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June 11, 2018
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Polk Bros. Foundation transitioning to online grant application

Polk Bros. Foundation is modernizing our grantmaking process by transitioning to a new online grant application system in July 2018.

What’s Changing?

Our new online Grants Portal, powered by Fluxx, will streamline the application process, as well as the way we evaluate applications, communicate with grantees about applications and disburse grant awards. The new system will enable you to apply for grants and submit supplemental application information electronically and access real-time status updates from us. You will also be able to use the new Grants Portal to report on grants. We hope you will find this a much simpler and more straightforward way to work with us.

To help save you time and effort, we are also adjusting our grantmaking process slightly by adopting a two-phase application:

  1. During phase one of the application, you will only need to provide basic, high-level information about your organization and programs.
  2. If your request aligns with the Foundation’s grantmaking strategies, you will then be asked to proceed to phase two to provide a full proposal, including detailed information that will help us evaluate your application.

Organizations that have not previously received funding from Polk Bros. Foundation (or who have not received a grant within the past five years) will have additional, upfront tools to assess grantmaking opportunities at the Foundation: prior to entering into phase one, they will complete a basic eligibility checklist and can subsequently register for access to the platform.

What’s Next?

In July 2018, when our Grants Portal is live and we are able to accept new applications there, we will publish an announcement to our website.

Active Polk Bros. Foundation grantees will also be individually notified by email over the next year as the appropriate timing approaches for reporting and renewal grants. At this time, they will receive instructions to register for access to our new Grants Portal and a tutorial to support their use of the Grants Portal. Please wait to submit new requests until we launch our new Grants Portal and you receive this notification.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].

Learn more about our process. 

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About Polk Bros. Foundation

Polk Bros. Foundation is a private independent foundation which focuses its work at the intersection of Chicago's most pressing issues to address the complex roots and devastating effects of poverty, challenge inequity, and ensure that all Chicagoans have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Since its founding in 1988, the Foundation has partnered with more than 3,900 Chicago nonprofits to build strong communities and families, increase access to quality education and the arts, improve health, and strengthen organizations and the sectors in which they work. In fall 2024, Polk Bros. Foundation announced three new goals that will guide our work in the years to come: Closing the Life Expectancy Gap; Building Community Wealth Across Generations; and Fostering a Participatory, Multiracial Democracy. The Foundation will share full strategies in support of its new goals and begin fully grantmaking toward these goals in fall 2026.

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