Apply for a Grant

A Springboard grant is often part of a multi-year, long-term relationship intended to help the grantee enhance its organizational stability and expand the reach of its.  We solicit proposals from outstanding, small, community-based programs working in under-resourced neighborhoods and our members visit each prospective grant recipient prior to making annual funding decisions.  Members individually monitor the impact of each grant and work on an ongoing basis to gauge further funding requirements.  We have made grants primarily to organizations that provide afterschool programs to Chicago's youth. Our grants have been used to expand program capacity, staffing, transportation, and for general operations. Grants range in size from $5,000 to $20,000 and are largely dependent on the number of years a program has been a Springboard grantee.

Organizations that are interested in submitting a proposal for funding consideration should fill out the Prospective Springboard Grantee survey. (If this link is broken, please contact sejal@springboardfoundation.org)

The most successful partners meet each of the requirements listed below.

  • To be eligible for a Springboard grant, first-time applicants must:
    • Be a Chicago-based and/or serving 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
    • Be in operation for five years or less
    • Have an organizational budget of less than $100,000
    • Provide afterschool programs operating sometime Monday through Friday between the hours of 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm during the CPS calendar year (roughly September to June).

 

  • We are unable to support requests for:
    • Scholarships
    • Individuals
    • Weekend/summer-only programs
    • Chicago chapters of larger, national nonprofits
    • Reducing operating deficits or liquidating an existing debt
    • The sole purpose of writing, publishing, producing or distributing audio, visual or printed material
    • The sole purpose of conducting conferences, multi-week camps in summer, festivals, exhibitions or meetings
    • Religious proselytizing, programs that have prayers before, during, or after, and programs that do not accept youth of other faiths

Nondiscrimination Policy: It is the policy of Springboard Foundation Fund to support organizations, projects and programs that do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other legally protected characteristics. The foundation does not knowingly award grants to organizations that discriminate in their hiring, those they accept as volunteers or the clients they serve. 

 

Grant Calendar

  • Grant application available in early December
  • New and current grantee cohort grant applications due in February
  • Current cohort site visits late February through April
  • New grantee site visits from April through June
  • Grant decision letters in July
  • Grant awards distributed in September

Note: The next cycle opens in Fall 2024 through February 2025. We encourage email inquiries via the Prospective Grantee Survey all year long. The inquiries help us determine the next steps in the funding process. 

 

Management Suite Grants

Springboard Management Suite grants are only for current Springboard grantees. Springboard provides funding for capacity building through Springboard's Management Suite of Services. Springboard will fund 70% of up to $3,500 worth of these services for your organization. Grantees are required to pay the remaining 30%.  Examples of capacity building projects are: professional development for key leaders, strategic planning, board development and core function improvements (accounting, fundraising etc.).

Celebrating 20 Years!

Springboard Foundation 20th Anniversary

 

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Breakthrough

Bill Curry received his first Springboard grant for Breakthrough 10 years ago. He had an idea and Springboard believed in him. Here is what Bill had to say about how "the Springboard effect" made an impact: "When our program became a grantee of Springboard, I came with a BIG heart for our kids and our work, but during those 5 years I took several steps towards becoming an organizational leader. A couple years after "graduating" from Springboard, I went back to school to study management at North Park University. I credit Springboard with creating that desire in me. I still have my BIG heart, and I also have a growing strategic mind, and passion for learning from others who care about the work as well." Bill's operational strategies and his knack for reaching out to people, combined with his passion for afterschool programs and his neighborhood, has led to big things. Ten years after receiving their first Springboard grant, Breakthrough Urban Ministries has begun construction on a $16 million, 42,000 square foot facility in the Garfield Park neighborhood. They have received 93% of the funding so far.

Springboard Success Story

Springboard Award Winner Spotlight

Territory NFP

Territory is an afterschool and summer design team program, putting young people to work in their own communities, using urban design to build community identity and re-imagine public spaces across Chicago. Team members learn design skills through activities, and each team completes an urban design, public art or placemaking project working in partnership with their host community, and each project is unique, reflecting the expertise of our team members and the needs of the community.