CREation Community Grants Program

Priorities:

There is a priority in this stream to support:

• New and emerging Indigenous grassroots groups and collectives
• Projects that are testing and/or trying a new idea
• New groups who have never run a project before
• Groups who have never received funding from CREaton before

Focus Areas:

Projects should focus on providing programming, training, or capacity-building opportunities for Indigenous youth. Below are some possible examples of eligible projects. These examples do not include every type of project that we would fund

• Programs for youth to participate in recreational, wellness, and/or arts-based programming
• Cultural programming, including ceremonies, teaching circles, and land-based activities
• Peer-led circles where youth can build relationships and participate in online activities
• Intergenerational programs, that provide youth opportunities to work with Elders, parents, families, children, etc
• Programs that increase youth leadership skills
• Professional development programs for members of a youth council/organization to increase their knowledge about organizational governance
• Projects that target making resources (such as mental health services) safer and more accessible

All funded projects engage more youth other than just project leaders.

Eligibility:

Funding in this stream will only be open to grassroots Indigenous youth groups consisting of a minimum of 2 youth. Please note: for the purpose of this program, CRE defines Indigenous as status and non-status First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada, living both on and off-reserve.

Eligible groups and projects include:

• Unincorporated/grassroots youth groups/collectives/councils comprised primarily of Indigenous youth
• Emerging, incorporated youth groups (note: CRE defines “emerging” as groups that have an operating budget of less than $50,000)
• Projects must serve primarily serve Indigenous youth

Ineligible groups and projects:

• Individuals and/or projects that are not led by 2+ Indigenous youth
• Projects that are not youth-led (or where the majority of the leadership is 30+)
• Non-Indigenous groups and organizations
• Groups that have received more than $10,000 in funding from CRE over the past 12 months
• Projects taking place outside of Canada
• For-profit corporations

Ineligible Expenses:

CRE will NOT fund projects that are political in nature, or that involve distributing substances (i.e. alcohol, non-traditional tobacco, marijuana, illicit substances, etc). CRE will also not fund projects or activities that are taking place outside of Canada.

Project leaders cannot receive honorariums of more than $500.

Review Process:

Applications will be reviewed by a Community Grants Committee that includes Advisory Circle members, community members, Indigenous youth and other knowledge carriers. All members will have experience running programs and initiatives, overseeing projects and offering community support. 100% of the review committee will be Indigenous, and a minimum of 75% will be youth.

Capacity Building:

Youth will be invited to participate in CRE’s Capacity Building Program. This program is geared towards strengthening skill sets around program administration, facilitation, and evaluation as well as providing opportunities to learn about program design, organizational governance and growth, personal development, and youth leadership. Youth will have the opportunity to work toward a certificate in the program.

Reporting and Evaluation:

Grantees will be asked to submit one report:

• Final Report (2 months after project completion): Grantees will submit an evaluation report that will include reporting on the final budget (how much money you spent), data on the number of participants reached in your project, data on time spent on the project, and a narrative report on the project. The final report will likely take 3 – 7 hours to complete. Grantees will receive a copy of the evaluation report within the first month of their project start date.

Financial Oversight and Trusteeship:

Groups/councils/collectives with members who are over the age of 18 do not require an external funding administrator and, if successful, will receive the grant funds directly.

Successful applicant groups (with leaders aged 15-17) will require a local non-profit or trusted community member over age 18 to serve as their grant trustee. This trustee may be someone the applicants are already familiar with or CRE can support in connecting them with a willing organization or community member as well as with creating a trustee agreement that ensures youth will be supported

View under “What do we mean by a trustee” for how we define trustee.

Release of Funds:

CRE does not issue cheques. Funding will be sent to grantees via a Plooto bank transfer/direct deposit. Grantees will receive funds within two weeks of submitting a signed funding agreement.

Timelines:

Stages	Spring Intake	Summer Intake	Fall Intake	Winter Intake
Applications Open	Mar 1, 2023	May 1, 2023	Aug 1, 2023	Nov 1, 2023
Application Deadline	Mar 31, 2023	May 31, 2023	Aug 31, 2023	Nov 30, 2023
Decisions Released	May 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2023	Oct 31, 2023	Jan 31, 2024
Project Start Date	Jun 1, 2023	Aug 1, 2023	Nov 1, 2023	Feb 1, 2024
Project End Date	Oct 31, 2023	Jan 31, 2024	Mar 31, 2024	Jun 30, 2024
Final Report Due	Jan 9, 2024	Mar 31, 2024	May 31, 2024	Aug 31, 2024

Questions:

CRE encourages applicants to reach out if they have any questions. Please email gwen@canadianroots.ca to speak to a member of the team.

Priorities:

There is a priority in this stream to support:

• Indigenous grassroots groups and collectives
• Groups that have experience running programming and projects, but are looking to scale to a new level or try something new
• Projects that have an appropriate scale and scope for the funding provided (i.e. engagement numbers and frequency make sense for the funding requested)
• Projects that are multi-dimensional (i.e. are doing more than just one thing, and are looking to improve wellness overall)

Focus Areas:

Successful projects will fall within the following areas:

• Assessment and Feasibility Studies: Projects will focus on assessing community and youth needs, doing feasibility projects, and engaging the community in consultation.
• Arts and Culture: Projects that increase access to arts, art-based workshops, cultural knowledge, traditions, and ceremony
• Innovation and Change: Projects will support youth groups in accessing capacity-building, knowledge mobilization, and funding resources. Projects will focus on innovating healthcare systems, developing solutions to infrastructure and resource challenges (such as access to clean water and sustainable food sources), and increasing access to technology.
• Intergenerational Relationship Building: Projects will engage multiple age groups and should help to enhance the sense of community (i.e. projects where youth participate in programs with Elders, families, adults, etc).
• Resiliency Building: Projects will focus on organizational development in Indigenous agencies. The intention of this focus area is to increase leadership, governance, capacity, and opportunity for Indigenous organizations to impact communities and systems. Projects can include organizational enhancements (i.e. training, website development, strategic plan development, consulting projects, purchase of supplies, etc).
• Youth and Community Wellness: Projects will focus on enhancing community wellness and can include one-off events or long-term programs and any type of programming related to wellness (i.e. workshops, teachings, gatherings).

Eligibility:

Funding in this stream will only be open to grassroots Indigenous youth groups consisting of a minimum of 3 youth. Please note: for the purpose of this program, CRE defines Indigenous as status and non-status First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada, living both on and off-reserve.

Eligible groups and projects include:

• Unincorporated/grassroots youth groups and collectives
• Small, incorporated youth groups (note: CRE defines a small organization as groups that have 1-8 full-time employees and an operating budget of less than $500,000)
• Youth Councils

Ineligible groups and projects:

• Individuals
• Projects that are not youth-led (or where the majority of the leadership is 30+)
• Non-Indigenous groups and organizations
• Projects taking place outside of Canada
• For-profit corporations and businesses

Ineligible Expenses:

CRE will NOT fund projects that are political in nature, or that involve distributing substances (i.e. alcohol, non-traditional tobacco, marijuana, illicit substances, etc). CRE will also not fund projects or activities that are taking place outside of Canada.

Review Process:

Applications will be reviewed by a Community Grants Committee that includes Advisory Circle members, community members, Indigenous youth, and other knowledge carriers. All members will have experience running programs and initiatives, overseeing projects, and offering community support. 100% of the review committee will be Indigenous, and a minimum of 75% will be youth.

Capacity Building:

All funded groups will be required to take part in online training/skills development workshops on managing, facilitating, evaluating, and reporting on programs. There will be orientation sessions for all new grantees. All grantees will be assigned a CRE staff member and will have individual meetings with this staff member throughout the project.

Reporting and Evaluation:

Grantees will be asked to report twice on their projects:

• Midterm Check-In (6 months into the project): Grantees will meet digitally with a CREation staff to talk through challenges and successes. Grantees will share updates on budget spending, completed activities, and youth reach.
• Final Report (2 months after project completion): Grantees will submit an evaluation report that will include reporting on the final budget (how much money you spent), data on the number of participants reached in your project, data on time spent on the project, and a narrative report on the project. The final report will likely take 3 – 7 hours to complete. Grantees will receive a copy of the evaluation report within the first month of their project start date.

Financial Oversight and Trusteeship:

Successful applicants over age 18 do not require an external funding administrator/trustee and, if successful, will receive the grant funds directly.

Successful applicants aged 15-17 will require a local non-profit or trusted community member over age 18 to serve as their grant trustee. This trustee may be someone the applicants are already familiar with or CRE can support in connecting them with a willing organization or community member as well as with creating a trustee agreement that ensures youth will be supported.

View under “What do we mean by a trustee” for how we define trustee.

Release of Funds:

CRE does not issue cheques. Funding will be sent to grantees via a Plooto bank transfer/direct deposit. Grantees will receive funds within two weeks of submitting a signed funding agreement.

Timelines:

Stages	Spring Intake	Fall Intake
Applications Open	Mar 1, 2023	Aug 1, 2023
Application Deadline	Mar 31, 2023	Aug 31, 2023
Decisions Released	May 31, 2023	Oct 31, 2023
Project Start Date	Jun 1, 2023	Nov 1, 2023
Project End Date	Feb 1, 2024	Jun 1, 2024
Final Report Due	Apr 1, 2024	Aug 1, 2024

Questions:

CRE encourages applicants to reach out if they have any questions. Please email gwen@canadianroots.ca to speak to a member of the team.

Priorities:

There is a priority in this stream to support:

• Indigenous youth-led non-profits and registered charities
• Indigenous youth-led grassroots groups that have strong experience running programming and projects (and a trustee to hold funds)
• Projects that are large in scale and scope (i.e. high impact over a long period of time)
• Projects that are multi-dimensional (i.e. are doing more than just one thing, and are looking to improve wellness overall)

Please note that groups funded in this stream must have a formal governance system in place (whether grassroots organizations or incorporated organizations).

Focus Areas:

Successful projects will fall within the following areas:

• Arts and Culture: Projects that increase access to arts, art-based workshops, cultural knowledge, traditions, and ceremony
• Innovation and Change: Projects will support youth groups in accessing capacity-building, knowledge mobilization, and funding resources. Projects will focus on innovating healthcare systems, developing solutions to infrastructure and resource challenges (such as access to clean water and sustainable food sources), and increasing access to technology.
• Intergenerational Relationship Building: Projects will engage multiple age groups and should help to enhance the sense of community (i.e. projects where youth participate in programs with Elders, families, adults, etc).
• Resiliency Building: Projects will focus on organizational development in Indigenous agencies. The intention of this focus area is to increase leadership, governance, capacity, and opportunity for Indigenous organizations to impact communities and systems. Projects can include organizational enhancements (i.e. training, website development, strategic plan development, consulting projects, purchase of supplies, etc).
• Youth and Community Wellness: Projects will focus on enhancing community wellness and can include one-off events or long-term programs and any type of programming related to wellness (i.e. workshops, teachings, gatherings).

Eligibility:

Funding in this stream is only open to incorporated/registered non-profit organizations and charities that are Indigenous youth-led OR grassroots groups that have an incorporated group trustee. Please note: for the purpose of this program, CRE defines Indigenous as status and non-status First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada, living both on and off-reserve.

Eligible groups and projects include:

• Indigenous youth-led incorporated non-profit organizations
• Indigenous youth-led registered charities
• Indigenous youth-led organizations
• Grassroots groups that have an incorporated organization that has agreed to trustee the project (please include a trustee letter as a part of your application)

Ineligible groups and projects:

• Individuals
• Unincorporated and grassroots groups without a trustee
• Non-Indigenous organizations
• Organizations that are not Indigenous youth-led
• For-profit corporations and businesses
• Groups or projects taking place outside of Canada

Ineligible Expenses:

CRE will NOT fund projects that are political in nature, or that involve distributing substances (i.e. alcohol, non-traditional tobacco, marijuana, illicit substances, etc). CRE will also not fund projects or activities that are taking place outside of Canada.

Review Process:

Applications will be reviewed by a Community Grants Committee that includes Advisory Circle members, community members, Indigenous youth, and other knowledge carriers. All members will have experience running programs and initiatives, overseeing projects, and offering community support. 100% of the review committee will be Indigenous, and a minimum of 75% will be youth.

Capacity Building:

All funded groups will be required to take part in online training/skills development workshops on managing, facilitating, evaluating, and reporting on programs. There will be orientation sessions for all new grantees. All grantees will be assigned a CRE staff member and will have individual meetings with this staff member throughout the project.

Reporting and Evaluation:

Grantees will be asked to report four times on their projects:

• Year One Midterm Check-In (6 months into the project): Grantees will meet digitally with a CREation staff to talk through challenges and successes. Grantees will share updates on budget spending, completed activities, and youth reach.
• Year One Report (12 months into the project): Grantees will submit a Year One report (including a narrative report, budget report, participant tracking sheet, program hour tracking sheet, etc) Grantees will receive a copy of the report within the first month of their project start date.
• Year Two Midterm Check-In (18 months into the project): Grantees will meet digitally with a CREation staff to talk through challenges and successes. Grantees will share updates on budget spending, completed activities, and youth reach.
• Final Report (2 months after project completion): Grantees will submit a final report (including narrative report, budget report, participant tracking sheet, program hour tracking sheet, etc) Grantees will receive a copy of the final report within the first month of their project start date.

Grantees will have to collect data as a part of their reporting.

Financial Oversight and Trusteeship:

Unincorporated/grassroots organizations will require an incorporated non-profit to serve as their grant trustee. This trustee may be someone the applicants are already familiar with or CRE can support in connecting them with a willing organization as well as with creating a trustee agreement that ensures youth will be supported.

View under “What do we mean by a trustee” for how we define trustee.

Release of Funds:

CRE does not issue cheques. Funding will be sent to grantees via a Plooto bank transfer/direct deposit. Grantees will receive funds within two weeks of submitting a signed funding agreement.

Funding will be released in three installments:

• June 2023: 50% after the contract is signed
• March 2024: 45% (pending an approved midterm check-in)
• July 2025: 5% after the submission of your final report.

Timelines:

Stages	Important Dates
Applications Open	Mar 1, 2023
Application Deadline	Mar 31, 2023
Decisions Released	May 31, 2023
Year 1 Start Date	Jun 1, 2023
Year 1 Midterm	Nov 2023
Year 1 End Date	May 31, 2024
Year 2 Start Date	Jun 1, 2024
Year 2 Midterm	Nov 2024
Year 2 End Date	May 31, 2025
Final Report Due	Jul 31, 2025

Questions:

CRE encourages applicants to reach out if they have any questions. Please email gwen@canadianroots.ca to speak to a member of the team.

Q: What do we mean by “Youth-Led”?

A: All CREation grants require that a minimum of 2 (sometimes 3, depending on the stream) Indigenous youth aged 15-29 design and run the project. This means the youth leads come up with the idea and structure of their project, complete the application, attend necessary meetings with their CRE grant coordinator, attend two mandatory workshops, plan and run the project, take charge of their project evaluation, and serve as primary contacts for their project. If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry! We’ll explain more and we encourage youth teams to have support from adults too. Successful applicants will also be assigned a CRE Grant Coordinator to support them along the way.

Sometimes youth groups will apply to do a project in partnership with a larger organization and while that would still qualify, the project itself would still need to be meaningfully youth-led as outlined above.

Q: What do we mean by “Indigenous organization/group”?

A: CRE is committed to ensuring that funds from this granting program are going into the hands of Indigenous-led groups, organizations and collectives. When we refer to an Indigenous organization, we require that they meet the following criteria:

Incorporated organizations/registered non-profits must meet all of the following three criteria:

• A mission/purpose, mandate, and vision statement that outlines your organization’s commitment to working with Indigenous communities.
• At least 50% of the organization’s Board of Directors are Indigenous and/or the organization is staffed and led by primarily Indigenous people.
• The organization uses an Indigenous model/practices to serve the Indigenous community.

Grassroots groups and collectives must meet all of the following three criteria:

• At least 50% of participants in programming run by the group are Indigenous (work is Indigenous-focused).
• At least 75% of staff/organizers are Indigenous.
• The group uses Indigenous practices to serve the Indigenous community.

Q: What do we mean by “trustee”? 

A: The CREation granting program allows a group or collective to hold up to $30,000 in grants in a group leader’s personal bank account. However, if funds are larger than $30,000 and the group is a collective or grassroots, they will need to find an incorporated organization to support by trusteeing the grant. A trustee holds the grant funding for the grassroots or collective group, assumes the financial responsibility for managing the funds, and ensures that the project deliverables are completed. In addition, the trustee may choose to take a small admin fee for holding the responsibilities outlined above — at CREation you can have the admin fees covered in your grant if you decide to add it to your budget when applying for funding. A grassroots or collective may also choose to have a trustee for $30,000 and below funding. This option is okay and is the choice of the collective or grassroots group leaders.

Successful applicant groups (with leaders aged 15-17) will require a local non-profit or trusted community member over age 18 to serve as their grant trustee. This trustee may be someone the applicants are already familiar with or CRE can support in connecting them with a willing organization or community member as well as with creating a trustee agreement that ensures youth will be supported.