LFF: Austin Fresh Grants

LFF: Austin Fresh Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Lumpkin Family Foundation
Last Updated: August 08, 2025

Summary

The Lumpkin Family Foundation's Austin Fresh Grants program, initiated in 2020, focuses on enhancing access to healthy, affordable food in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. This collaborative effort supports community gardens, local food production, and food assistance programs, aiming to promote equity and sustainability. With a commitment of at least $1 million annually for five years, the program empowers local solutions and addresses food access barriers, fostering community-driven initiatives for a healthier future.

Overview

Who we are: The Lumpkin Family Foundation is a private, family foundation created in 1953 from the estate of Besse A. Lumpkin of Mattoon, Illinois. We are a multi-generational, family-governed organization whose programs reflect the collective aspirations of a diverse family living in communities across the country. We make grants and conduct programs that support people working together to build healthy, sustainable communities in East Central Illinois and beyond. Where we work: We are devoted to the region of East Central Illinois, where the Lumpkin family operated a business for more than 100 years. However, we look at the world holistically, through a systems lens, and direct resources elsewhere when it aligns with our goals. How we work: We understand the Foundation's role as existing along a continuum - from responsive grant-making to the execution of our own programs that aim to spur innovation, foster leadership and encourage new approaches to old problems. We appreciate the special needs of the mostly small and rural communities where we work, and we do our best to leverage additional resources and enhance local philanthropy. We strive to be a learning organization. We believe in action, evaluation and continuous improvement. Much of our grant-making supports collaboration and networks to support learning, develop understanding of issues, and encourage work across organizations and sectors. Austin Fresh This grant program is administered by Fresh Taste, fiscally sponsored by Forefront. Please refer to their website for additional information and to apply. Austin Fresh is a collaborative grantmaking program, started in 2020, to increase access to healthy affordable food, support community gardens and local food production, grow food enterprises, and protect and strengthen food assistance programs in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. The vision is an equitable Chicagoland region where all people have knowledge of and access to healthy food. The program uses a place-based model focusing on listening to community needs and supporting community-owned solutions to make healthy food affordable and plentiful. To address issues of equity and racial justice, Austin Fresh recognizes the need to place Austin on a more just and equitable footing with regard to food access with a minimum of $1M for each of five years (2021-2025) to support the neighborhood.

Eligibility

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website.

Application Details

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 — Revised Guidelines & FAQs
Opportunity
Austin has a rich history and strong community cohesion, but generations of Austin residents have
struggled with low access to what others might consider basic resources. Austin envisions a better
future. The community-driven Quality of Life Plan, titled Austin Forward. Together. states emphatically
that Austin can become known as a vibrant, healthy community—from good food to open space.
We agree. In line with the Austin Forward Together’s Strategy 3 in the Community Narrative Issue Area,
this call for ideas seeks to create environments that foster health and wellness in the community by
promoting healthier food choices across Austin, and developing green shared spaces, further increasing
the community’s access to nature. The goals of Austin Fresh include helping foster creative alternatives,
transforming the Austin community from a food desert into a food oasis, and enabling residents to lead
happier, healthier lives.
Background
Builders Initiative, The Christopher Family Foundation, Food:Land:Opportunity, The Lumpkin Family
Foundation and the Walter Mander Foundation want all Chicago communities to thrive. We are united
in the belief that access to healthy, affordable food is a human right and critical to community health.
We envision an equitable Chicago region in which all people have knowledge of and access to healthy
food.
In 2020, we created Austin Fresh, a minimum one-million-dollar annual fund with an initial five-year aim
to work collaboratively with partners to expand healthy retail options, support community gardens and
local food production, grow food enterprises, and protect and strengthen food assistance programs in
the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. During the first five years, Austin Fresh supported
nineteen organizations with grants totaling $6.6 million.
Last year we embarked on an evaluation process to help us understand the early impact of Austin Fresh.
As funders, we wanted to understand better how we could improve and best serve Austin. We extend
our thanks to the Austin Fresh grantees and community partners, including Austin Coming Together,
who participated in the evaluation—your feedback helps us iterate and improve.
Based on the evaluation, we are pleased to announce that Austin Fresh will continue for another five
years, with a minimum one-million dollar commitment for each year (2025-2029). As we move forward,
we’ll be rolling out changes in line with the recommendations in the evaluation report. For the 2025
funding, organizations who are invited to submit a full application will be asked to develop plans for a
few shared metrics that will help us understand and tell others about the impact of our collective food
system work in Austin.
You can read the evaluation report and learn about the 2020-2024 grantees here.

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
Goals & Outcomes
We believe in place-based models of funding. We strived to listen and learn from the community in the
creation of Austin Fresh, including aligning grant making goals with Austin’s quality-of-life plan Austin
Forward. Together (AFT). Community representatives from AFT’s food justice initiative, Austin Eats, will
continue to inform the grant-making process. The foundation partners will seek additional ways to learn
from and with the people of Austin to ensure that the challenges of providing affordable, plentiful, and
healthy food are community-owned and supported. Our work in Austin has led us to the wells of talent
in the community and a deep appreciation for all of Austin. We hope our investments can lend support
to local leaders in ways that tip the scales toward justice, healing, and equitable access for all.
Austin Fresh seeks to encourage fulfillment of the goals of Austin’s Quality of Life Plan Community
Narrative Strategy 3.2 by supporting organizations working to do the following in Austin:
● Build the Austin economy through food-related businesses including grocery and culinary
enterprises
● Innovate emergency food efforts and nutrition assistance programs that expand healthy
food options
● Expand access and quality of green spaces and food production
● Develop and promote culturally relevant food justice education
● Promote information on existing food resources and activities to Austin residents
Examples of Eligible Ideas
We are issuing this call for ideas to elicit projects and encourage collaboration among organizations and
people who know the Austin landscape and understand the requirements for success. Examples of the
types of ideas we would welcome include (but are in no way limited to):
● Planning grants to support the early development of large-scale and long-term project ideas
that need more time and resources prior to implementation (see the FAQs below for more
info);
● Commercial ventures, including brick & mortar stores, designed to increase access to
healthy or local food while building the economy of the Austin community (provided a non-
profit organization/partner is the applicant);
● Promoting the importance of purchasing food within Austin and increasing awareness of
where to buy healthy food whether that be grocery, restaurant, farmers market etc.;
● Community food gardens which increase access to healthy, affordable food, or activating
and connecting Austin’s network of food growers;
● System improvement: planning for longer-term strategies around food access in order to
create improved systems and build out underdeveloped ideas and strategies;
● Community kitchens and other processing enterprises that add value to food and empower
entrepreneurs to build businesses and create jobs;
● Food co-operatives;

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
● Food as medicine and food education approaches to health which focus on diet and
nutrition;
● Nutrition education, cooking classes, or community cooking efforts focused on the
preparation of fresh and healthy meals, in which the work of creating prepared meals is
shared to make it easier for families to eat well;
● Expanding or coordinating emergency food efforts;
● Neighborhood or school habitat projects that support food production (e.g. pollinator
gardens) or which give residents greater access to nature or green spaces, even if they
aren’t directly related to food production (e.g. tree planting).
Idea Evaluation
Ideas submitted to Austin Fresh will be considered and evaluated based on the following criteria:
● Understanding of and connection to the community, its needs, and possible partners
● Idea design and strength
● Organizational capacity
● Innovation and creativity
● Alignment with the Austin Forward. Together. Quality of Life Plan’s priorities
Requirements
All applicants must be:
● A 501(c)(3) non-profit or operating with a fiscal sponsor. See below for more info about
fiscal sponsors.
● Deeply embedded in Austin, and preferably located in Austin, or be an active member of
Austin Eats. See below to read more about what it means to be embedded.
● Anchor applicants of collaborative work must be led by members of the Austin community
● Organizations that are actively and always trying to learn from their work, and improve their
approaches, even if that involves risk.
● Organizations that are open to shared learning and working collaboratively.
How to Submit
Initial ideas can be submitted through a short form at the online application system, hosted by
Forefront, the fiscal sponsor of Fresh Taste who manages Austin Fresh. See the Online Application FAQs
below for more information. Contact us at austinfresh@freshtaste.org for assistance with the online
system.

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
Key Dates
The 2025 Call for Ideas will open August 4, 2025. Info Sessions—like last year, we’ll offer two info
sessions, hosted by our community partner Austin Coming Together.
● August 5, 4:00 p.m.—Online Info session as part of the monthly Austin Eats meeting.
● August 13, 5:30 p.m.—In-person info session to workshop ideas. Held at the ACT office, 5049 W.
Harrison St.
To attend either information session, please register here. For questions, contact Grace Cooper
gcooper@austincomingtogether.org.
Idea submissions are due September 2, 2025. 11:59 p.m. You will hear from us on or before September
26, 2025. For those invited to submit a full proposal, the deadline is October 27, 2025, Grant decisions
will be made by a committee of foundation representatives and community members. Grantees will be
notified by December 2, 2025.
Important Information
Previous Grantees
You may apply even if you have previously received funding from Austin Fresh, North Lawndale Fresh, or
any of the Austin Fresh funding partners. Organizations that have received prior funding from Austin
Fresh will be asked to provide an update on their current Austin Fresh project during the application
process.
Grant Request Amounts and Terms
The annual pool of funding for all projects funded by Austin Fresh is a minimum of one million dollars.
You may submit an idea of any size; ideas for multi-year projects; ideas for general support; and/or
separate ideas for more than one project.
501(c)(3) Partner Options
Austin Fresh can only fund 501(c)(3) organizations. However, organizations without a 501(c)(3) status
may engage in projects in several ways:
● Community organizations or emerging projects that are deeply embedded in Austin and do not
have nonprofit status (like block clubs) may partner with established non-profits that can
support the work as a program expense through a fiscal sponsorship relationship OR may work
with a traditional fiscal sponsor organization (fiscal sponsor entities need not be Austin-based)
● Collaborations that include organizations without 501(c)(3) status can be led by an anchor
applicant that is already established as a 501(c)(3) and led by members working in Austin
● Food system businesses may execute project work through a vendor contract from a 501(c)(3)
organization. The 501(c)(3) must be the applicant to Austin Fresh. The business and the
501(c)(3) must be deeply embedded in Austin.
If you’re uncertain whether you qualify or about fiscal sponsors, email us at austinfresh@freshtaste.org.

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
FAQs
What does it mean for an organization to be “deeply embedded in Austin?”
Applicants whose work, leadership, and/or relationships reflect their commitment to enhancing Austin
residents’ quality of life are considered deeply embedded in Austin. Rather than providing a narrow
definition, we’d like to let organizations define their ties to the Austin community. A hypothetical
example of an organization we would consider to be deeply embedded in Austin can be a nonprofit
organization incorporated in Garfield Park that has deep and long-standing relationships in Austin
teaching youth urban agriculture and entrepreneurship skills through running a farm stand, selling their
grown herbs, flowers, and vegetables to Austin residents at accessible prices.
What constitutes a project eligible for a planning grant?
We highly encourage organizations to submit ideas for planning grants if they are in the early stages of
projects that require initial research, feasibility studies, convening a steering committee, large capital
investments in the long-term, and/or entail large infrastructural developments, for which Austin Fresh
funds would help organizations break ground on the build-out of that project. An example of an
application that would be considered for a planning grant could be a request for funds to acquire site
control over a building or begin construction of a building that your organization dreams of one day
turning into a food co-op.
About the Foundations
The Builders Initiative works to realize a humane and healthy planet, while changing markets and minds
for good. We champion communities, people, and ideas on the frontiers of change. At TBI we see our
role as taking risks, laying the groundwork, and establishing the baseline for change and scale to come.
The Christopher Family Foundation’s mission is to support family well-being. Most Foundation funding
is focused on the Chicagoland area, with special consideration for the needs of the West Side of Chicago
and the Austin neighborhood. CFF primarily provides funding in the areas of food security, education,
employment, and entrepreneurship.
Food:Land:Opportunity aims to create a resilient local food economy that protects and conserves land
and other natural resources while promoting market innovation and building wealth and assets in the
Chicago region’s communities. Food:Land:Opportunity is a collaborative initiative between Kinship
Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust and is funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago
Community Trust.
The Lumpkin Family Foundation supports people working together to create healthy, sustainable
communities in east central Illinois and across the US. Our interest in Austin arises from family members
who live in and care deeply about the health and vitality of Chicago.
The Walter Mander Foundation is a medium sized, family foundation which supports Chicago-area
organizations working in the areas of community gardening, urban agriculture and community economic
development, particularly organizations seeking to strengthen local food and agriculture businesses.

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
Community Partners
Austin Coming Together (ACT) is dedicated to providing backbone support for a 50+ network of non-
profit, faith-based, public, and private entities with the shared mission of increasing collective impact to
improve the quality of life in the Austin community of Chicago. ACT facilitates Austin Eats, a coalition
working to strengthen the healthy food ecosystem in the community by synergizing groups working on
food justice. Austin Eats has built a structure that maximizes collective impact and believes it is vital to
support partners’ efforts through careful coordination. Austin Eats considers the entire food continuum,
from community gardens, food pantries, and grocery stores, to food cooperatives, culinary
entrepreneurs, and restaurants.
Questions?
General questions or help with the online application system:
Logan Henderson, Fresh Taste, austinfresh@freshtaste.org
Specific questions about projects may be directed to any of the partner foundation representatives:
Lenore Beyer, Director of Conservation Initiatives, Kinship Foundation,
Lenore.beyer@kinshipfoundation.org
Molly Truglia, Program Partner, The Christopher Family Foundation molly@christopherff.org
Monique Schlichtman, Senior Program Officer, The Lumpkin Family Foundation,
monique@lumpkinfoundation.org
Haven Leeming, Senior Program Officer, The Builders Initiative, hleeming@buildersvision.com
Chuck Wolf, President, Walter Mander Foundation, cbw921@gmail.com or Cassandra West:
waltermanderfoundation@gmail.com

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM FAQs
How do I use the online application system?
● If you are a previous applicant or grantee of Austin Fresh (or North Lawndale Fresh, IFMF or
CRFSF) —log in to the online application system using your existing account and password.
● If this is your first time applying for a grant from Austin Fresh (or North Lawndale Fresh, IFMF or
CRFSF), go to the online application system, create a new account, and set up your password.
The confirmation email to finish setting up your account will be sent to you from “Forefront
administrator@grantinterface.com.” Be sure to check your junk and spam folders.
o We’re an organization applying for funding through a fiscal sponsor. How do we
register and apply?
You will register as your organization and include the fiscal sponsor name in
parentheses. For example: Fresh Taste (Forefront). The registration form includes fields
for providing your fiscal sponsor information.
● TIP: Centralized user accounts: Some organizations prefer to set up a centralized user email in
the online system (like grants@XYZ.org) so that multiple staff members can access all the
applications and reports using the same account information.
● To invite someone to work on the application with you: use the “Collaborate” button on the
top right of your application page and follow the instructions.
● If you don’t know your password, please select the reset password link on the login screen.
Your user name is the email you used to create your account. If you don’t know which email you
used, contact austinfresh@freshtaste.org .
Can I log out of the online application system and return to my grant request at a later time? Does the
online system automatically save my work as I go?
The system autosaves each time you click into a new question, but if you are not ready to submit your
application it is advisable to save your work before logging out to ensure no information is lost. Select
the “Save” button in the bottom right-hand corner. (Some applicants find that it’s easier to type out
answers in a separate Word document and then copy/paste into the online system before submitting.)
You can save your draft request in the bottom right corner of the application. Once saved, you can
return at any time to complete your request by looking for your draft in the “Action Needed” section.
Look for the “Application” button below the fund name. Do not begin a separate application every time
you log in. When a funding round closes, all applications still in “draft” status will be marked as
‘abandoned.”

Austin
Fresh
Call for Ideas 2025 Guidelines & FAQs
I added the wrong document to my grant request or report. How do I remove it and add the correct
one?
If you’re still in draft form, you can remove the attachment and reattach different documents. If you
notice an error after you have submitted your application, please email austinfresh@freshtaste.org to
let us know, and we’ll work with you on the correction.
I accidentally started multiple drafts of a grant request. How do I remove the ones I don’t need?
To edit drafts you have already started, click “Application” under the draft on your dashboard rather
than returning to the Apply page and starting over. To avoid starting multiple requests in the future,
please check your active requests folder before beginning a new request and be sure to save your
request as you go. When a funding round closes, all applications still in “draft” status will be marked as
‘abandoned.”
How can I be sure I’ve submitted my application?
First, when you’re done editing, always “Save” your request using the button at the bottom. Saving
ensures you can return to your application and continue editing. When your application is complete, be
sure to click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. Once you submit, you’ll receive a
confirmation email from Forefront, administrator@grantinterface.com. You can also log into the online
application system, look to the “No Action” section. A submitted application will say “Submitted” next to
the “Application” button.
How do I save and download a copy of my application for my records?
While you are logged-in and viewing your application, select the “Application Packet” button to
download the application to your computer. Simply name the pdf to save it. This can be done with any
documents including grant agreements or other follow-up forms.