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Funding Criteria for All Grants
-- Seed Fund
-- Emergency Fund
-- Technical Assistance Fund
-- Youth Fund for Social Change
-- The Fire This Time Fund
Grantmaking Process
FAQ
THE FIRE
THIS TIME FUND
Postmark/E-mail Deadline:
September 5,
2008
WHO WE ARE
The Fire This Time Fund is made up of independent artists, educators and
activists working in Chicagos social justice community.
We are an all-volunteer group organized as a giving circle housed at
Crossroads Fund.
We raise money that we then give away in grants, and pool resources to
support grassroots groups working in the Chicago area for racial, economic,
social, environmental, and gender justice.
We support creative social change projects initiated by artists, educators
and activists who are committed to community-based social and political
change.
Our name was inspired by artist, activist and educator James Baldwin's 1963
The Fire Next Time - a literary declaration foreshadowing the need
for cross-racial coalition building in order to fight systemic injustice.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
We believe that artists, activists, and educators challenge perspectives and
possess innovative ideas that ask critical questions about the world around
us, both locally and globally.
We encourage leadership, voice and vision, among artists, activists and
educators who may be new to the grant seeking process.
We prioritize the channeling of project-based funds to informal groups
working in atypical ways, inside and outside of the non-profit model,
without access or ties to extensive institutional support.
We encourage innovative, experimental and radical ideas and models of
action.
We support creative cultural as well as creative, community organizing and
education projects that provoke critical thought by raising awareness or
dialogue around justice issues.
We value process, collaboration, goal-setting, reflection, community
engagement, and open-endedness in the groups that we fund.
ELIGIBILITY
Groups or non-profit organizations with project budgets under $150,000
that are working and engaging with community in the metropolitan Chicago area. (Remember: Fire This Time
prioritizes funding projects with minimal institutional support, i.e.
mid-size or large organizational budgets).
If applying as an informal group or collective, a group bank account will
be sufficient.
Artists, activists or educators affiliated with a fiscal sponsor. (If you
do not have a fiscal sponsor at the time of applying, the fund can offer
technical assistance in this area.)
CRITERIA
2006 (1st year) Fire This Time grantees are eligible to apply for 2008.
2007 Fire This Time grantees are not eligible to apply for 2008.
Project funds must be used by December 30, 2009.
Applicants agree to submit a one-page What You Learned Summary complete
with actual budget figures at the end of the project. (This is a legal
requirement by the IRS).
We CANNOT Fund:
Capital Expenditures or Equipment [TV, Printer, Camera, etc.]
Indirect costs [health care insurance, taxes, phone bill, living expenses]
More than 50% of the project budget earmarked for stipends or travel
expenses
To see a list of 2006 and 2007 grantees of the Fire
This Time Fund, click here.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Postmark/E-mail Deadline: September 5, 2008
Click here to download the application as a Microsoft Word document.
Please e-mail your application in Microsoft Word format to . This method is preferred in order to conserve
paper. If you do not have e-mail access, send us one hard copy addressed to:
Fire This Time Fund
c/o Crossroads Fund
3411 W. Diversey Ave. #20
Chicago, IL 60647
An email will be sent confirming receipt of your application. You will
either be contacted by a member of the fund, or receive a letter in the mail
in September 2008 notifying you of the next steps in the process.
Notification of awards will be in November 2008.
If you have any questions about eligibility or criteria, please e-mail . Thanks! |
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