Grants

This fall, Golden Egg is giving retirement matching grants to local artists. Applications open at 9:00 AM (Chicago/CDT) on September 2, 2024 and close at 11:59 PM on November 1, 2024.

Want to know why the application is the way it is? Check out our Transparency Doc. We will periodically update this living document as questions come in.

Have questions or comments? Email us at info@goldeneggchicago.org, DM us on social media, comment directly on the Transparency Doc, or submit anonymous feedback here.

Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if:

  • You are an active, professional musician

  • You will be between the ages of 20 and 65 on December 31, 2024

  • You live in the City of Chicago

  • Your average adjusted gross income from the past three years is less than $80,000

  • You pledge to deposit grant funds in an individual retirement account (IRA)* along with a matching contribution of your own of any amount

    *If you don't have an IRA yet, that’s OK! We can help you set one up. You can also explore our resources page to learn more about your retirement account options.

How to Apply

We prioritized ease when designing the application form. To apply, you will need:

  • Links to two items from the past 24 months that verify you are an active, professional musician. These links are not work samples, and they will not be evaluated in terms of artistic merit. Some examples of the types of links we are looking for include videos of performances that you have played, calendar listings for events you have been part of, or records or recorded media you have released.

  • Your adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2021, 2022, and 2023. You can find this number on Line 11 of your federal 1040 tax form.

  • If you have a retirement account(s), the 2023 year-end balance of all accounts.

Those applicants selected for a grant will submit proof of address, proof of income, and proof of age to receive grant funds.

Selection Process

We will use a weighted random selection process to select grantees from the pool of eligible applicants. You will have an increased chance of being chosen in the random selection process if:

  • You have a lower average adjusted gross income

  • You have little or no existing retirement savings

  • You have no access to retirement savings through an employer

  • You do not expect to receive transformational financial assistance from others (e.g. spouse, partner, family members, or chosen family)

We will categorize eligible applicants into age groups, then run weighted random selections within each age bracket. Because grants to younger applicants will have more time to appreciate after being invested, grant sizes will increase in relation to grantees’ ages. For this pilot round of grants, we selected the following age brackets and grant sizes:

  • Selected applicants aged 20–32 will receive $2,000

  • Selected applicants aged 33–49 will receive $3,000

  • Selected applicants aged 50–65 will receive $6,500

Before finalizing the random selection results, we will compare the aggregate demographic profile of the group of selected winners against that of the population of the City of Chicago in terms of race/ethnicity, gender identity, disability status, and geographic location. Should this comparison reveal extraordinary inconsistency in the representativeness of the group of selected winners, we may choose to run additional random weighted selection processes at the discretion of our Steering Committee.