Grant Programs

We seek measurable environmental impact in the form of carbon drawdown and habitat restoration. We welcome applications that increase community engagement and support for action to combat climate change, promote policy change, contribute to climate science, or model action for other organizations and communities.

Successful proposals may include the following actions:

• Purchases of targeted land tracts for restoration or preservation of high plant diversity that may greatly increase carbon capture;
• Large-scale carbon farming demonstrations using trees, prairie or wetlands that monitor drawdown and contribute to climate science;
• Projects that activate communities, stimulate media coverage, and encourage greater understanding of climate change by the public;
• Tree planting projects in small cities and towns;
• Large-scale demonstrations of regenerative agriculture directed at advancing policy or supporting market-based change like the creation of a viable carbon market.

We encourage applicants from organizations working in East Central Illinois. We give preference to rural organizations, small cities and towns and we are especially interested in programs or projects that support collaboration or connect communities. View the map above.

While we do not set limitations on our grant requests, the average size of a Nature-Based Climate Action grant award is $25,000. Funding levels can range between $2,500 – $50,000.

We do not sponsor events or provide funding to individuals.

If you would like to discuss a specific idea or possible partnership with The Foundation, feel free to contact us.

If your organization is invited to submit an application, you may be contacted by Foundation staff to arrange a site visit. Not all applicants will receive a site visit request. Our site visits may be in person or conducted remotely via video conference, and staff will do their best to give two week’s scheduling notice. 

Site visits are a chance to discuss your application, your project, and your organization as a whole with Foundation staff and occasionally trustees. We will not provide a formal agenda, but you should be prepared to answer questions and are invited to ask questions of your own. We aim for the site visit to be a conversational learning experience for both Foundation staff and your organization.

A post grant report is a requirement of nearly all grants. It is an opportunity to share what worked well, and what did not, and to what degree the project accomplished its goals. The date will vary, but the majority of reports are due 11 or 12 months from approval. This will be communicated to you when your grant is awarded. 

We believe that it is important to measure the success of our grantmaking strategy. While we have our own internal strategy that we use to measure our own progress towards our programmatic goals, we allow our grantees to report metrics that are most relevant to their unique context.

We recognize that the measurement of success (and failure) is only valuable when it is done based on the specific and context-based parameters established by our grantees. We work in tandem with them to ensure that what is measured has meaning to both their work and our overall goals as a Foundation.This will allow evaluation flexibility while helping The Lumpkin Family Foundation learn about what Outcomes and Metrics are most useful to our grantees. Please contact staff with any questions about Outcomes and Metrics.

Your report template will be accessible through our Apply/Report here portal. Most post grant reports are similar to the following example for the Land, Health, Community program:

Please feel free to contact Foundation staff with any questions about your reporting date or details.