Community Needs Grants 2023

Community Needs Grants Overview

Approximately 25 grants up to a maximum of $20,000 each will be selected.

The aim of the Community Needs Grants is to provide short-term support for organizations doing gender justice work, with a focus on smaller grassroots organizations, to meet a range of immediate needs. Applicants may apply for funds to cover existing program costs, to pilot new initiatives, to undertake timely policy or advocacy initiatives, to support organizational capacity-building or professional development, to build networks, and/or to cover operational and administrative expenses.

To be deemed eligible for a Community Needs Grant, organizations must demonstrate that their proposal meets the following criteria.

1. Applicants must be incorporated non-profit organizations and have a valid charitable number from Canada Revenue Agency or be a First Nations Band or municipality designated as a qualified donee by Canada Revenue Agency. If your organization does not have charitable status or is not a qualified donee, we can consider an application in partnership with another organization that is a registered charity or qualified donee with a mandate relevant to your proposal.

2. Gender-based programming, services, and/or advocacy are core or central to your organization’s mission and you have significant experience offering gender-based programs, services, and/or advocacy initiatives with/for women, girls, Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people who face multiple barriers and are underserved, including:

a. First Nations, Métis, and Inuit
b. Black
c. 2SLGBTQI+
d. With disabilities
e. Living in rural, remote, or northern communities
f. Racialized
g. Refugee, immigrant, or non-status
h. Living on low incomes
i. Older/Seniors
j. Young

3. Your organization is grassroots with a small budget (defined as organizations with an operating budget of less than $1 million per year OR shelters/transitional housing with an operating budget of less than $2 million per year). NOTE: The Foundation will accept applications from larger organizations (ex. Band Councils, shared platforms, or hamlets, etc.) on behalf of a nonprofit organization without charitable or qualified donee status.

4. The proposed funding will support your organization’s ability to provide programs, services and/or advocacy initiatives, either directly through funding program or service costs or indirectly through funding core operational costs, that align with one or more of the Foundation’s funding pillars:

a. Gender-Based Violence
b. Economic Security
c. Girls’ Empowerment

Interested organizations are invited to submit a full proposal using the online form including budget form and letters of support.

The submission deadline is Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Proposals submitted after this date will not be considered.

Please note that we will only accept one application per organization in this grant stream.

If you have any questions about your application, please check the Grant Guidelines and Criteria, Instructions, and the FAQ documents or attend one of our webinars. See sidebar for more information.

If you have any further questions, please e-mail or telephone:
Phone: 416-365-1444 Fax: 416-365-1745
Toll free: 1-866-293-4483 TTY: 416-365-1732

Jacqueline Hall (ext. 231)
Program Manager
annualgrants@canadianwomen.org

Sumayya Hafeez (ext. 266)
Grants Coordinator
annualgrants@canadianwomen.org

Community Needs Grants are made possible by the following generous donors to the Canadian Women’s Foundation:

Logos for Women and Gender Equality Canada and Government of Canada

and our many other corporate partners, individual donors, and private family foundations throughout the country.

Interested in applying?

  1. Read the Grant Guidelines to see if your proposal fits the criteria
  2. Read the Application Instructions
  3. Read the Frequently Asked Questions
  4. Watch this webinar about the application process: