CONANT FAMILY FOUNDATION
2023 Grants INFORMATION
Hello and welcome!
Program Areas Abortion Access, Community Organizing for Racial Justice and Urban Environmental Justice will continue to be the Conant Family Foundation's primary funding categories for the next three years (2023, 2024 and 2025). Guidelines and grant application instructions will be posted here in April. Please see below for information regarding these Program Areas and past grants. Please note that the Doris Conant Legacy Grants have sunset and will not continue.
PROGRAM AREAS
ABORTION ACCESS
Abortion care is essential health care.
The Abortion Access Program Area supports access to safe, affordable, and legal abortions. Organizations selected for funding receive one-year general operating grants. Three categories have emerged as priorities:
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Increasing access to self-managed medication abortion (mifepristone and misoprostol)
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Chicago-area abortion services, financial support, and transportation/housing needs
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Abortion access in southeast states
There are no formal guidelines to apply; if your organization aligns with these categories, please send an email of introduction.
2022
Abortion Care Network, $12,500
Access Reproductive Care (ARC) SouthEast, 12,000
Carafem, $25,000
Chicago Abortion Fund, $50,000
CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, $12,500
Feminist Women's Health Center, $12,000
Kentucky Health Justice Network, $12,000
Midwest Access Coalition, $50,000
Midwest Access Project, $10,000
Mountain Access Brigade, 12,000
Provide, Inc., $20,000
Reproductive Outreach & Education (ROE) Center for Justice, $12,000
Self Managed Abortion, Safe & Effective, $40,000
2021
Abortion Care Network, $12,000
Access Reproductive Care (ARC) SouthEast, 12,000
Carafem, $45,000
Chicago Abortion Fund, $50,000
CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, $12,000
EverThrive Illinois, $5,000
Kentucky Health Justice Network, $12,000
Midwest Access Coalition, $50,000
Midwest Access Project, $10,000
Mountain Access Brigade, 12,000
Provide, Inc., $20,000
Reproductive Outreach & Education (ROE) Center for Justice, $30,000
Self Managed Abortion, Safe & Effective, $40,000
2020
Appalachian Abortion Support Collective, $6,000
Carafem, $5,000
Chicago Abortion Fund, $75,000
EverThrive Illinois, $25,000
Midwest Access Coalition, $75,000
Midwest Access Project, $10,000
Provide, Inc., $10,000
SASS, $40,000
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
This Program Area supports grassroots, multi-issue community organizing that prioritizes racial justice and equity.
GUIDELINES FOR 2022 GRANTS CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE. A group of seven community leaders and former organizers, all people of color, joined with the Conant Family Foundation to develop these guidelines. The Grants Team also reviewed proposals and made grants decisions. These are the ten organizations they selected for funding; each received an unrestricted $25,000 grant:
Advancing Justice Chicago
AFIRE: Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights & Empowerment
Equity And Transformation
HANA Center
Healing to Action
Jane Addams Senior Caucus
Lighthouse Foundation
M.O.V.E.
Pilsen Alliance
Tenant Education Network
In 2020, the Community Organizing for Racial Justice Program Area engaged a group of ten Chicagoans to serve as a proposal Review Team. The external Review Team brought their insights, lived experiences and perspectives to the task. For more information about the Review Team and the grantee selection process, please click HERE. These are the organizations selected for funding in 2020; the Board elected to renew all of these grants in 2021:
Assata's Daughters, $20,000
Brave Space Alliance, $20,000
Chicago Community Bond Fund $20,000
Equity and Transformation, $20,000
Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD), $20,000
Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), $20,000
People for Community Recovery, $15,000
Restore Justice Illinois, $15,000
Working Family Solidarity, $15,000
United Working Families, $15,000
Chicago United for Equity (CUE), $10,000
HANA Center, $10,000
Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), $10,000
Lighthouse Foundation, $10,000
Mothers Opposed to Violence Everywhere (MOVE), $10,000
Northwest Side Housing Center, $10,000
The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, $10,000
URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
The vision of the Urban Environmental Justice Program Area is that all Chicago residents live in environmentally safe communities.
Low-income communities and communities of color experience disproportionately higher levels of air, water, and soil pollution and contamination. Nonprofit organizations addressing environmental injustice in these communities are the focus of this Program Area.
Grants are made to organizations that identify environmental hazards, involve their communities in identifying solutions, and advocate for justice and remediation. Eligible applicants will be Chicago-area nonprofit organizations that are a) led by those directly impacted, b) include community members in decision-making, and c) accountable to the communities they seek to improve.
2022
Alliance of the SouthEast, $40,000
Block Club, $35,000
Faith In Place, $25,000
Friends of the Parks, $25,000
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization/LVEJO, $40,000
Metropolitan Planning Council, $25,000
Southeast Environmental Task Force, $10,000
Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, $25,000
Sweet Water Foundation, $30,000
2021
Alliance of the SouthEast, $40,000
Block Club, $35,000
Faith In Place, $25,000
Friends of the Parks, $25,000
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization/LVEJO, $40,000
Metropolitan Planning Council, $25,000
Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, $25,000
Sweet Water Foundation, $30,000
2020
Alliance of the SouthEast, $35,000
Block Club, $25,000
Faith In Place, $25,000
Friends of the Parks, $25,000
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization/LVEJO, $35,000
Metropolitan Planning Council, $25,000
Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, $25,000
Sweet Water Foundation, $30,000
Trust for Public Land, $25,000
DORIS CONANT LEGACY GRANTS
While the Conant Family Foundation continues Doris Conant’s commitment to justice and equity overall, Doris personally participated with several nonprofit organizations and promoted their valuable work to her friends and family.
This Program Area supports nine organizations that Doris cherished, with annual grants as follows:
Chicago Foundation for Women, $50,000
Chicago Public Media/WBEZ, $50,000
Human Rights Watch, $50,000
Planned Parenthood Illinois, $50,000
Facets Multimedia, $10,000
Goodman Theatre, $10,000
International Children’s Media Center, $10,000
North Lawndale College Prep High School, $10,000
Victory Gardens Theater, $10,000
Due to the nature of this very personal Program Area, there is not be an open process to apply for these grants. These organizations were selected by Doris through her own words and actions. We are delighted to honor her memory with these contributions. These grants will be awarded in calendar years 2000, 2021, and 2022.