May 21st, 2020- The Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund (ICRF) announced today it distributed its third and largest round of funding thus far, an additional $6.275 million to 31 nonprofit organizations across the state. 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, today also announced it has raised more than $30.5 million from over 2800 donors since its launch on March 26th.
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 nonprofits 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 third-round grant recipients from the ICRF are:
- Boone County Community Foundation
- Catholic Charities Diocese of Peoria 2
- Catholic Charities of Southern Illinois – Diocese of Belleville
- Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois
- Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley
- Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri (Formerly Community Foundation of Quincy Area)
- DeKalb County Community Foundation
- Diocese of Rockford – Social Services DBA Catholic Charities
- DuPage Foundation
- Edwardsville Community Foundation
- Fox Valley United Way
- Freeport Community Foundation
- McDonough County United Way
- Morris Community Foundation DBA Community Foundation of Grundy County
- Quad Cities Community Foundation
- Rochelle Area Community Foundation
- Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation
- Southern Illinois Community Foundation
- Starved Rock Country Community Foundation
- The Community Foundation for McHenry County
- The Heart of Illinois United Way
- United Way of Central Illinois
- United Way of Champaign County Illinois Inc
- United Way of Decatur & Mid-Illinois
- United Way of Greater St. Louis
- United Way of Lake County
- United Way of Lee County
- United Way of McLean County
- United Way of Rock River Valley
- United Way of South Central Illinois
- United Way of Will County
Contributions to the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund can be made by visiting https://www.ilcovidresponsefund.org/ Alliance of Illinois Community Foundations The Alliance of Illinois Community Foundations strengthens and promotes community foundations in cities, counties, and regions across Illinois.
