CHICAGO RACIAL JUSTICE POOLED FUND

Leveraging this moment to improve Chicago by supporting organizations addressing structural racism in all its forms.

Photo by Equity And Transformation (EAT)

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Our present social, economic and political moment is a direct result of the generational disinvestment in BIPOC communities. Acknowledging this, the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund (“the Fund”) is a commitment from thirteen foundations, including Woods Fund Chicago, to raise and move $10M to Chicago organizations building and sustaining movements for justice that center Black lives and address anti-Blackness. While $10M is not an equitable amount to address the violence that racial injustice has ravaged, this is the first step of many needed towards a more just Chicago.

The Fund will provide grants to Black-led community organizing groups as well as allied community organizing groups addressing anti-Blackness. In this context, community organizing means bringing people together who individually may lack power but collectively can build and wield power to advance racial justice. 

  • The Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund is under the overall direction of Crossroads Fund.

  • Neighborhood Organizing Group members serve as a Steering Committee, providing guidance and recommendations to Crossroads Fund for fundraising, decision making, and the development of any necessary policies for the pooled Fund. Six members of the Steering Committee volunteer to serve as the Fund’s Allocations Committee.

  • Woods Fund Chicago President Michelle Morales currently co-chairs the Steering Committee.

The application for the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled fund is now closed. The Fund reviews applications on a rolling basis as funds are available. Requests are to be for general operating support and grants will range between $25,000 – $50,000.

Organizations that meet the following criteria are eligible:

  • Are a community organizing organization.

  • Are Black-led or allied organizations working on anti-Blackness.

  • Are located in Cook County, Illinois.

  • Have an annual organizational budget less than $750,000.

  • Are designated 501c3 by the IRS or have a Fiscal Sponsor; the Fund will also consider organizations without 501c3 designation that have an organizational bank account.

How to Apply

Prospective applicants can apply through Crossroads Fund’s grant portal

Questions? Email Katie Madden, katie@crossroadsfund.org

For more information, download a full explanation of the fund here.

The philanthropic industry as it exists currently, with $1 trillion in assets, came about through a history of inequality.

There have been accumulated advantages and benefits for people with wealth, and specifically for white people in the U.S., to be in the position of being able to generate and build wealth in the first place. So folks who had those generational resources passed it down, and those with accumulated benefits have been in the best positions to start foundations and to actually be able to be charitable in a very traditional sense. We have to bring that history into context as we’re thinking about the gifts — who’s receiving money, who makes decisions about money, and who benefits from this entire industry.

– Edward Villanueva in an interview with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, published August 18, 2021