In Youth We Trust is a youth philanthropy program of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.
Established with a grant from the Ford Foundation in 1994 and endowed by a local donor, In Youth We Trust (IYWT) teaches grantmaking, volunteerism, and leadership skills to today’s youth, preparing them to be the positive change of tomorrow. Since its inception, IYWT has granted over $500,000 to youth projects in Boone, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties.
This year, the IYWT Council will distribute up to $40,000 to community projects that benefit local youth. For the 2023-2024 school year IYWT will have two grant cycles: one for proposals written by youth for youth-led, youth-benefiting projects , and one for proposals written by nonprofit organizations for the purpose of serving youth.
The Fall cycle for proposals will be for those written by youth and will open October 16, 2023, and close November 16, 2023. Youth organization applicants should be prepared to attend a short interview on December 16th to answer questions relating to their proposal. The updated youth grant application will be a paper/fillable pdf application and will be available on this webpage in the middle of October.
The spring cycle for proposals written by adult nonprofit organizations serving youth will open February 1, 2024, and close March 1, 2024. The adult application will be available through the grant portal at the beginning of February.
This page describes the guidelines and process to apply for the nonprofit (adult) In Youth We Trust grant cycle. Please visit this page to view details about the youth-written In Youth We Trust grant cycle.
IYWT Nonprofit/Adult Grant Application - PDF Version | IYWT Nonprofit/Adult Grant Guidelines |
IYWT Grant Budget Template | IYWT Grant Sample Budget | IYWT Grant Sample Budget Narrative |