General criteria - all grant types

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation has some general criteria for all of our competitive grant rounds:

  • Applicants must represent a 501 (c)(3) organization, an organization with a fiscal sponsor that is a 501 (c)(3) organization, a unit of municipal, county, state, or federal government (including public schools), a nonprofit institute of higher learning, or a tax-exempt religious organization or place of worship (programs may not proselytize for a particular religion or cause).
  • Programs must be available to residents of McLean, DeWitt, Livingston, or Logan counties; however, programs do not have to serve all four counties.
  • Programs must be operated and organized in such a manner that no applicable anti-discrimination laws are violated.
  • Organizations that have received past grants from Illinois Prairie Community Foundation must be current on all final reports.
  • The Executive Director, CEO, or Board President of an organization must approve the application.
  • We do not fund nonprogram-related expenses, endowment campaigns, annual fundraising events and expenses, capital improvements or expenditures, conference or continuing education expenses, or scholarships to schools or colleges/universities.
  • We give greatest consideration to programs that have the potential to be on-going and self-sufficient beyond the time of funding, offer solutions to address the program goal by building on proven practical methods, facilitate cooperation and collaboration among organizations, and offer clear methods of measuring and reporting results with emphasis on objective, quantifiable measurements.