Funding Resources for Creatives
Arts/Creative:
Arts Midwest - supports creative projects and educational events in the Midwest.
Elizabeth C Quinlan Foundation - supports educational institutions and their activities, social service organizations and their programs, religious organizations and arts and humanities organizations and their programs.
Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation - Supports programs that share and celebrate the artistic accomplishments of the Jewish people, preserve memories of Jewish heritage, and enhance the field of Jewish performing arts.
MacArthur Foundation - supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
Mcknight Foundation - supports organizations, programs, and projects that provide support structures for working artists and culture bearers to develop and share their work, and to lead in movements and communities.
Mellon Foundation - makes grants to support communities through the power of the arts and humanities.
Paul M Angell Family Foundation - supports the presentation, perpetuation, and propagation of performing arts events, focusing on classical music and theater. Grantee organizations include professional performers, presenters, (including broadcasters) and educators. Currently considering grants to the Chicago area, Cleveland, Detroit, and the Mid-Atlantic Region (from Washington, D.C. north to Philadelphia, PA).
Reva and David Logan Foundation - an organization’s work must fall within one of our 3 issues areas (Arts, Social Justice, and Journalism) and meet our Funding Guidelines. The Reva and David Logan Foundation (RDLF) only funds 501(c)3 organizations, fiscally-sponsored individuals or organizations, or international applicants with a U.S. based fiscal sponsor or Equivalency Determination Certificate.
The Field Foundation of Illinois - designed specifically for small and mid-sized arts and culture organizations with annual operating budgets up to $1 million and with a strong commitment to equity that are reflective and inclusive of Chicago’s diverse and historically underserved communities.
The Kresge Foundation - awards grants in the following areas: American Cities, Arts & Culture, Detroit, Education, Environment, Health, Human Services and Social Investment Practice. Most often, we proactively invite or solicit applications from individual organizations.
Thoma Foundation - provides a variety of grants related to our art collections for individuals and nonprofits. Through these programs, we seek to heighten public interest and awareness, fuel innovative scholarship, and promote dynamic partnerships in the fields of art and art history.
Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) - grants for projects and professional development needs for local artists.
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation - supports small, professional arts organizations of all disciplines. Provides general operations grants and an array of other kinds of support to help arts partners sustain their artistry and strengthen their operations.
3 Arts - works to sustain and promote artists in the six-county Chicago metropolitan area, with focus on women artists, artists of color, and Deaf and disabled artists stems from the need for a diversity of voices and visions to be supported if our city is to prosper and inspire.
Creative Capital - awards groundbreaking projects focused on Technology, Performing Arts, and Literature, as well as Multidisciplinary and Socially Engaged forms.
Walder Foundation - champions Chicago and invests in science innovation, environmental sustainability, the performing arts, migration and immigrant communities, and Jewish life to uplift local communities and elevate our region's contributions to the world.
John Walt Foundation - empowers and enables Chicago youth across multiple artistic platforms, partners professional artists with youth to help mentor as well as build their artistic futures.
Business/Entrepreneurship:
Illinois Arts Council - fellowships, project, and professional development grants in all disciplines (state budget dependent)
Burton D. Morgan Foundation - provides grant funding to organizations that promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, primarily in Northeast Ohio.
Coleman Foundation - The Coleman Foundation awards grants the in the following areas: Entrepreneurship, Health and Rehabilitation Services, including Cancer Care, and Intellectual and Developmental Disability Service Organizations. The Foundation’s primary geographic focus is the Chicago Metropolitan area; international programs will not be considered.
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation - supports outsized impact through entrepreneurs and enterprises that create a transformational paradigm shift to meaningfully address a pressing societal problem affecting people’s lives.
Driehaus Foundation - Applicants must be nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service or formal, organized groups with a fiscal sponsor.
Fidelity Foundation - wards grants only under the direction of its Trustees on the basis of our guidelines, project merits and availability of funds.
Polk Bros Foundation - supports organizations with 501(c)3 status or a fiscal sponsor, that serve in Chicago
Truist Foundation - invests in innovative nonprofits that align with key areas of focus: building career pathways to economic mobility and strengthening small businesses.
Economic Mobility:
National Endowment for the Arts - provides expansive funding opportunities for communities across the nation in a wide variety of artistic disciplines.
SDGs and Social Impact Investing for Community Foundations - awards nonprofit agencies with evidence of tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that are not classified as private foundations or have a nonprofit fiscal sponsor. Organizations must benefit residents of the Chicago region.
The Joyce Foundation - With a primary focus on Chicago, the Culture program supports the development, growth, and visibility of artists of color and arts organizations of color to advance racial equity and inspire creativity.
Nonprofits:
Independence Foundation - provides unrestricted funding to nonprofits to best help them achieve their missions.