FUND STATUS: Expended for the year
Rapid Response Grants
How It Works
Rapid Response moves funding quickly when an urgent, unanticipated need cannot wait for a standard grant cycle. A threat arrives. An opportunity opens. A moment demands action. Rapid Response Fund is built for exactly those moments.
Grants are up to $25,000, with a turnaround of under 30 days, so your organization can act when it matters most. This is not for long-term or general operating support. It is for the time-sensitive need in front of you right now, and it prioritizes structural, systemic change over short-term relief alone.
Current Status
What’s pause right now
The fund is currently expended for the year.
Eligibility & Criteria
Who can apply
To be eligible for Rapid Response funding, your organization should:
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Be a 501(c)(3) public charity or a fiscally sponsored group.
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Work at the county, regional or statewide level in Illinois. Organizations that solely serve the city of Chicago are not eligible.
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Be deeply rooted in Black communities, that have experienced historical underinvestment.
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Work toward structural, systemic change, not short-term relief alone.
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Face a time-sensitive need that cannot wait for the next standard grant cycle.
Timeline
What to expect
Rapid Response is built for speed. From a complete application, the full cycle runs in under 30 days.
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Submit your application
Complete the short-form application through our grant portal, with a brief narrative of the urgent need and a budget summary. -
We review
Our team reviews submissions to confirm eligibility and urgency. -
You hear back.
You receive a decision, and approved funds are disbursed quickly so you can act.
Ready to Apply?
Before you begin, have two things ready: a budget summary, and a brief narrative of the urgent need and how the funding will help.
Questions? Reach out before you apply. We are glad to talk it through.
Past Recipients
Rapid Response in action
A sense of the moments this fund has met:
Organized Communities Against Deportation — deportation defense and family support. $25,000
Immigrant Solidarity DuPage — sustaining rapid-response networks meeting immigrant enforcement in DuPage County. $12,000
Chicago Torture Justice Center — physical safety measures and staff training. $20,000
Reparations Media — the Clean Slate Illinois initiative. $25,000
Respair Media — data protection and digital archiving. $25,000
Black Researchers Collective — a communications strategy to counter misinformation. $16,000
Faith in Place — crisis-management communications support. $25,000
