Resilient Chicago Fund

Supporting Innovation for Basic Needs

In Chicago and Cook County, organizations providing basic human needs—including food, shelter, healthcare and safety—are facing federal policy and funding uncertainty, rising demand for services, and increasingly complex rules. Nonprofit organizations and public agencies are stepping up to continue delivering essential benefits and services while adapting to a changing landscape. 

The region’s safety net has long been strained in ways that hindered effective, dignified, people-centered service delivery. Recent changes have only heightened those pressures—and created an opening to rethink and redesign what the system could be. Nonprofits and public agencies bring deep expertise, trust and understanding of how the system works. What they often lack is dedicated time and resources to step back, reimagine long-term solutions, and design and test new models.

Current Funding Opportunity

The application deadline for Resilient Chicago Fund’s first open call was April 17, 2026.  

The goal of this funding opportunity is to enable nonprofits and government partners to adapt, rethink and redesign how essential benefits and services are delivered within food, shelter, healthcare and safety systems amid federal funding and policy changes.

The application review process is underway. RCF is committed to a review process that is fair, rigorous and transparent. Given the number of applications received (231) and the limited number of awards we’ll make (10-15 design and testing grants), the application review process is designed to apply consistent criteria, incorporate multiple perspectives, and support clear, well-informed funding decisions. For a detailed overview of the application review process, please click here.

What Applicants Should Expect

• A multi-stage review designed to ensure fairness and rigor.
• Communication about review status as we complete stages of review:
  • The first round of declinations will be notified between late April and early May. Applicants proceeding to the next stage of review will hear about next steps in May.
  • Funding decisions will be made by mid-June.
  • Due to the volume of applications, we will not be able to communicate individually with applicants during the review process unless you are selected for an interview.

Resilient Chicago Fund will award two types of grants:

• Design and testing grants: Most grant recipients in the 2026 cycle will begin with a grant between roughly $100,000 and $300,000, depending on the scope and timeline of the work. Selected organizations will work with a dedicated design coach (approximately 5 hours a week) to help gather insights, test ideas, and refine a model that could be implemented in the future. The coaching process is designed to meet organizations where they are, whether developing an early concept or refining a plan that is further along.
• Implementation-ready grants: A small number (up to 5) multi-million-dollar, multi-year grants will be awarded in fall 2026 to enable organizations to implement their ideas. Some implementation-ready grants may come directly from the open call, while others will be invited to submit proposals for implementation-ready grants after completing the design and testing phase.

For nonprofits seeking additional resources as they navigate federal funding and policy changes, download this one-pager, which will be updated periodically.

Strengthening Our Social Safety Net for Today and the Future

Rising needs for public benefits and services have coincided with changing regulations and reduced funding. The time is now to strengthen the region’s basic human needs systems.

• Up to 400,000 Chicagoans are at risk of losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits since new rules requiring many more SNAP recipients to work, participate in workforce training, or volunteer took effect February 1, 2026. People who may need assistance meeting new requirements include those with chronic health conditions and caregivers, older adults who have been out of the workforce for some time, people struggling to find stable jobs that match their skillset, people with unreliable transportation, and people who need help completing paperwork.
• Calls to Chicago’s 211 show a 45 percent increase in requests for food pantry assistance in the first quarter of 2026 versus the first quarter of 2025.
• Up to 700,000 Illinois residents could lose Medicaid benefits by 2028 due to federal funding and policy changes in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act approved by Congress in 2025. Medicaid covers some 3.4 million Illinoisans and pays for approximately 40 percent of childbirths and 69 percent of all nursing home care in Illinois.
• When people lose SNAP benefits and Medicaid, it affects the entire region. For example, SNAP supports 9,400 retailers in Cook County, and every dollar spent on SNAP creates $1.50 in economic opportunity for local retailers, food producers and farmers. Medicaid coverage encourages people to seek preventative care, preventing costly emergency care and hospitalizations that drive up healthcare costs for everyone.