Granting Procedure

We try to make the application process as efficient and easy as possible for the applicant and ourselves. As an applicant you need to make yourself familiar with our requirements and criteria, including the restrictions that Revenue Canada places on our ability to make grants. Initially, you should review the “Need to Know” and the “Grants Made” pages to see what we can and cannot do.

Annual decisions on grant requests are made by the Foundation’s Directors in January, February, and possibly early March. The process concludes when available funds have been assigned. While there is no specific application deadline, full requests arriving late in the above timeframe may be too late for consideration. Requests are circulated by e-mail to Directors by the Administrator starting in January. Preliminary judgements –yes, no, maybe—are made until a consensus is reached, the “maybes” have been resolved, and the total for “yes” votes equals the funding available. Notice that no more requests will be considered is immediately posted on our website. As results are determined, individual applications will be informed concerning the outcome regarding the specific requests. Grant cheques can be issued starting April 1^st, the beginning of our fiscal year. All grants awarded are listed on our website.

The Foundation recommends, particularly for first-time applicants, a two-stage process. If you believe your organization meets the criteria of the Foundation, submit a brief statement of your project, giving us your charitable registration number or other basis of eligibility, and your contact information. (See “Application Requirements” for a form you can use.) The Foundation Administrator will acknowledge and review this information, and advise you quickly as to whether it is worth your proceeding to a full application. This pre-application service is available up to December 1^st. After that, only full applications will be processed.

For organizations to whom we have previously granted, we also appreciate a pre-application notice as to a forthcoming request. It helps us plan for the coming year.