Organizations with budgets between $500,000 and $2,000,000 may apply to the MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at Prince.

Please note: Organizations that received funding in 2020 are invited to apply for funding in 2021. We are not accepting unsolicited proposals this year.

Prince Charitable Trusts is committed to improving Chicago’s urban environment and helping us better coexist with our natural ecosystems.  We fund organizations and programs working to make Chicago a greener, healthier, more livable city.

Grants are made in three areas:

• Open Space and Natural Resources – support for programs that preserve, protect, and enhance our lands and waterways
• Youth and Environment – support for environmentally-based youth development programs for under-served young people in Chicago, designed to cultivate the next generation of environmental leaders
• Innovations in Urban Sustainability – support for some of Chicago’s most forward-thinking and creative organizations working across sectors to address our city’s most pressing environmental challenges

Some of Chicago’s most vulnerable youth are those who experience homelessness or housing instability. LGBTQ, African American and Latinx youth make up a disproportionate percentage of this population; many are pregnant and/or parenting. These young people need housing and support services that respond to their unique strengths and challenges, providing them with the resources and skills they need to mature into healthy, productive adults.

We invest in organizations and special initiatives to end homelessness among unaccompanied youth. Our funding prioritizes:

• Organizations providing shelter to homeless youth as well as services that prepare them to live independently
• Organizations providing holistic, trauma-informed programming for youth experiencing homelessness with an emphasis on groups that utilize positive youth development principals and comprehensive mental health supports
• Special initiatives exploring innovative approaches to meeting the needs of youth experiencing homelessness

Our commitment to healthcare goes back to our very founding. Our health program seeks to improve health outcomes for children and youth from Chicago neighborhoods who are experiencing the highest levels of health inequities and negative impacts due to social determinants of health. PCT recognizes gun violence as a public health issue and seeks to support organizations using evidence-based and innovative strategies to interrupt the cycle of violence in Chicago communities through street outreach programs and/or hospital-based intervention programs.

PCT will prioritize funding organizations that:

• Focus primarily on youth 12-24
• Is for Street Outreach and/or Hospital-Based Intervention programs only
• Work in Chicago communities with the highest level of gun violence on the city’s south and west sides
• Identify youth and young adults at the highest risk of being involved in violent interactions and provide them with comprehensive services, such as behavior health supports, legal services, and job training to help them envision and begin a better life

Additionally, preference will be given to organizations whose staff includes individuals who share lived experience with program participants.

If violence reduction is central to your organization’s mission you will be eligible for general operating support. If violence reduction is only part of the work of your organization, we will consider funding for that specific program area.

Inspired by a trustee’s positive experience with sports as a youth, PCT provides general operating support grants to sports-based youth development (SBYD) organizations in Chicago. SBYD combines best practices from youth development, mentoring, athletics and physical fitness, and academic enrichment. It contributes to improved health and fitness, and just as importantly, helps youth become better at planning, coping with stress, and engaging in positive relationships with peers and adults. Such benefits may prove particularly crucial for youth who face risks and challenges like concentrated poverty, higher rates of obesity and other chronic health conditions, exposure to violence, and limited availability of afterschool and recreational activities. PCT gives preference to organizations serving middle-school-age youth and to those that provide coaches trained in youth development and implement trauma-sensitive approaches to service delivery.

SBYD organization requirements
PCT will consider SBYD organizations that:

• Have SBYD as their primary focus
• Have operated at least three years
• Deliver services to a program population in which 75% or more of youth have family incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level or in schools where 75% or more of students are eligible for free and reduced price school lunch
• Have at least one professional program staff person
• Serve a consistent group of school-age youth in most or all of its programming
• Provide at least 90 minutes of programming per week for at least 20 weeks of the school year
• Promote physical and emotional well-being
• Foster an age-appropriate and positive environment when competition is part of the program
• Train coaches and program staff to deliver a consistent program model or curriculum and build positive relationships with youth
• May provide or connect participants to academic supports and/or help them access higher education.

If you have additional questions about our SBYD requirements, please review the FAQ’s.