RFP: Transfer Innovation Impact Model (TIIM) – Household Wealth

Background

The Transfer Innovation Impact Model (TIIM) initiative creates a learning community for grant recipients to participate in opportunities to share data and best practices to learn from each other in pursuit of improving student outcomes. TIIM is led and supported in part by Bridges to Brighter Futures, a collaboration between the Kinship Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.

The TIIM RFP invites organizations to apply for a one-year planning grant to develop and advance a transfer model that dramatically improves the bachelor’s degree completion of Chicago community college students. This model will be driven by innovation, research, reporting, and supporting partnerships to create intentional learning communities.   

Successful partnership models will:

• Uncover and address the needs of specific populations of Chicago students, including the most underserved populations and underinvested neighborhoods.
• Collect and share data to understand barriers on individual campuses and demonstrate the effects of interventions over time.
• Create bold, innovative practices that have the potential to improve outcomes for students.

Need/Opportunity Statement

While middle skills certifications provide access to quality jobs, degree attainment remains the strongest pathway to economic mobility, particularly when students pursue college majors related to in-demand fields. Given the diversity of community college students, effective transfer practices have the potential to diversify the bachelor’s degree institutions where community college students enroll after transfer, an even more important strategy for equity now that the U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated race-based admissions strategies.

Currently, 79 percent of students who start at community college in hopes of a more affordable pathway to a bachelor’s degree get their plans derailed by a fragmented system full of unexpected costs and administrative burdens that deter many students from completing the transfer process.

Goals & Outcomes

The goal of the TIIM initiative is to identify and promote strategies that improve bachelor’s degree completion within two to three years of transfer from community college programs for students who traditionally have had lower rates of completion, including Black, Latine and low-income students in Chicago. 

Priority Strategies & Activities

Applications must be submitted by a bachelor’s degree-granting institution in the Chicago area and require a partnership with an individual community college in Cook County. Applications must also include at least one community or nonprofit partner as part of the student support effort.

The planning program model should include an outline of the three-year implementation plan, including the specific roles for partnerships with a community college and a nonprofit student support organization that together drive improved student outcomes.

Bachelor’s degree granting institutions can submit no more than TWO applications for this planning RFP, each with a different community college. Each application will be considered independently as part of the grants cohort chosen through the RFP. Funded institutions will be required to share data, disaggregated by race and gender for all key metrics above throughout the application process and reporting. Data will be gathered, analyzed and shared in an annual public report.

Grant Type

Project Specific

Grant Amounts Available & Grant Term

This grantmaking opportunity will occur in two phases. In Phase 1, the TIIM initiative will award five one-year planning grants of $300,000 each. Successful Phase 1 grant applicants will be invited to submit an Implementation application during the planning grant phase. TIIM Phase 2 Implementation grants of up to $1,700,000 over three years will be awarded to support the plans created during the planning process. The number of implementation grants awarded will be dependent on funds raised.

Please Note: Phase 2 Implementation applications will be invited and submitted in the Winter/Spring of 2026 and will be evaluated competitively among all applying institutions. TIIM will look for plans that set dramatic targets and clear plans for improving the key program outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Transfer Innovation Impact Model (TIIM)
Frequently Asked Questions

• Is an LOI required for application?
  • Yes, applications will be invited based on the LOI review.
• Does the MOU need to be completed before submitting an LOI?
  • No MOU is required for the LOI. However, letters of agreement are needed from all partners for the full application, and MOUs will be required from all partners for Phase 2 applications.
• Is a budget required during the LOI stage?
  • A budget is not needed for the LOI but must be submitted for the full application.
• Are there character limits in the responses?
  • There are no character limits, but brevity is preferred. Please do not use special characters in your text.
• Can I change the Community College partner after I submit the LOI?
  • No, you cannot, as the community college you select will help guide the decision-making during the review process.
• Can I submit an application for more than one community college?
  • No, applications are for partnership with a single community college.
• If I am a grant recipient for the planning grant (Phase 1), will I automatically receive the implementation grant (Phase 2)?
  • No, you must be invited to apply for the Phase 2 grant (in 2026).
• If awarded, what is the grant funding period?
  • The length of this funding period is 12 months. Decisions will be announced in late June 2025.
• Do the projects this RFP supports need to be new or can they be existing?
  • Projects must be based on data demonstrating student need and designed to dramatically improve outcomes.
• Does this funding cover full tuition?
  • No, it does not. This funding is intended to support pathways that will increase access for a more seamless and inclusive transfer process from a community college to a four-year institution. This is not a scholarship program, though funds for student supports may be part of the project and attention to cost is an important component.
• Are organizations that have applied to other funding opportunities in GrantCentral eligible to submit an LOI for this opportunity?
  • Our philosophy is that if you are not overburdened by applying to and reporting on multiple opportunities, you should feel free to do so.
• Am I required to share data from my institution?
  • If invited after the LOI review, disaggregated data on all Measures of Progress will be required for application and annual reporting.
• Do I have to have a partnership with a nonprofit or community organization?
  • At least one nonprofit must be included in the project to more fully support student success and acknowledge that this work needs support beyond the institution’s walls. The nonprofit must also be included as a subcontract noted in the budget.
• Can I include an existing partnership that my institution has with a community partner or nonprofit?
  • Yes. It will be a good fit if the nonprofit supports improved student outcomes for the population being served.
• Can an institution apply for more than one grant?
  • Yes. An institution can apply for up to two grants, each with a different community college. All applications will be reviewed competitively alongside others received.