Grants From Across the CICF Collaborative
Across the CICF Collaborative, we are proud to support grantmaking that strengthens and uplifts our communities.
While CICF itself does not directly award grants, several of its funds offer both competitive and private grant opportunities. CICF also provides administrative and technical grant support to the entities within the collaborative.
Public grants from across the CICF Collaborative are provided on this page.
FAQs: Applications
We strongly encourage you to reach out to your community leadership officer before you apply.
If you need help identifying your organization’s community leadership officer, please email GrantSupport@cicf.org.
If you have an open grant with a specific funding opportunity (e.g. the Indianapolis Foundation open round), you will not be considered for another grant from that funding opportunity until the earlier grant round is completed.
Generally speaking, each funding opportunity (or grant round) supports one request per year. The CICF Collaborative includes many funds that may be interested in funding your request. Our staff will advise you on the best approach, timing and funding opportunities.
It depends. When an application is declined, our staff will either make recommendations on ways to improve your request or advise on how your organization’s programming can be improved or adjusted to align better with funding priorities. Our staff may also connect you with community resources or networks. We may also communicate if there is no alignment at this time.
Our staff will share applications with our donor-advised funds based on those funds’ priorities. Organizations cannot apply directly to these funds for support. We cannot guarantee that every application will be presented to donor-advised fundholders or their leadership.
If you are a fiscal sponsor for multiple smaller organizations, you can submit an application for each organization you support.
It is recommended that all organizations in the Grants Portal update their organization profile on an annual basis regardless of funding application status.
ALL applications for funding through the Grants Portal require a complete and up-to-date organization profile (within the previous calendar year) before starting a new funding request.
Many applications rely on information collected through the Organization profile to inform their award selection and reduce repetitive input on the application form.
While our staff cannot provide extensive help in shaping your program or developing the ability of your organization to meet the expectations of our funds or other funders, we can often refer you to resources in our community that offer development opportunities for your organization, staff, and programs.
Information on the appropriate logo to use is provided in your award letter. If you have any questions, please email GrantSupport@cicf.org.