syringe exchanges — Grants for Public Health | Nonprofit Funding

OVERVIEW: The Comer Family Foundation makes grants for education, the environment, health care and arts and culture. While some of its grantmaking focuses on the Chicago area, its grantmaking for the environment and its syringe service program for harm reduction are both national in scope.

IP TAKE: The Comer Family Foundation of Chicago is perhaps best known for its support for harm reduction programs for drug users. In addition to flexible funding, the program offers a range of resources for establishing and running harm reduction and syringe exchange programs. Comer runs two application cycles for the program each year, with due dates on the first of May and November. All other grantmaking is by invitation only, but Chicago organizations working in the arts, education or climate change may want to read up on this funder’s work; networking could get you in the door here.

PROFILE: The Chicago-based Comer Family Foundation was established in 1986 by the founder of Lands’ End clothing company, Gary Comer. It is “dedicated to seeding ideas and supporting innovative programs that make a lasting and positive impact on the lives of individuals and their communities.” The foundation gives in the areas of education, environment, health care and culture. While this foundation has traditionally concentrated its grantmaking in Chicago, recent years have seen increased giving elsewhere in the U.S.

Grants for K-12 Education, Work and Opportunity

Comer’s work in the area of K-12 education focuses on the foundation’s home town of Chicago and consists mainly of signature programs that bear the Comer name. The Comer Education Campus, located in Chicago’s South Side, is home to the Gary Comer Youth Center, Gary Comer College Prep, Gary Comer Middle School and UtmostU, a Comer-funded organization that helps young adults succeed in post-secondary education or vocational training. The campus is also home to an urban agriculture STEAM program

Overlapping with its giving for environment and climate change, Comer’s Teens Take on Climate program aims to “connect diverse teens with climate education, employment, and opportunities to succeed on inclusive, interdisciplinary climate pathways.” Through collaborations with other Comer initiatives and community partners, this program focuses on climate awareness and education, as well as “accelerating climate careers and employment through internships, apprenticeships, vocational training, certifications and pathways to higher education.

Grants for Higher Education

Comer’s higher education funding also overlaps with its environmental giving, focusing on climate-related programs at universities with which it maintains ongoing relationships.

At Coloumbia University’s Climate School, the foundation endowed a summer research program that aims to “increase diversity in climate sciences” and “encourage a new generation of climate scientists”.
At Northwestern University, Comer supports the Medill Comer Scholars Program at the Medill School of Journalism. This program supports graduate students of journalism as they “develop the expertise needed to communicate the complex science of climate change and to command attention for environmental issues.”
Comer also supports postdoctoral research fellowships in climate studies at “institutions seeking to strengthen diversity in the geosciences.” Recipient institutions include the University of Maine, the University of Arizona, Yale University and the University of New Hampshire, among others.

Grants for Environment, Climate Change and Clean Energy

Grantmaking for the environment constitutes a significant portion of Comer’s philanthropy. In this area, Comer aims to support “bold actions to confront the climate crisis and its impact on humanity.” Grants mainly support research, education and vocational training for the emerging renewable energy industry. The foundation offers the following types of support:

Comer Fellows are scientists whose research investigates “Greenland, mountain glaciers, oceans and drylands” with the goal of developing a deeper understanding of climate change to “better comprehend and identify future patterns and their consequences.”
The foundation provides ongoing support to the Changelings, a “group of scientists dedicated to pooling their collective vision and interdisciplinary resources to answer the toughest questions about abrupt climate change.” The Changelings is a former project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Comer “adopted” the group in 2004, and currently hosts its annual meetings, now called the Comer Climate Change Conference.
Comer supports climate change education and vocational training related to renewable energy through its Teens Take On Climate program and the Comer Education Campus, which is home to a “robust” urban agriculture STEAM program. It also supports climate change research and journalism through its higher education funding.
The Comer Foundation also supports conservation and climate change locally and around the Midwestern U.S. “[r]ecognizing the power of local organizing in building healthier communities.” Grantees include the Chicago Environmental Justice Network, the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, Openlands, and the Black Oak Center’s Eco-Campus.

Grants for Public Health

This funder’s grantmaking for health centers on “building sustainable, collaborative and community-based responses to disparities in health care.” Its areas of focus are harm reduction for drug users and safety net care for the Chicago area.

Comer’s Syringe Service grant program makes grants to harm reduction programs in the U.S., including Indigenous Lands and Puerto Rico, with budgets of less than $600,000 annually. Grants support sterile syringe programs, as well as other programs that provide harm reduction services related to drug use, education and wraparound services for drug users. Priorities include geographic areas that lack access to safe syringes and have a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, organizations led by Black and/or Indigenous people and drug users, organizations with “limited funding for harm reduction” and “statewide strategic partnerships.” Grants range from $2,500 to $20,000 and provide general operating, program, education, staff development or technical support. Application guidelines are provided on the program page.
The Comer Foundation is a founding member of Chicago’s Medical Home Network, which is “dedicated to transforming care in the safety net and building healthier communities.” The program coordinates health care using a “whole-person model” by “by integrating medical, behavioral and social care” at the primary care level.

Grants for Arts and Culture

Comer’s culture grantmaking area limits its scope to Chicago and aims to support “cultural institutions so that they can continue to bring thought-provoking exhibitions and performances to future generations.” Funding focuses on organizations that use and generate “art to explore and advance environmental, cultural, and human rights issues.” Grantees include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Ghetto Film School, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History.

Important Grant Details

The Comer Family Foundation’s grants are awarded in amounts ranging from $300 to $50,000, although grants and donations made through the foundation’s ongoing commitments and signature programs can be much larger.

This funder’s grantmaking habits vary significantly from program to program, with some programs supporting large, well-known universities, and others supporting small community-led groups.
For additional information about past grants, see the foundation’s awardees page.

Comer only accepts applications for its harm reduction grant program and posts detailed application guidelines and syringe service protocol on its program page. Applications are due on the first of May and November of each year and may be submitted through the foundation’s online application portal. Application for all other grantmaking is by invitation only. General inquiries may be submitted to the foundation’s staff via the organization’s contact page.

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