This grantmaking cycle is the first of its scale in Woods Fund Chicago history: 69 organizations in the 2024 cycle will receive multiyear, unrestricted general operating support in the form of $150,000 grants disbursed in three annual $50,000 installments — a total commitment of over $11.5 million through 2026. Woods Fund Chicago also welcomes seven new grantee partners this year: Alliance for Community Services, Chicago Jobs Council, Chicago Jobs with Justice, Eastlake Tenants Union, Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishment, Jane Addams Senior Caucus, and Working Family Solidarity.
Multiyear, unrestricted funding is one of the six key practices of Trust-Based Philanthropy, acknowledging that nonprofits face fundamental obstacles to long-term planning. The traditional philanthropic practice of short-term, program-based grants limits an organization’s sustainability of its mission. Woods Fund Chicago's transition to multiyear support embodies our commitment to placing trust in our grantee partners as experts in their work and priorities while providing the space to remain nimble (which is often necessary for organizing and advocacy). Additionally, a multiyear investment reaffirms our dedicated belief in our grantee partners' future. While we may not know all that 2024, 2025, or 2026 holds, we know our grantee partners will be there, responding to the needs of their communities.
This year’s core grantmaking cycle includes 25 organizations committed to community organizing, 8 organizations committed to public policy advocacy, and 52 organizations with an integrated community organizing/policy advocacy approach.
The 2024 cohort is not only the first to include multiyear grants, but also Woods Fund Chicago’s first since transitioning our Spring and Fall cycles into a single, annual cycle that provides our Program Officers more time and capacity to support grantee partners year-round.
In addition to our core grants, Woods Fund Chicago will award five coalitions through the Catalyst Fund and will support PATHS Chicago Collective through the Movement Building Fund. Additional support will be awarded to Capacity Building (the Capacity Building Initiative, facilitated in partnership with the Crossroads Fund, and the Cultivate- Women of Color Leadership Cohort), as well as three pooled funds: the Racial Justice Pooled Fund, the Illinois Immigrant Funders Collaborative, and the Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance.
Congratulations to our new and returning grantee partners! We look forward to the years to come as we witness your growth organizing, advocating, and coalition-building for racial and economic justice.
Learn more about our Grantee Partners here.
