Opportunity Overview
Open now. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is accepting applications for the FY27-2 International Tourism Program (Round 2), CSFA 420-25-1607. The current attached NOFO and Illinois GATA opportunity list state that applications are accepted on a first-come, first-served rolling basis until funds are exhausted or January 31, 2027 at 5:00 PM CST, whichever occurs first.
Deadline-control note: DCEO’s opportunity landing-page summary still displays an older October 19, 2026 date. Atlas uses the current attached NOFO and current Illinois GATA listing as the controlling sources for the January 31, 2027 deadline.
Funding
DCEO lists $346,052 in total State funding, approximately 3 to 5 awards, and an award range of $10,000 to $200,000. A recipient must provide a match of at least 50% of the grant amount. In-kind contributions may account for no more than 25% of the required match. Indirect costs are not allowed.
Purpose and Eligibility
The program supports international marketing by Illinois tourism organizations. Eligible applicants are nonprofit corporations or government entities that are specifically designated and certified by DCEO as Local Tourism and Convention Bureaus under 20 ILCS 605/705 and are located outside the City of Chicago. This is not a general tourism-business, healthcare-provider, or vendor grant.
Allowable and Ineligible Costs
Current NOFO examples of allowable costs include international tourism brochures and advertising, website activity, in-country trade representation, familiarization tours, international trade shows and sales missions, translation, research, promotional items, technical assistance and training, association fees, travel, and international-program staff salaries. The NOFO expressly identifies equipment purchases, general administrative expenses, unrelated salaries, and alcohol as ineligible costs.
Application Requirements
DCEO requires the applicable Uniform Grant Application, the full Uniform Budget workbook with required certifications, Conflict of Interest Disclosure, Mandatory Disclosure, and the Program Application. The current NOFO limits submissions to no more than 10 documents and does not permit cloud-document links in place of required files. Applications are submitted through DCEO’s official Smartsheet application.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 55/100. The opportunity is current, verified, and actionable, but the eligible applicant pool is narrow and limited to DCEO-certified tourism bureaus outside Chicago. Applicant-level advancement should be limited to entities whose current DCEO certification can be verified.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. The program is for international tourism marketing, and equipment purchases are expressly ineligible. Atlas will not force N9+ or QC Healthcare into this opportunity.
Next Action
Identify only currently DCEO-certified Local Tourism and Convention Bureaus outside Chicago, verify applicant eligibility and current certification, then apply CRM deduplication, verified business Contact, Email Opt-Out, permanent-bounce, and authoritative send-history controls before any ORIGINAL outreach.
Official source: Illinois DCEO – International Tourism Program (Round 2).