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  • Grantees

FISCAL YEAR 2024

OVERVIEW

$5,340,925

Total Amount Given

221 GROUPS

Awarded

$700 — $50,000

Range of Grant Amounts

FY24

Crossroads Fund is proud to announce that in fiscal year 2024 (FY24) we gave out $5,340,925 to 221 organizations working for social change. Although the following list categorizes grantees based on one primary focus, grantees’ work is rarely limited to a single issue area. Most work across issues and prioritize the multiple needs of their diverse constituents. A notation after the grantee description indicates from which grant fund(s) they received funding. Funds include the Seed Fund (SF),Technical Assistance Fund (TA), Youth Fund for Social Change (YF), 501(c)(4) nonprofits (C4), and the Critical Response Fund (CRF), which provides rapid response grants to organizations working on issues that arise due to urgent political and social moments. Some organizations also received grants through the Capacity Building Initiative (CBI), a collaborative program that supports organizational growth and development.  Grantees also received funding from our Partner Funds (PF), which include pooled funds and donor advised funds:
  • Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund (CRJPF), a funders collaborative housed at Crossroads Fund that supports Black-led community organizing and ally-led groups addressing antiBlackness; 
  • James Thindwa Grassroots Organizing Fund (Thindwa), which supports an annual event and project in honor of the late activist James Thindwa; 
  • The Lohengrin Foundation (Lohengrin), whose mission is to advance equity, opportunity, and justice to eradicate systemic barriers and promote vibrant, safe, and thriving communities; 
  • Solidarity Fund (Solidarity Fund), is a pooled fund that is dedicated to supporting mutual aid efforts working to address the systemic issues facing newly arrived migrants and the long-standing lack of affordable housing for Chicago communities; 
  • Women’s Voices Fund (Women’s Voices Fund), a project of Women & Children First Bookstore, helps sustain and develop an ongoing program series focused on women’s lives, ideas, and work; 
  • Cathy Cohen Black Youth Fund (Cathy Cohen) which supports Black youth organizers; 
  • GRAM Fund (GRAM), which supports women and girls, rights for Arab Americans, and youth projects; 
  • Anonymous donors 
We also list the awards we grant at our annual benefit, Seeds of Change, by name. They are the Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award, the Lynda J. Tipton Memorial Award for Social Justice, and the Ron Sable Award for Activism.    In FY24, grant amounts ranged from $700 to $50,000. Unless otherwise noted, grants are for general operating support.

Arts, Culture, & Media

18th St Casa de Cultura

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Capacity Building Initiative

18th St Casa de Cultura

18th Street Casa de Cultura is an organization of artists, musicians, educators, and advocates dedicated to honoring and cultivating the legacy of cultural and artistic expression rooted in generational practices of Chicago’s Mexican – Latine community by utilizing ancestral cultural conocimiento or knowledge. (CBI)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Agitator Gallery

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

Agitator Gallery

Agitator Gallery seeks to promote and engage with significant art; offering a platform for underrepresented artists and engaging underserved audiences, with a local approach and a global vision. Since their founding in 2017, Agitator has mounted an annual exhibition and a month of programming with the Chicago Recovery Alliance. CRA practices Harm Reduction: a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

AnySquared Arts NFP

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

AnySquared Arts NFP

Any Squared Arts NFP is a volunteer-driven artist collaborative/network. They host free workshops, studio days, and exhibits that support community organizations and mentor artists. Their Home Not Home (HNH) Project partnered with Palenque LSNA and Bring Chicago Home campaign to examine the complicated idea of home and explore the world they want to live in. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Black Alphabet

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund, Technical Assistance Fund

Black Alphabet

Black Alphabet (BA) supports Black LGBTQ+ and same-gender-loving (SGL) communities by disrupting biased public narratives and creating space for authentic perspectives around their nearly invisible experience. BA advocates for an increase in the number of crews and films that feature Black LGBTQ+/SGL people and spotlights issues of importance to the Black Alphabet community. A Technical Assistance Fund grant helped send staff to the Creating Change Annual Conference in New Orleans. (SF, TA)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Campfire Repertory Theater (CRT)

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

Campfire Repertory Theater (CRT)

Campfire Repertory Theater (CRT) operates as a community-led organization, uniting a collective of diverse and passionate artists committed to social change and building collective power through artistic initiatives. CRT’s goals, activities, and partnerships are strategically designed to address the conditions, institutions, and policies that perpetuate inequality and oppression. By leveraging the transformative power of theater, they aim to amplify marginalized voices, challenge stereotypes, and inspire critical conversations that drive societal transformation. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

The Center for International Performance and Exhibition dba HotHouse

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Partner Fund, Seed Fund

The Center for International Performance and Exhibition dba HotHouse

The Center for International Performance and Exhibition dba HotHouse presents performances, exhibitions, and cultural events that build diverse audiences, foster international exchange, and support grassroots development and social justice activism. Program highlights for 2024 include the release of el Otro Guantanamo, a documentary film about Afro-descendant traditions of people living in the shadow of the most notorious prison on earth; and a series of concerts and workshops with pianist and composer Aruan Ortiz, reflecting the anti-colonialist work of Aime Cesaire. (PF, SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Chicago Art Department

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

Chicago Art Department

Chicago Art Department (CAD) provides socially minded artists with equitable and accessible space to grow their practice. Through residencies, think-tank programs, community events, and contemporary exhibitions, CAD creates a space for artists to question the city in which we live. Their annual series, “Seeds in My Pocket,” brings together artists, activists, and organizers to highlight stories from two distinct Chicago neighborhoods. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF)

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund, Technical Assistance Fund

Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF)

Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF) exhibits and promotes art and films to spur productive conversations about the Palestinian culture and the diaspora. CPFF is the world’s longest consecutive-running Palestinian film festival. They have screened over 250 films and offer a space that is open, critical, and reflective of the culture, experience, and vision of the filmmakers and artists. A Technical Assistance Fund helped them create a 5-year strategic plan aimed at sustainability. (SF, TA)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Cicero Independiente

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund, Lohengrin Foundation

Cicero Independiente

Cicero Independiente is an independent news outlet providing accurate reporting on Cicero, a suburb of Chicago. They connect residents to important resources and information and equip residents with journalism skills to engage in local democracy. (Lohengrin, SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

CIRCA Pintig

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

CIRCA Pintig

CIRCA Pintig educates, mobilizes, and organizes community members, primarily Asian immigrants and their families, through performing arts and community-centered intergenerational programs and services. Their work focuses on community engagement to debunk the model minority myth and producing a new play that tells the story of four multiracial families impacted by gun violence. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

Cooperation Racine

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

Cooperation Racine

Cooperation Racine is an artist co-op that embraces a vision of cultivating cooperative creative economies where artists of color train one another so they can, in turn, uplift their families and communities. The cooperative model at the heart of Cooperation Racine not only empowers artists of color but also serves as a beacon for equitable and inclusive entrepreneurship. (SF)

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Arts, Culture, & Media

First Nations Film and Video Festival, Inc.

Year Awarded

2024

  • Year Awarded

    2024

  • Award Category

    Arts, Culture, & Media

  • Grant Fund

    Seed Fund

First Nations Film and Video Festival, Inc.

First Nations Film and Video Festival (FNFVF) advocates for and celebrates the works of Native American filmmakers and films that break racial stereotypes to promote awareness of Native American issues. FNFVF operates two annual festivals to showcase individual films or short films with a long-term goal of becoming a film distributor for Native American directors. They also host online panel discussions, and outdoor screenings in partnership with Chi-Nations Youth Council to bridge the months between their two major festivals. (SF)

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