GRANTMAKING
The Field Foundation makes grants and awards in three ways:
Through our A Road Together (ART) partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, we accept annual applications for general operating funding (including 3-year and 1-year funding lanes) for small and mid-sized arts and culture organizations committed to equity in Chicago.
For our Journalism & Storytelling and Justice program areas, in October 2023, we moved from a Letter of Inquiry application process three times each year to a more streamlined grantmaking process that will allow us to consider funding needs on a rolling basis. This change will allow community-centered nonprofits working in the justice, journalism and storytelling areas—as well as our Field staff—to, together, focus more closely on the work. Removing rigid process deadlines will also enable us to move faster with our grantmaking dollars to invest in community priorities.
In our Leadership Investment area, through our partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, our annual Leaders for a New Chicago Award regognizes 10 individuals whose leadership will inform decision-making throughout Chicago.
“When it comes to the racial equity movement, we need to be seen by our grantees as strategic partners who bring value to the movement, above and beyond the value of a grant.”
— Field President Daniel O. Ash
Funding Eligibility
The Field Foundation seeks to invest in organizations working to address systemic issues in divested communities. We see our current, past and prospective grantee partners as immense sources of power that need support in achieving objectives that will serve their communities. We seek to learn more about them for potential investment of our limited dollars.
Photography by Felton Edward Kizer
Racial Priorities
The Field Foundation is committed to investing 60% of its portfolio in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) organizations throughout the Chicago area. BIPOC organizations can be classified in the following way: By, for, and about serving BIPOC individuals, cultures, and communities. To assess whether your organization fits into this definition, please consider the following:
BY: Your leadership and board are directed, managed, and/or led by majority BIPOC individuals.
FOR: Your organization primarily works to improve social conditions for BIPOC cultures, communities, and individuals.
ABOUT: Your organization’s mission references your commitment to serving BIPOC communities.
While the Field Foundation will continue to fund a range of nonprofits, we will be race explicit in our work and focus on understanding how funding with a racial equity lens can improve outcomes for Chicagoans.
Geographic Priorities
To understand how need and race align throughout the city of Chicago, the Field Foundation created a series of maps. The maps outline a geographic study area where less than 20% of the residents identify their race as White. They analyze quality of life indicators such as educational outcomes, access to health insurance, commute times, violence rates, and access to arts and culture in those areas. By overlaying race with these quality of life indicators, we found there is an incredible divestment of resources leading to a nexus of poverty and trauma that align with communities of color in Chicago. Using these findings in collaboration with our racial priorities, we have created the following geographic funding preferences:
Study Area – (A) Organizations located and working in these communities
Surrounding areas – (B) Organizations located and working in communities surrounding the heatmap area
Surrounding suburbs – (C) Organizations located and working in the surrounding suburbs within Justice, Art and Leadership Investment
Citywide Efforts and Powerhouses – (D) Organizations located outside of the heatmap but working in ways that share resources, power and funding to benefit those within the heatmap and throughout the city
