Land, Health, Community
Land, Health, Community, (formerly the Lumpkin Family Fund), is the Foundation’s primary and largest grantmaking program and reflects the Lumpkin family's historic connection and commitment to the community. A minimum of 50 percent of its annual grantmaking budget is spent on projects in East Central Illinois. Through Land, Health, Community we work toward a long term vision of holistically healthy communities.
We make grants in East Central Illinois that reflect our vision:
- Our community has a strong local food system and agricultural economy, resilient businesses, and amenities that attract new businesses and retain local talent. We are prosperous.
- Our community is physically active and values healthy eating. We are well and physically fit.
- Our community has strong leadership and the capacity for collaboration. We are socially engaged.
- Our community works to conserve, protect and preserve the natural environment. We value the natural beauty of the area.
There will only be one grant cycle in 2023, opening in late July. The Fall 2023 timeline will be as follows: Open for Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) on July 28; LOI deadline on September 1; Applications invited by September 8; Pre-submit date, for those who choose to pre-submit their application for review, September 22; Application deadline October 6; Grants awarded by November 10.
All LOIs and Applications are accepted online only.
Click here for a list of recent grantees.
Geographic Areas of Interest
We encourage applicants from organizations across East Central Illinois. We give preference to rural organizations and those operating in Coles and the surrounding counties. We are especially interested in programs or projects that connect communities.
Focus of Support
Successful proposals will represent a synergy of as many of the following aims as possible:
- Promote personal health through widespread availability and consumption of healthy, affordable food;
- Grow the local agricultural economy, sustaining and creating new viable farm and farm-related businesses;
- Develop, promote and scale innovative green practices that add productive value to farms while protecting the land for future generations; and,
- Encourage community engagement and collaboration, policy development and research around agriculture and rural development.
Core Grant Program
Grantees with a history of support from the Lumpkin Family Fund that closely match the Land, Health, Community strategic theme may be invited to participate in our new core grant program. This program provides multi-year operational support to organizations working towards outcomes identified in our evaluation framework.
Grant Seeker Support
We encourage prospective grantees to contact us to discuss their potential proposal and its possible fit with our guidelines. In addition, we offer to review applications prior to the final submit date and give suggestions for how the application might be improved. Information about the pre-submit review process is provided when an organization is invited to complete a full application.
Please direct inquiries on the Land, Health, Community to:

Daniel Doyle
Program OfficerPhone: 312-646-0413
Email: daniel@lumpkinfoundation.org