Grant Funding

United Way's 2025 Impact Grants Process Is OPEN!

United Way invests in high-quality programs designed to improve the education, health, and economic mobility of residents in Kankakee and Iroquois counties. 

Thousands of generous community members make annual gifts to United Way's Community Investment Fund. United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties allocates these gifts via grants to local organizations working to create lasting, measurable change in the areas of education, health, and economic mobility.  

United Way's grant process is very competitive and funding is determined by recommendations from community volunteers as directed to United Way's Board of Directors.

Eligible Funding Requests

Nonprofit organizations interested in applying for funding must:

  1. Operate and provide services in Kankakee and/or Iroquois Counties. 

  2. Qualify as a human service organization or tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service code. 

  3. Be able to provide UWKIC with a completed financial audit or letter of financial review. 

  4. Be able to submit a Federal 990 and Illinois 990AG.

  5. Have an active, local Board of Directors comprised of nonpaid volunteers who meet at least quarterly. 

  6. Maintain an annual operating budget. 
     

Ineligible Funding Requests

Organizations that provide programs or services described below are ineligible for funding:

  • Are primarily political in nature. 

  • Provide programs or services limited solely to the members of a particular religious group. 

  • Programs run by an organization with a religious affiliation may be granted funds, but only if the grant allocation funds are clearly not used for religious activities. 

  • Exist solely as a forum for the presentation of cultural and/or artistic achievements. 

  • Provide only direct medical services such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, neighborhood health centers and other health delivery systems. This does not prohibit the funding of programs that provide supportive and ancillary health services for specific client populations. 

  • Provide primary services that are the mandated responsibility of a governmental organization that serves the entire population. 

Timeline of the Grants Process

  1. Letters of Intent | DUE February 7th
    LoIs will be reviewed by United Way's Community Impact Committee to ensure they align with our funding priorities and standards. If so, you will be invited to complete a full grant application.

    > Along with the LoI form, you must also email the following to info@myunitedway.org...

    1. List of your organization's Board of Directors
    2. 501(c)(3) Letter of Determination
    3. Your most recent Federal 990 Form
    4. Your most recent IL 990AG Form
    5. If your organization's income is over $500,000 please send a copy of your most recent Audit.
    6. If your organization's income is under $500,000 please send a formal Letter of Financial Review instead.
Submit Letter of Intent Form

2. Full Grant Application | DUE MARCH 21st
The full grant application asks for background information and details on each program that an agency if seeking funding for. You must submit one application per-program.
 

3. Nonprofit Site Visits | 2nd Week of April
Nonprofits will host a group of 3-9 grant evaluation volunteers. In addition to seeing your location, you will have 15 minutes to share any additional details about your program(s) and answer evaluators' questions. Organizations applying for $5,000 or less will NOT require a site visit.
 

4. Financial Evaluations: United Way's Finance Committee volunteers complete a thorough review of applicants’ financial statements.

5. Application Evaluations: Grant evaluation volunteers rank agency performance and list key observations from their site visit. They will consider...

A.) Does this align with United Way’s focus areas?
B.) Is this mission meaningful to our community?
C.) Does this agency demonstrate a collaborative spirit?
D.) Is this program making an effective impact?
E.) Have they exemplified being data-driven?
F.) Are they setting realistic goals?
 

6. Community Impact Committee: The Committee will review the evaluation data submitted by volunteers and shape their recommendations during the month of May.​

7. Finance Committee: Finance volunteers work with the UW staff to draft the next fiscal year’s budget during the month of May. ​Available funds are divided between recommended grant applications using index scores, as determined by site visit volunteers' evaluations.​

8. United Way Board: After one final review, the United Way board will then approve recommendations presented by the Community Impact Committee at UWKIC’s May board meeting.

  • Agencies will be notified of their funding status during the first week of June.
  • Grant funding is distributed in monthly disbursements from July 2025 to June 2026.
  • Quarterly updates due to UWKIC in October, January, April & June.