will accomplish. In the Measuring Results section of the application, CFNIL reviewers need the clearest possible description of anticipated results and indicators of success in order to meaningfully evaluate your application. To see examples of Measuring Results, visit the Grants Resources page. The following is a breakdown of key elements of the Measuring Results section of the Community Grants application:

• Result: The change or improvement that a charitable activity is intended to produce.
• Indicators of Success: The data collected to show evidence of a change as a result of the proposed activity. This may include outputs and outcomes. Outputs may be used in an instance when measuring outcomes during the funding period (12 months) would be impractical.
• Targets: This does not refer to your target population. A number or percentage of the Indicators of Success that defines your desired achievement.
• Methods for Measurement: How you will collect the data that shows evidence of change.
• Benchmarks: A point of reference against which your results will be compared.

To be eligible to apply for funding from the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, an applicant must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization OR a religious organization, unit of government, or public university/college.

The proposals must describe charitable activities that primarily, but not exclusively, benefit the residents of Boone, Ogle, Stephenson, or Winnebago Counties. The more you request, the greater scrutiny your proposal will receive. Proposals requesting more than $75,000 will be evaluated for their alignment with Education Works. Proposals requesting less than $30,000 will benefit from a streamlined application.

CFNIL does not fund charitable activities that promote a religion or require participation in a religious activity as a condition for receiving services.  However, grants may be made to faith-based organizations for non-religious purposes.

CFNIL will fund:

• Expenses that are directly related to the design and implementation of a proposal. Income and expenses related to the proposal must be itemized using CFNIL’s Budget Template: cfnil.org/grants/budget.
• The purchase and installation of capital assets (i.e., assets that have a useful life greater than one year and which will be depreciated on the applicant’s books).
• Wages for staff or contractors to the extent that the request is appropriate to the proposal’s scope and implementation.
• Indirect costs that do not exceed 15% of the amount being requested in the proposal. Indirect costs are defined as expenses that cannot be easily attributed to the funded charitable activity but are essential to the operation of the grantee. Examples include utilities, insurance, general administrative support, and the portion of a building that is used to support the general operations of the organization.

The CFNIL Community Grants program will not fund proposals requesting funding for general operations; endowment building; large-scale capital campaigns; budget deficits; individuals; for-profit organizations; partisan political activities; or proposals that discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, national/ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran’s status, disability, or any other factor prohibited by applicable law.

Applicants:

• Must have been in active service to the public for at least one year as of December 1st of the year in which they are applying. For 501(c)(3) organizations, active service begins on the “Effective Date” found in an organization’s IRS Determination Letter.
• Must be current on all interim and final reports for grants from CFNIL’s Community Grants Program. If the organization is currently being funded with a CFNIL grant and a final report is not yet due, the organization must submit an interim report. Learn more about reporting on the Grants Resources page.
• Must submit a “Pre-Authorization Form” if working with or within a school district. This document asks for detailed information about the partnership between the applicant and the district, specifically the district’s role in designing the charitable activity and allocating resources toward its completion.
• Can submit up to three unique proposals.

CFNIL is committed to a fair and objective proposal review process.

Volunteer advisors from the community review and recommend grant proposals for approval by the CFNIL Board of Trustees. CFNIL Trustees, volunteer advisors, and staff adhere to carefully considered conflict of interest and confidentiality policies throughout the review and approval process. Due to the volume of proposals considered, CFNIL cannot routinely meet with grant applicants as a part of the review process. CFNIL may meet with any applicant when a review committee has determined that a meeting or a site visit will facilitate the review process.

Grant award decisions are final. CFNIL Trustees, volunteer advisors, and staff are prohibited from discussing the details of committee deliberations with any grant applicant. 

View the Proposal Review Guidelines

Occasionally, CFNIL’s application will request that you upload an external document, i.e. a quote for a budget item or a relevant report. Please upload these documents as PDFs. 

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