grant applications
and guidelines

Apply for one of our grants. Build your organization. Extend your reach. Review our guidelines, prepare an application. Contact us for assistance.

grantee responsibilities

ECF works closely with our grantee organizations. This document outlines the roles and responsibilities of a grantee organization including uses of the grant, reporting of impact, and expectations for acknowledging the Foundation's support in the grantee organization's printed and digital communications. Download

Evanston Community Rapid Response Strategic Grant Reporting Form

Download

2020 Rapid Response Operating Grants Program Guidelines

This application is for operating grants for Evanston-serving nonprofits facing significant financial challenge due to lost earned and/or fundraising revenue and/or increased expenses due to due to providing increased, new, or changed services in this crisis. Download

Operating Needs Worksheet — Rapid Response Grants 2020

To provide operating needs details in conjunction with an application submission for a Rapid Response Operating Grant. Download

2020 responsive grants program guidelines (RFP)

Applicants may submit letters of inquiry between December 6, 2019, and January 14, 2020. The RFP document details ECF's mission and strategic goals and details the applicant qualifications, funding parameters, areas of interest, types of grants, instructions on how to apply, key dates, and letter of inquiry requirements. Download

responsive grants letter of inquiry (LOI) questions

Eligible applicants may submit a letter of inquiry between December 6, 2019 and January 14, 2020. Applicants are asked to answer questions related to the request for capacity building or program grants. Download

responsive grants project budget template

Applicants use this spreadsheet to submit proposed budget information with other application materials. Download

rolling grants program guidelines

Rolling Grants, for grants up to $5000. Proposals may be submitted at any time and will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. Included in the guidelines (RFP): ECF mission and principles, grantmaking philosophy, applicant qualifications, funding parameters, funding areas, how and when to apply, as well as proposal requirements — questions and project budget. Download

rolling grants proposal template

Applicants are requested to address eight questions for either program or capacity building proposals, limited to two pages. Download

rolling grants project budget template

Applicants are requested to submit a thoughtfully prepared budget. The Excel document specifies expense and revenue/project support information to provide. The second page of the Rolling Grants Program Guidelines contains a sample project budget. Download