African American Legacy (AAL), an initiative of The Chicago Community Trust, is a philanthropic and educational initiative led by Black civic and community leaders who share the common goal of improving the quality of life among Black people throughout metropolitan Chicago.
Donor Name: The Chicago Community Trust
State: Illinois
County: Cook County (IL), DuPage County (IL), Kane County (IL), McHenry County (IL), Will County (IL)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/29/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
AAL engages leaders in philanthropy, collectively and individually, and provides support to nonprofit organizations that work at the community level to educate and engage communities, and to provide neighborhood-based services and solutions to address community problems. Grounded in the philosophies of collective giving, community engagement, and grantmaking, AAL serves as a convener and catalyst to promote significant impact in Black communities through the organizations that it supports. The ultimate goal of AAL’s grantmaking is to strategically assist organizations in their growth and development so they can leverage these funds to attract new, larger investments.
Priority Strategies and Activities
AAL will support community organizations who share the common goal of improving the quality of life among Black people throughout metropolitan Chicago working in the following areas:
- Community Wealth Building: They seek to support organizations that build financial stability and well being for underinvested or marginalized communities by focusing on the shared wealth (not the sum of wealth) of multiple households or whole communities, as connected groups of people. For this focus area, successful applicants approach economic development in a manner that promotes the local, democratic, and shared ownership and control of community assets. Eligible organizations may provide capacity-building and/or technical assistance to the following organizations, OR are legally defined as one of following:
- Worker-Owned Cooperatives: Values-driven businesses that are collectively owned and democratically operated by their employees. Worker Cooperatives generate worker and community benefits.
- Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives: Housing that is collectively owned and democratically managed by residents and that aims to maintain permanent affordability, accessibility, and stability.
- Community Land Trusts: Community-based nonprofits that acquire and steward community land and assets for the explicit purpose of preserving affordability and mitigating displacement from residential and commercial properties.
- Community Investment Vehicles (CIVs): Legal mechanisms for community investment in neighborhood assets based on shared values and development goals. In its ideal form, CIVs are designed, majority-owned, and majority-controlled by residents or local members.
- Community Mobilization: They seek to support organizations working to build community power through advocacy, public policy, and community organizing to address systemic challenges such as voting rights/access, immigration reform, education inequity, and the erasure of Black people, Black history, and Black stories.
- Community Care: They seek to support organizations that actively respond to trauma on Black people and Black communities through the delivery of mental health and wellness services as their primary service.
Funding Information
- Community Wealth Building Applicants Only: Grants under this priority area for 2026 will range in size between $25,000 to $75,000 based on the scope of the applicant’s general operations or project-based needs. Please note that organizations that focus on technical assistance, capacity building, or research and development will likely be funded at the lower end of this range.
- Community Mobilization and Community Care Applicants Only: Grants under these priority areas for 2026 will range in size between $15,000 to $25,000 based on the scope of the applicant’s general operations or project-based needs.
Grant Period
Grants are for one year.
Eligibility Crieria
To be eligible for a grant award, an applicant must be:
- A nonprofit organization with evidence that it
- Has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Code; or
- Is fiscally sponsored by a Section 501(c)(3) organization; or
- Is a governmental unit within the meaning of Section 170(c)(1) of the Code.
- Located within or primarily serving residents of the Chicago metropolitan region, including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and/or Will Counties, Illinois.
Grantmaking Criteria
- Black-Serving. AAL is committed to supporting Black leadership and organizations that serve underinvested communities whose residents or constituents are predominantly Black. Black-serving means constituents are predominantly (51%) Black and/or from the African Diaspora (Africans brought primarily to the Americas as slaves who live around the globe—Brazil, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Europe, and Asia).
- Organizations that are older than five years will not be considered if the Executive Director and Board Chair are the same individual.
- Place-based. Primarily located in the Chicago metropolitan region (which includes Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and/or Will Counties, Illinois), and serving Black communities in this region.
- People-driven. Program direction and design are grounded in the needs of the constituency and the community served. Using an asset-based approach means that the organization’s work is done not only for the people involved but also by them.
For more information, visit The Chicago Community Trust.
