Community Foundation, United Way awarded $75,000

SPRINGFIELD— The Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund (ICRF) announced last week it distributed its third and largest round of funding thus far, an additional $6.275 million to 31 nonprofit organizations across the state.
The partnership of the Community Foundation of Grundy County and the United Way of Grundy County was presented with $75,000 from the fund.
“This grant has arrived at a very opportune time. Donations to the Disaster Fund have slowed while the county unemployment has risen, so many more Grundy residents are struggling to make ends meet. This grant will go a long way toward helping them through this economic struggle,” said Julie Buck, executive director of the Community Foundation of Grundy County.
The fund, which was established by the United Way of Illinois and the Alliance of Illinois Community Foundations in collaboration with the office of the Governor, also announced it has raised more than $30.5 million from over 2,800 donors since its launch on March 26.
Funds are disbursed to nonprofit organizations across the state serving individuals, families and communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this most recent round, the ICRF has made grants of $16.7 million to 62 unique organizations. Including these organizations and those that they have re-granted to, ICRF has funded almost 800 unique organizations across the state of Illinois.
The Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund, chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, will continue with additional rounds of grantmaking to non-profit across the state to help Illinoisans through this crisis.
“The generosity of the people of Illinois and their willingness to help neighbors through tough times inspires me every day,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The outpouring of support we're seeing for the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund and the kind acts that some think go unnoticed are making the world of difference to residents in every corner of our state. Every good deed is making someone's day brighter.”
“This is an all hands on deck effort to help our most vulnerable fellow Illinoisans at this time of such great need,” said Penny Pritzker, chairman of PSP Partners. “We are so grateful to the thousands of individuals and organizations who have stepped up to provide critical services and support for people in every part of Illinois.”
For this third round of funding, the ICRF expanded its approach to grantmaking, and used a data- driven process to identify the counties hit hardest by this pandemic - capturing both health and economic impacts. ICRF considered unemployment data, COVID-19 cases, percentage of vulnerable populations within the county, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to prioritize 57 counties in greatest need of support throughout the state.
"The community partners of the United Way of Grundy County continue to report the struggles that their clients are facing around food, shelter, rent, mortgage, and medications. We are excited to be able to forward these grant funds to our partner agencies to help alleviate some of the suffering that their clients are experiencing," said Karen Nall, executive director, United Way of Grundy County.
Non-profits serving Grundy County are invited to apply for funding to serve their clients in need. Applications can be submitted on-line at cfgrundycounty.com. Applications are due May 29 and the monies must be used in the community by mid-July.