2025
Call for
Letters of Intent

Next open period
June 1 - September 1, 2025

For Funding Available 2026

The Portes Foundation Accepts Letters of Intent Annually from June 1 – September 1.  The Next Open Period will begin June 1, 2025.

The Portes Foundation, in association with the Institute of Medicine of Chicago (IOMC), solicits letters of intent annually for research projects in health promotion and disease prevention. To be considered for an award to be granted in February of 2025, a letter of intent was required by September 1, 2024.  After an initial review, select projects have been asked to submit a full proposal that will be due January 5, 2025.  Funding for awards selected from the current pool will be available in 2025.  Funding for awards selected from those submitted during the next Open Period will be available in 2026.

Research Proposals

Each year, the Portes Foundation invites proposals that explore research or implementation ideas important in health promotion and disease prevention. These projects may be investigative in etiologic factors, preventive measures, primary and secondary prevention screening, and education. Projects in patient education or health professionals’ education will also be considered. All projects must include a complete and thorough evaluation component.

The Portes Foundation Mission

The Portes Foundation awards “seed-money” grants for projects in many areas of human wellness including grants for medical research, education, and clinical programs in the areas of health maintenance and disease prevention. In particular, the focus is on enabling investigators to launch new and promising lines of research focused on these areas and including the impact on patients and families.

Priority Funding Areas

RESEARCH

The Portes Foundation seeks opportunities to enable young investigators to launch new and promising lines of research aimed at disease prevention and treatment including pilot studies and collaborative projects.

EDUCATION

Educational projects supported by the Portes Foundation include both professional development efforts and patient education designed to improve health maintenance and disease prevention.

CLINICAL PROGRAMS

The Portes Foundation welcomes proposals from clinicians in the practice setting including nurses and other allied health professionals with an interest in the development of programs to improve health maintenance and disease prevention.

In Memoriam - Allan R. Carroll

Allan Carroll Photo

Allan Carroll was President of the Board of the Portes Foundation.  He was a graduate of North Shore Country Day School in Wilmette, and earned a BA in Political Science and History from Tufts University in Medford, MA.  In his professional career, he was active in the financial markets since the 1960’s having worked first as Account Executive and later in management positions with appropriate licensure for Wall Street firms including Merrill Lynch, Bache & Co., and L. F. Rothschild. In 1980, he founded Carroll Financial Group, Inc. He was most recently President of GITTEL, Inc., a private consulting firm.

Mr. Carroll was a Director of Edens Bank, Wilmette, IL and of North Community Bank, Chicago, IL, where he also served as a member of the Executive Loan Review Committee. He served on the Executive Loan Committee of Metropolitan Bank Group, and also on the Independent Directors’ Committee.

He was the longest serving President of Ezra Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation, Skokie, IL where he also served as Managing Trustee of the multi-million dollar Endowment Fund. He was awarded The Gates of Jerusalem Medal by State of Israel Bonds.

Mr. Carroll is survived by his loving wife, Paula (Adler), two children, Laura (Jed) Ward and Jonathan (Katrina), and three grandchildren, Joe, Asher, and Brooke. 

Our Partners

The Portes Foundation is part of a cooperative effort among a group of healthcare foundations and institutions whose purpose is achieving synergies, expansion, of individual foundation programs, and the development of new joint programs in healthcare.

Member organizations include:

Hektoen Institute
www.hektoen.org

Institute of Medicine of Chicago
www.iomc.org

Michael Reese Research & Education Foundation
www.michaelreesefoundation.org

Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago
www.phimc.org

The Portes Foundation
www.portesfoundation.org