Community Partner Grants

The Community Foundation of Will County offers Community Partner Grants to enhance quality of life through strategic partnerships with not-for-profits. The grants focus on collaborative projects that address critical community needs, improve organizational capacity, and promote sustainable fundraising efforts. This initiative seeks to foster a culture of philanthropy across diverse groups within Will County, ensuring that resources are effectively utilized to benefit the community at large.

Grant making is at the heart of The Community Foundation of Will County’s work to enhance the quality of life in Will County. We award grants annually to not-for-profits for a broad array of charitable purposes in the area such as healthcare, human services, education and cultural arts.
Our Strategy
Building awareness regionally to advance a Culture of Philanthropy throughout Will County.Raising the “right kinds” of funds to both sustain ourselves and achieve our grant-making mission without being in competition with those we serve.Service, professional development, building partnerships and referrals with community stakeholders who are aligned with our mission.
Our Community Partner Grant Priorities
With our Community Partner Grants, we seek to be a responsive and proactive community partner with the not-for-profit sector. We do not provide general funding for daily operations, but may provide essential administrative costs to launch or conduct the project. Instead, our grants seek to address larger issues of importance in our community, especially those which:
reflect a strategic collaborative partnership – not-for-profits working together to address a wider need;address a critical need impacting a wide segment of the community;build the organizational capacity of a nonprofit to be more effective and efficient in how they do their work.
Our Priorities
Priority I: Communicating our mission to advance a Culture of Philanthropy throughout Will County
Rationale: Will County is comprised of multiple geographic regions with strong independent identities, infrastructure and sense of “community.” People also belong to a variety of groups that are relationally-based, and which are valued and cherished.
These groups have shown generosity in supporting the causes which benefit their “community.”
Priority II: Strategically target fundraising to build the non-profit sectors’ sustainability while supporting our mission
Rationale: Funding agencies that align with our mission and seek sustainability, at the conclusion of that grant, will result in an organization that is stronger in focus and finances in five years.
Priority III: Service to the community
Rationale: The multi-faceted work of a community foundation creates a variety of constituent groups and investors. With each group there are different ways of engaging them, which results in a unique set of needs for service within each group.