Woods Fund of Chicago Grant: Returning Applicants

Woods Fund of Chicago Grant: Returning Applicants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Woods Fund of Chicago
Last Updated: March 13, 2026

Summary

The Woods Fund of Chicago Grant is aimed at supporting returning applicants who are committed to combating structural racism and economic injustice. Applications will be accepted from April 1 to April 30, 2025. This grant emphasizes community organizing and public policy advocacy, prioritizing majority BIPOC-led organizations that engage marginalized communities. The funder seeks to empower grantees through multiyear operating support, fostering sustainable solutions to systemic challenges faced by affected communities.

Overview

NOTE: The deadline for returning grantee partners is 11:59 PM on Thursday, April 30. Woods Fund Chicago Woods Fund Chicago is a bold grantmaker that partners with communities to fight the brutality of structural racism and economic injustice. It promotes social, economic, and racial justice through the support of community organizing, coalition building, and public policy advocacy from grantee partners activating the people that are most impacted. We Believe Structural racism is a root cause of many challenges facing communities and is a significant barrier to eradicating poverty. Dismantling structural racism in society is a means to correct social and economic injustices. Community organizing and public policy advocacy efforts lead to comprehensive, authentic, relevant, and sustainable solutions. Systemic change is the only way to eradicate poverty and structural racism and the people most affected by poverty and racial inequity should be the leaders and participants in addressing issues that impact them. Communities have greater strength, authority, and power through collaborative practice and collective voice. Fighting For Racial Justice Woods Fund Chicago is committed to being an active partner and catalyst with organizations that share our mission and values. Grants Woods Fund Chicago grantee partners: are community organizerssupport grassroots movementstake collective actionuse an intersectional racial justice frameworkchallenge traditional power structurescollaborate with communities and movements to create sustainable, systemic change How does Woods Fund Chicago define Community Organizing? Community Organizing is the process by which people impacted by injustice take collective action, guided by an intersectional racial justice analysis, to build power to win meaningful change in their lives and communities, challenge the power structure, and achieve systemic change. Organizing often involves winning changes in practice, policy, and resource distribution of public or private institutions. It is fundamentally about justice, grassroots democracy, and self-determination. What we are looking for Majority BIPOC-led organizations that work within and collaborate with communities of color and systemically marginalized populations, including people of marginalized genders and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, communities under economic and environmental duress, people with disabilities, and all communities impacted by structural racism and economic injustice. Strategy for systems change that articulates a critique of institutions of power, addresses changes in policies, practices, structures, and/or systems, and builds strategic partnerships with other organizations (including coalitions) to challenge power and invoke change. Community Organizing that involves impacted communities in the decision-making process, providing opportunities and resources to further develop the leadership of those impacted by the issue that the organization is working towards dismantling. Small and grassroots organizations, where grassroots organizations are defined as any organization with a budget less than $1M and small organizations as an organization with a budget between $1-3M.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. In order to be eligible for a Woods Fund Chicago grant, your organization or coalition must:Be based in the Chicago metropolitan area (city proper with some consideration of other cities in Cook County).Be a registered 501(c)(3) organization or fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) organization.Build power through community organizing and/or public policy advocacy.Utilize a framework of racial equity and/or justice within organizing efforts.

Ineligibility

Currently, we do not fundOrganizations outside of the Chicago metropolitan area (Chicago city proper and its surrounding suburbs)Business or economic development projectsCapital campaigns, capital projects, capital acquisitions, housing construction/rehabilitationEndowmentsHealth care institutions, including, but not limited to, hospitals and clinicsOrganizations that only provide direct servicesMedical and scientific researchK-12 and post-secondary education scholarships  Religious programsLeadership development or fellowship programs