GrantStation Canadian Insider - December 2024

GrantStation is excited to announce that beginning January 24, 2025, subscribers will receive 20 issues annually, providing even more funding opportunities to explore. Enjoy these expanded benefits as part of your free subscription.

Application deadline: January 23, 2025
Geographic scope: Canada, with some emphasis on Ontario
Grant amount: Thirteen grants of $25,000 to $100,000 will be awarded.
Description: Black Opportunity Fund supports a prosperous, healthy, and thriving Black Canada by challenging anti-Black racism. The Justice Grant Program, launched in collaboration with the Law Foundation of Ontario and the TD Ready Commitment, aims to strengthen the effectiveness, capacity, and impact of Black-led, Black-serving organizations across Canada focused on increasing justice-related services and access to justice for Black communities. Support is provided for reintegration programs helping individuals re-enter society after involvement in the justice system, prevention and supports to reduce the risk of incarceration, mental health and well-being supports, advocacy for legal system reform and equity, initiatives addressing racial discrimination and inequality, educational programs and policy advocacy promoting justice and equality, and empowerment of Black individuals through justice engagement. Black-led, Black-serving, Black-focused registered charities and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply.

Application deadline: None for letters of intent
Description: The Max Bell Foundation seeks to achieve better educational, health, and environmental outcomes for Canadians by supporting innovative projects that inform public policy change. The Foundation’s programs focus on the areas of 1) education, including enabling access for all learners, physical and mental health of learners, attendance at K-12 schools, and affordable high-quality early learning and childcare; 2) environment, including climate change adaptation, transition to a low-carbon economy, and conserving biodiversity while promoting economic growth; 3) health and wellness, including mental health supports and services, healthcare systems and access, and supports and services for Canadians who are vulnerable due to social determinants of health; and 4) civic engagement and democratic institutions, including civil society and public information and media environments that contribute to constructive engagement. Eligible applicants include registered charities and qualified donees as well as non-qualified donees partnering with a registered charity.

Application deadline: None
Description: The Honda Canada Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the lives and social well-being of Canadian communities. The Foundation focuses funding on family, education, the environment, and engineering. Registered charities are eligible to apply, including charitable nonprofit organizations and other, tax exempt, national institutions.

Application deadline: January 31 and May 30, 2025
Description: The mission of Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities (Jumpstart) is to enrich the lives of kids in need through sports and physical activity. The Community Development Grants program supports organizations serving participants aged four to 18 from families in financial need, or four to 25 years old for programs primarily serving children and youth with disabilities. Funding is provided through two streams: Programming Support assists organizations with the costs of delivering sport and active recreational programming, including but not limited to, program leaders, instructors, and coaches; facility rentals; equipment needs; and transportation needs. Operational Support helps organizations to build capacity to provide inclusive, equitable, and safe sport participant experiences. Registered charities and qualified donees are eligible to apply. (Jumpstart also offers Individual Child Grants to families in financial need to get their children, ages four to 18, into a sport or physical activity.)

Application deadline: January 10, 2025, for preliminary inquiries
Geographic scope: Ontario
Grant amount: $500 to $5,000
Description: Carrot Cache supports small projects in Ontario working toward a sustainable and just regional food system. Funding is provided for food projects that are driven by individuals or groups who are facing systemic barriers or lacking funds from other resources to complete projects that improve or create change within the local food system in Ontario. Priority funding areas consist of regional food economies, local organic agriculture, community food strategies, and broader food systems initiatives. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, community groups, farms, small businesses, workers' cooperatives, research and advocacy organizations, and media institutions. Applicants from a community that faces systemic barriers (e.g. Black, Indigenous, people of color, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+, remote communities, etc.) will be prioritized.

Application deadline: February 4, 2025
Geographic scope: Winnipeg, MB
Grant amount: Up to $10,000
Description: The Winnipeg Arts Council's mission is to initiate and promote development of the arts for the people of Winnipeg, MB. The Council’s Project Grant Program for Arts Organizations and Collectives is for new and developing arts organizations, established organizations working on a project basis, and arts organizations undertaking special, one-time initiatives. It supports a broad range of activities and art forms, reflecting different cultural traditions and art practices. The program is open to Winnipeg arts organizations and collectives focused on creating, producing, or presenting performing, visual, literary, film, video, or media arts. Applicants must be based in Winnipeg and provide public programming or services that are publicized city-wide.

Application deadline: None
Geographic scope: Company communities in Canada
Description: Power Corporation of Canada provides support in the communities in Canada where the company operates. The company’s areas of interest include: 1) arts, culture, and heritage; 2) community development, including support to Indigenous communities, visible minorities, newcomers, and at-risk youth; 3) education, including technical training, entrepreneurship, life skills, literacy, and school completion; 4) environmental sustainability, including  biodiversity, habitat protection, conservation, and climate change; and 5) health, including medical research, healthcare provision, health infrastructure renewal, and education in disease prevention.

Application deadline: January 14, 2025, for Stage 1 applications
Geographic scope: British Columbia
Grant amount: Each award is $300,000, divided into equal payments of $100,000, to be distributed over three years.
Description: Vancouver Foundation’s Transforming Systems Grants (TSG) will fund organizations advancing systemic change in British Columbia by addressing the root causes of inequality and supporting those most affected to shape their own futures. TSG is intended to support organizations that prioritize intersectionality, allyship, and mutual liberation in their efforts to challenge oppressive systems. These grants of $300,000 offer flexible, operational funding for three years to qualified donees, registered nonprofit societies, and community co-operatives operating in BC. Funding is intended to support existing work and can be used for one or more of the following: sustaining, deepening, or expanding current operations and initiatives; building or expanding networks or strategic partnerships; or amplifying reach and effectiveness.

Application deadline: January 20, 2025
Geographic scope: Canada
Description: The Canadian Consumer Protection Initiative supports the consumer advocacy work of Canadian nonprofit organizations. The Initiative enables organizations to produce independent research on consumer issues and funds the creation of resources to help consumers make informed decisions in the marketplace. It also aims to strengthen capacity building for consumer organizations to help fulfill their mandates and increase their visibility, membership, and self-sufficiency in the interest of Canadian consumers. Incorporated nonprofit organizations and associations are eligible to apply, including nonprofit social enterprises or co-operatives, consortia of nonprofit organizations, post-secondary academic institutions or research institutes, and Indigenous organizations.

Application deadline: March 31, 2025
Geographic scope: Communities impacted by mass layoffs in Canada
Description: The Canada Retraining and Opportunities Initiative supports workforce planning and skills training in communities significantly impacted by a mass layoff. It provides funding for community-based projects that help workers develop the skills they need to transition to new jobs. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, municipal governments, Indigenous organizations or governments, and educational institutions.

Are you a nonprofit leader looking to harness the power of purpose to effect change? If so, you may be interested in reading How to Lead Nonprofits: Turning Purpose into Impact to Change the World, by Nick Grono. This book offers a nonprofit leadership framework centered on what matters most for success. Topics covered include achieving outsize impact by pursuing an organization's purpose, building an inclusive culture that motivates and empowers a team, and partnering with the community, funders, and peer organizations to scale impact.

If you review a funder profile in the GrantStation database (Members only) and determine the funder isn't a good fit for your organization, you can use the "Mark as N/A" button to let yourself know that the program has been reviewed and wasn't a match. In future searches, you'll see an N/A icon in your list of search results next to the funders you've marked.

Webinar date: January 6, 2025, 2:00 to 2:45 PM Eastern Time
Description: AI can be a powerful tool for your grants program, increasing productivity and efficiency by automating routine tasks, organizing data, and assisting in writing. But to leverage AI effectively, you need a strategic setup and the right foundation. In this TargetED session, Alice Ruhnke and David Gates will provide an in-depth introduction to using AI in grant development, emphasizing how to prepare your grants program to take advantage of AI technology. The focus will be on developing templates that will integrate smoothly with AI tools, allowing you to maximize their impact in the future. (This webinar is part of the TargetED series AI for Nonprofits.)

Webinar date: January 9, 2025, 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern Time
Description: Grantseeking is a people-driven process. And the key to your success is the grantmakers themselves—the people who make the decisions about awards from corporate, foundation, and government sources. But who are these people? How do we connect with them? And what do they want from you anyway? In this lively session, longtime grant pro and grantmaking program officer Maryn Boess pulls from her own grantmaking experience (and that of dozens of other private and public program officers, reviewers, and decision-makers) to give you a realistic, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create funder relationships that are authentic and high-integrity, and that work for you.
 

Webinar date: January 14, 2025, 2:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Description: Planning and goal setting are two very important aspects of being an effective nonprofit manager or leader. We often come up with a list of things we’d like to accomplish, but sometimes this is where our momentum ends. But what if you could create a roadmap for success in 2025? During this webinar, Jena Lynch, Education & Community Engagement Manager at Donorbox, will help you evaluate your 2024 efforts and refine your approach for the future. You’ll gain actionable tools and insights to confidently close out last year, reflect on successes and challenges, and hit the ground running with a strategic plan to achieve your goals in 2025.

GrantStation shares database profiles of local, national, Canadian, and international grantmakers with upcoming deadlines each week. Check out the current Funding Spotlights for more grant opportunities!