Grant Programs

We look to fund projects and organizations that support the following:

• Our communities are physically active, values healthy eating, and prioritizes overall wellbeing. 
• All communities can thrive. Communities that have faced and continue to face inequitable and unjust policies, laws and practices will be equipped with the resources needed to realize their full potential.

1. Opportunities for children in/out of school to engage physically with and to learn about the  natural world, to eat well, and to care for the planet.
2.  A community and/or multigenerational approach to addressing the mental health and wellness of youth.
3. Efforts to increase access to healthy and sustainably produced food.
4.  Grassroots and community led initiatives centered on the pursuit of food justice.

In addition to project-based funding, we also offer special funding for the following:

Community Garden Grants: Community Gardens which are defined are small patches of land that are used to connect community members to nature.  These gardens are engaged in minimal food production (as opposed to larger urban farms).  The maximum award for this type of grant is $5,000 per garden.  Please see guidelines below for more details.

Inspiration Grants: Inspiring proposals that center a collaborative approach to the pursuit of equity, justice, and restoration (please note that the maximum award for this type of grant is $10,000).

• Community Garden Grants: This project-based funding is for those organizations looking to establish community gardens on previously underutilized green spaces or to improve upon and/or expand existing gardens.  This could be patches of land connected with schools, houses of worship, community centers, etc. Organizations can apply for up to $5,000 per garden.  An organization is eligible to apply for support of multiple gardens in one application.

• Inspirational Grants: We recognize that there are organizations throughout Chicago that are doing some amazing work in efforts to bring equity, justice and healing to communities that have been systematically neglected by unjust policies, laws, and practices.  We are offering grants of up to $10,000 to fund inspiring proposals, that are collaborative in nature, that are designed to foster healthy, vibrant and thriving communities.  Proposed projects should be able to be completed using the amount of funds that are being requested.  Projects have a greater chance of success if they showcase multiple community partners working together to accomplish a common goal. We are looking proposals that reflect out of the box thinking and that are unique and inspirational.

Region:  Priority will be given to organizations that are based within the boundaries of the City of Chicago.  We will also consider applications from organizations just outside the city boundaries but that serve communities within the City or that serve communities adversely impacted by unjust and inequitable economic policies.

Organizational Budget: Grassroots Organizations: If the mission of your organization aligns with our funding priorities, and your organizational budget is less than $500,000, and the leadership and/or a sizable number of members of the Board and staff are members of your targeted community you are eligible to apply for a general operating grant.  If you successfully receive a general operating grant for 2 consecutive years, you will then be eligible to apply for a multi-year grant of 3 years.

Larger Organizations: Organizations with an operating budget of $500,000 or more are eligible to apply for project-based funding.  If you are funded by the Foundation for 3 consecutive years and your mission areas continue to align with our priorities, you may be considered for multi-year general operational support. Project-based multi-year requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but generally, this grant program provides one year of funding.

While we do not set limitations on our grant requests, the average size of a Land, Health, Community-Chicago grant award is $20,000. 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.