Grace Bersted Foundation Grants

Grace Bersted Foundation Grants is sponsored by Grace Bersted Foundation. Supports education, health, and human services in DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties in Illinois.

Grace Bersted Foundation | Inside Philanthropy OVERVIEW : The Grace Bersted Foundation supports education, health and human services for underserved populations in DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. Special consideration goes to organizations serving children and people with disabilities.

IP TAKE : The Grace Bersted Foundation is a relatively approachable local funder for nonprofits working in Chicago’s northern and western suburbs. It has a public application process, and organizations do not need an invitation to apply. The best prospects are nonprofits with an office in DuPage, Kane, Lake or McHenry County that provide education, healthcare or human services to underserved communities.

Organizations serving children and people with disabilities receive special consideration. Grantseekers should pay particular attention to the foundation’s unique application restriction: An organization may apply to only one of five related Bank of America-administered foundations in a calendar year, so nonprofits should compare their fit with Grace Bersted, Alfred Bersted, Henrietta Lange Burk, Carl R.

Hendrickson and Colonel Stanley R. McNeil before applying. The annual deadline is June 1.

PROFILE: Established in 1986, the Grace Bersted Foundation is a private foundation administered by Bank of America Private Bank’s Philanthropic Solutions group . Bank of America’s Illinois office manages the foundation’s discretionary grantmaking and application process. Grace Bersted is separate from the Alfred Bersted Foundation, another Bank of America-administered Illinois funder with overlapping geographic and program interests.

Grants for Education, Health and Human Services The Grace Bersted Foundation supports “quality educational, human services and health care programming” for underserved populations. Special consideration is given to charitable organizations serving children and people with disabilities. Applicant organizations must have an office in DuPage, Kane, Lake or McHenry County .

Recent funding reflects a strong emphasis on direct services and basic needs.

Recent or current recipients include the Youth & Family Center , which received a $20,000 award; Rosalind Franklin University’s Community Care Connection , which received $10,000; A Safe Place , a domestic violence organization that lists Grace Bersted in its $10,000-to-$24,999 donor tier; and the Center for Enriched Living , which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and lists the foundation among donors giving at least $10,000 in fiscal 2025.

Other recent foundation supporters include HCS Family Services , a DuPage County nonprofit addressing hunger and basic needs. Taken together, recent recipients suggest particularly good prospects for organizations working in disability services, children and youth services, food security, family services, behavioral health, community health and related human-service fields.

This is an observed grantmaking pattern rather than a formal list of additional funding priorities. Grace Bersted held approximately $11. 9 million in net assets at the end of 2025 and reported $542,336 in charitable disbursements that year.

Charitable disbursements are not necessarily identical to grants paid, so that figure should not be presented as the foundation’s exact annual grant total without additional documentation. The Grace Bersted Foundation accepts applications from eligible nonprofits through Bank of America’s online grant system . The annual application deadline is June 1 , and applicants are generally notified of decisions by September 30 .

Applicants must use Bank of America’s online application system. Bank of America says Illinois foundations have moved to an online proposal process, with an “Apply now” link available from each foundation’s detail page. Applicant organizations must have an office located in DuPage, Kane, Lake or McHenry County .

Applicants generally must be IRS-classified 501(c)(3) public charities . Bank of America does not consider requests from individuals and does not support organizations attempting to influence policy through direct lobbying or political campaigns. The majority of Grace Bersted grants are one year in duration .

Organizations may submit only one application per calendar year to one of five foundations : the Alfred Bersted Foundation, Grace Bersted Foundation, Henrietta Lange Burk Fund, Carl R. Hendrickson Family Foundation or Colonel Stanley R. McNeil Foundation.

An organization that applies to one of these funders must wait until the following calendar year before approaching another in the group. Bank of America encourages nonprofits with questions about foundation fit or the application process to contact its regional philanthropic staff before submitting. Direct general questions to the staff at ilgrantmaking@ustrust.

com or 312-828-2055. Illinois Grantmaking Procedures Enable JavaScript to continue This site uses JavaScript to verify your account, display articles, and provide other features. Please enable JavaScript or allow scripts for Inside Philanthropy, then reload the page.

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