Illinois Prairie Community Foundation

About Illinois Prairie Community Foundation

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Inc pairs broad local philanthropy with a strong scholarship-and-community-grants footprint across Central Illinois. Its active programs include donor-advised scholarship funds, competitive spring grants, a women-to-women giving circle, and youth-led grantmaking, all tied to the service area around Bloomington-Normal and the wider Illinois Prairie region. That mix shows a funder working through both donor-established scholarship criteria and open community grant cycles. Recent grant records also show the foundation moving at multiple scales. Larger awards have gone to organizations such as The Pasture in Hudson, Illinois, and Samaritan's Purse in Boone, North Carolina, while a substantial share of giving remains close to home in Illinois. Local recipients include Illinois State University Foundation in Normal, Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, and Community Health Care Clinic in Normal. Education appears repeatedly through scholarship administration and grants to colleges and universities, while community support extends into health, youth, arts, and civic engagement. The foundation’s structure as a mixed community foundation fits that range: it administers scholarship funds, accepts unsolicited applications in several grant programs, and uses named grant categories to direct support to specific community priorities.

What Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Funds

Education is a visible thread in the foundation’s grantmaking. It awarded $272,719 to Illinois State University Foundation in Normal for charitable purposes, and its active scholarship programs support students pursuing post-secondary education through donor-established eligibility criteria. Health and wellness is another recurring area. In 2025, the foundation gave $50,201 to Community Health Care Clinic in Normal, linking its local grantmaking to community-based health services. Arts and culture also appears through program design and recent support. Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington received $60,509 in 2024, and the foundation runs a spring arts-and-culture grant category alongside music education support. Youth-focused work is part of its structure as well. The Youth Engaged in Philanthropy program awards grants to youth-oriented nonprofit programs and gives priority to organizations that include youth in the application process.

How Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Gives