When more requests are received in a SBIF district application period than funds available, the City of Chicago holds a lottery, facilitated by SomerCor, to determine the order that applications will be processed. This lottery is conducted over video call so applicants can watch the process.

• All applications received for a district’s open period are included in the lottery and randomly assigned a number.*
• The SBIF team will start processing these applications in this random order until all available grant funds have been allocated.
• Once all the available funding has been assigned, the remaining applications in the lottery are placed on a waiting list according to the order in which they were drawn.
• If additional funding becomes available, the remaining applications will be processed in order from the waiting list.
• This waiting list is active for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the date of the lottery. Only once every application has been processed or the waiting list expires, will new applications be accepted for that SBIF district.

After each lottery, results will be posted on the SomerCor website by the following business day. A SomerCor representative will contact you to notify you if we are able to start processing your application or if your application has been put on the waitlist.

Please be advised that any work commenced prior to approval will not be eligible for grant funding.

*Please note that applicants for a property located in an INVEST South/West Corridor or SBIF Target Corridor, shall be given priority in the lottery order.

Please be advised that participation in the lottery does not mean that you have been awarded grant funding. The lottery only determines the order in which applications will be reviewed for eligibility for a SBIF grant. All applications will be reviewed and vetted after the lottery drawing for eligibility. Applications that are not eligible will be removed and funds reserved for that project will be made available for the next application in order of the lottery drawing.