Crossroads Fund: Seed Fund Grant

The Crossroads Fund: Seed Fund Grant supports organizations and groups in the Chicago Metropolitan area that promote social change. It focuses on collaborative, risk-taking, and strategic efforts that yield concrete community benefits. With a maximum grant of $15,000, it is open to 501(c)(3) organizations and those with fiscal sponsorship or bank accounts, prioritizing those with annual expenses under $500,000. This fund fosters diverse forms of activism, ensuring financial support for established and emerging community-based groups.

Crossroad Fund Grants
Crossroads Fund supports organizations and groups promoting social change in the greater Chicago Metropolitan area (including Northwest Indiana).
We prioritize groups who are:

• Collaborative or working in solidarity with other progressive groups
• Risk-taking by doing work that is controversial, new or emerging
• Strategic and working with a long-term vision, clear goals, and activities
• Achieving concrete success that has positively impacted the community
• Multiple funding sources throughout the community, such as foundations, businesses, individuals, special events, and income generating projects

Most of our funding programs are for organizations with budgets under $500,000. If your organization’s planned budget for the current fiscal year is $510,000, but your last fiscal year’s actual expenses were $485,500, you would fit.  Crossroads Fund supports non-profit organizations, including those that do not have 501(c)3 status. Fiscal sponsorship for those organizations without tax-exempt status is recommended but not required. An organizational bank account is required for those groups not using a fiscal sponsor. Crossroads Fund also considers funding for 501(c)(4) organizations on a limited basis.
Types of Work Supported for ALL grants
Crossroads supports many different forms of social change organizing, such as (but not limited to):
Direct Action Organizing;Public Policy Advocacy;Art & Cultural work that is community-based and linked to activism;Economic Development;International Solidarity;Action Research as an organizing strategy to identify, document and analyze information, in partnership with a community groupMedia Advocacy that promotes greater public understanding of critical issues and increasing organizing outreach efforts;Social Services linked with Activism;Leadership Development and Training;Providing Resources for Local Activists;Working Collaboratively Across Issues and Communities;Gatherings and Conferences.
The Seed Fund is our largest grantmaking fund. It supports long-time, well-established organizations as well as new, emerging, and/or small community-based organizations that are actively engaged in social change work. Funding is provided for general operating, start-up costs, or project expenses. The maximum grant in this program is $15,000.

Eligibility

Open to registered 501c3 and fiscally-sponsored organizations, or groups with organizational bank accounts
Organizations with previous year annual expenses under $500,000
Meet Crossroads Fund’s Funding CriteriaAll applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered for funding:Working for Social Change: Crossroads Fund supports organizations working to examine and challenge the underlying causes of injustice affecting their communities. They seek to change the conditions, institutions, and policies that create and maintain inequality and oppression.Cross-Issue Organizing: Our grantees work with an understanding of the connectedness among the various people and issues that make up the whole community.Grassroots Leadership: We support groups that involve the people who are directly affected by an issue at all levels of the organization - in planning, organizing and leading, and working to continue building leadership within the grassroots community.Solid Plan: We fund groups whose work is driven by the following:a clear purpose with well-planned goals, objectives, activities and a tool to measure outcomes and impact;a timeline and budget that reflects the proposed objectives and activities;a realistic fundraising plan.Work in the Chicago Metropolitan Area: Crossroads Fund supports organizations rooted in communities in the Chicago metropolitan area. Counties include: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will, along with Lake County, Indiana.Budget: Groups with previous year annual expenses under $500,000.Crossroads Fund supports non-profit organizations, including those that do not have 501(c)3 status. Fiscal sponsorship for those organizations without tax-exempt status is recommended but not required. If a fiscal sponsor is not used, an organizational bank account is required.

Ineligibility

Crossroads Fund does not fund:Organizations involved in electoral campaigns
Contribute substantially to support lobbying at the federal, state, or local levels
Support private or individual interests, in contrast to public interests
Direct service work/social services (Food, Clothing, Shelter, Self-Help/Empowerment Programs, School Supplies, etc.)

501(c)(3) or fiscally sponsored organizations in the Chicago metropolitan area (including Northwest Indiana) with previous-year annual expenses under $500,000.