Springboard Foundation Grant

Springboard Foundation Grant is sponsored by Springboard Foundation. Supports grassroots nonprofit organizations in Chicago focusing on afterschool and supplemental education programs.

Apply for a Grant | Springboard Foundation A Springboard grant is often part of a multi-year, long-term relationship intended to help the grantee enhance its organizational stability and expand the reach of its. We solicit proposals from outstanding, small, community-based programs working in under-resourced neighborhoods and our members visit each prospective grant recipient prior to making annual funding decisions.

Members individually monitor the impact of each grant and work on an ongoing basis to gauge further funding requirements. We have made grants primarily to organizations that provide afterschool programs to Chicago's youth. Our grants have been used to expand program capacity, staffing, transportation, and for general operations.

Grants range in size from $5,000 to $20,000 and are largely dependent on the number of years a program has been a Springboard grantee. Organizations that are interested in submitting a proposal for funding consideration should fill out the Prospective Springboard Grantee survey . (If this link is broken, please contact sejal@springboardfoundation.

org ) The most successful partners meet each of the requirements listed below.

To be eligible for a Springboard grant, first-time applicants must: Be a Chicago-based and/or serving 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Be in operation for five years or less Have an organizational budget of less than $100,000 Provide afterschool programs operating sometime Monday through Friday between the hours of 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm during the CPS calendar year (roughly September to June).

We are unable to support requests for: Weekend/summer-only programs Chicago chapters of larger, national nonprofits Reducing operating deficits or liquidating an existing debt The sole purpose of writing, publishing, producing or distributing audio, visual or printed material The sole purpose of conducting conferences, multi-week camps in summer, festivals, exhibitions or meetings Religious proselytizing, programs that have prayers before, during, or after, and programs that do not accept youth of other faiths Nondiscrimination Policy: It is the policy of Springboard Foundation Fund to support organizations, projects and programs that do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other legally protected characteristics.

The foundation does not knowingly award grants to organizations that discriminate in their hiring, those they accept as volunteers or the clients they serve.

Grant application available in November (returning and new grantees) Current grantee cohort grant applications due in January; new grantees are due in early February Current cohort site visits late February through April New grantee site visits from April through June Grant decision letters in July Grant awards distributed in August Note: The grant cycle is OPEN! The next cycle for 2026 opens in Fall 2025 through February 2026.

We encourage email inquiries via the Prospective Grantee Survey all year long. The inquiries help us determine the next steps in the funding process. Bill Curry received his first Springboard grant for Breakthrough 10 years ago.

He had an idea and Springboard believed in him. Here is what Bill had to say about how "the Springboard effect" made an impact: " When our program became a grantee of Springboard, I came with a BIG heart for our kids and our work, but during those 5 years I took several steps towards becoming an organizational leader. A couple years after "graduating" from Springboard, I went back to school to study management at North Park University.

I credit Springboard with creating that desire in me. I still have my BIG heart, and I also have a growing strategic mind, and passion for learning from others who care about the work as well." Bill's operational strategies and his knack for reaching out to people, combined with his passion for afterschool programs and his neighborhood, has led to big things.

Ten years after receiving their first Springboard grant, Breakthrough Urban Ministries has begun construction on a $16 million, 42,000 square foot facility in the Garfield Park neighborhood. They have received 93% of the funding so far. Springboard Success Story