The Chicago Region Food System Fund addresses hunger and business disruption by bolstering the region’s communities and local food system in response to COVID-19 and other systemic shocks. In November 2021, the Fund announced additional funding, awarding $1.5M to 6 grantees capable of supporting the work of other organizations engaged in food system-related response to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. With the grants announced in November, the total support granted by the Fund is $8,417,150 to 105 non-profit organizations since June 2020. Originally planned as a series of granting rounds in 2020 and early 2021, the Fund continues its grantmaking with the November 2021 announcement. The recent grant recipients will collaborate with non-profits, community organizations, faith communities, farmers and growers, food pantries, and other frontline organizations to enhance resilience, innovation, and transformation in the system. This round of funding continues to be rooted in racial and economic justice
The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us—and the needs of the community and the food system are evolving. The CRFSF team has created a survey for community feedback and recommendations about its philanthropic support of our food system. If you’d like to participate and help shape the fund, here are links to fill out the survey in English or Spanish. We value your thoughts! Details about the next round of funding—including application details, timeline, and eligibility information—will be announced in the coming months (and this website will be fully updated at that time).
The CRFSF team takes a broad view of food system work and encourages participation from diverse communities: urban neighborhoods and rural communities; tribal nations; LGBTQIA+ organizations; veterans; food chain workers; food system businesses; investors; and more. The Fund will prioritize BIPOC-led organizations promoting food system resilience in BIPOC communities.
When times are easy and there’s plenty to go around, individual species can go it alone. But when conditions are harsh and life is tenuous, it takes a team sworn to reciprocity to keep life going forward.Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Robin Wall Kimmerer, Author/Professor
Chicago is part of the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Odawa, Anishinabeg, and Potawatomi nations. Many other tribes—such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Meskwaki, and Menominee—also called this area home. The land is a site of trade, gathering and healing for countless other Native nations throughout time immemorial. The Chicago Region Food System Fund includes other land stewarded by the Oneida, Lakota, Kickapoo, and Peoria people who have protected the land and waters of this region in the past and present. We honor tribal nations and their treaty rights which, in this region, affirm food sovereignty through traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering rights.
The pandemic has taught us a lot. A resilient food system is resilient because people, land, and communities are able to adapt to changing conditions, including major shocks, in ways that minimize immediate losses and strengthen the capacity for everyone to thrive. Food system nonprofits and businesses are moving quickly based on that experience, building on assets, and prototyping new ways of doing things in this changed context. It’s a dynamic moment. The CRFSF team wants to support and accelerate that dynamism as much as possible, both in the grants we make and how we partner to capture learning with a commitment to continual improvement.
Some see resilience in the context of climate change. Others in the ability to live through and transform trauma. Still others see it as food sovereignty rooted in traditional ecological knowledge as practiced by indigenous communities. Or in locally owned and well-integrated food businesses. No one approach can define and ensure resilience—but together the region’s vibrant web of rural, urban, and peri-urban food communities can build a resilient, racially and economically just future
Details about the next round of funding—including application details, timeline, and eligibility information—will be announced in the coming months (and this website will be fully updated at that time).
Eligibility Criteria
Only 501(c)(3) organizations or fiscal sponsors are eligible to apply, and there are loose geographic restrictions. The Chicago Region Food Fund focuses on an area roughly 200 miles from Chicago. Tribal nations located more than 200 miles from Chicago are eligible to apply if the Chicago region is part of their market. Previous CRFSF grantees are eligible to reapply. See the CRFSF FAQs & Resource page for more info.
Details about the next round of funding—including application details, timeline, and eligibility information—will be announced in the coming months (and this website will be fully updated at that time).
Grant Focus and Timing
Coming soon!
The Chicago Region Food System Fund welcomes additional support for this important work.
MAKE A DONATION**Donate online by credit card for amounts $5 to $4,999.
If you have questions about donating, want to discuss a major gift of $5,000 or greater, or prefer to donate via check or ACH, please email foodsystem@freshtaste.org.
The fund was created through the generosity of the founding donors with an initial investment of $4.2M and is managed by Fresh Taste, fiscally sponsored by Forefront.
The Builders Initiative
Food:Land:Opportunity
Fresh Taste
Little Owl Foundation
The Lumpkin Family Foundation
Margot L. Pritzker Fund
Walder Foundation
Walter Mander Foundation
The Chicago Region Food System Fund continues its funding to support a resilient food system by awarding a new round of grants to 501(c)(3) organizations capable of supporting the work of other organizations engaged in food system-related response to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
On August 1, Jose Oliva will join the Chicago Region Food System Fund as Director, helping to guide the Fund’s work over the coming twelve months.
***Total of $6,917,150 Awarded to 105 Grantees Since June 2020 to Counter COVID-19’s Impact on Chicago Food System ***
***$2.7M in Funds Available for Food-Focused Organizations within 200 Miles of Chicago***
***Applications for Fund’s Upcoming Resilience Round Open November 16***
If you have any questions about the Chicago Region Food System Fund, including support for applications, email foodsystem@freshtaste.org or call 773-944-5100.
Sign up for our email list to receive announcements from the Fund.
Media inquiries—Please contact Brandon Hayes, Founder, Bold Bison Communications & Consulting, at 312-945-8416, brandon@boldbisonconsulting.com.
Photos courtesy of Plant Chicago, Elawa Farm Foundation, Chinese American Service League, and Gary Comer Youth Center.
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