Communities

We see community as a group that shares common barriers, needs, and goals, whether defined by geography, identity, interest, or other commonalities.  

Our communities focus area aims to partner with equity-denied groups to support their path toward greater equity and justice. An equity-denied group refers to those whose access to resources, opportunities, or social benefits has historically been denied due to systemic inequities. 

We also acknowledge the importance of intersectionality: the experience of interconnected forms of discrimination, acknowledging that people live with overlapping social identities such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, and religion. 

We seek to support initiatives that have community at the heart of their actions and purpose. It is important to ask: how is the project fostering long-term systemic positive outcomes for the community? 

Our role as a national funder is to offer our resources as a lever to address the root causes of inequity at a meaningful scale. As such, we are looking to help fund activities that fall into one of the following categories: 

• Collaborative action: creating spaces of collaboration for multiple organizations to come together to address barriers to social and/or economic inclusion in a bold way. We want organizations to reach together to accomplish audacious goals that they are less likely to achieve on their own.
• Policy change: advancing policies or policy changes that favour social justice, build economic resilience and address barriers. We will support policy change efforts at all stages: from advocacy to engagement, communication, consultation and priority setting.
• Regeneration: supporting communities in their capacity to develop solutions that enable recovery from historical harm. Regeneration involves processes of renewal, restoration, and growth—particularly in communities that have faced systemic damage or loss. This pillar allows us to fund groups rooted in a deep understanding of history, focusing on local innovation to rebuild a more equitable future. 

We recently updated our funding strategy. To learn more, watch our webinar, where we outline the key updates and details of our approach. For details on the questions and criteria for each funding strategy, please refer to our sample application form.

We do not fund frontline services or running day-to-day services or programs. For example, we do not fund food banks, shelter programming, mental health counseling, food production or distribution, health care for people or animals, drop-in centre programs, support groups, art therapy, training, workshops, or other ongoing community services delivery. 

We also do not fund work that takes place outside of Canada. 

Other things we cannot support include:  

• Academic research 

• Renovation or purchase of a building 

• Conference attendance  

• Fellowships 

• Event sponsorship  

For more detail on the criteria, please refer to our Eligibility Quiz here.

The belief that communities have the best understanding of the challenges they face and their potential solutions grounds the following considerations. When reviewing applications, we consider the following:   

• Nothing About Us Without Us: This focus area prioritizes work that rebalances power and centers communities in addressing their own needs. We aim to partner with and strengthen organizations and networks that reflect the communities they serve.   

• Focus on racialized groups and intersectionality: Racialized groups are disproportionately affected by systemic issues. We will pay particular attention to supporting their work to confront their unique barriers and foster justice, acknowledging how intersectionality shapes experiences within and across communities.   

• Projects that Challenge the Status Quo: We support groups that challenge societal norms and confront existing systems, embodying McConnell’s principle of boldness to foster creativity and innovation.   

• Collaborative engagement: We recognize that isolated efforts rarely have the capacity to influence the systems affecting equity-denied communities. Collective action, whereby organizations collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths, has been consistently identified as a critical approach for creating meaningful change.  

• Allocating Resources to “Underfunded” Groups: We intentionally support groups traditionally overlooked in philanthropy to challenge conventional thinking and promote equity and innovation, aligning with our commitment to fairness and recognizing the diverse starting points and aspirations of different communities.   

• Work Aimed at Dismantling Racism and Colonialism: We aim to fund initiatives that help to confront and dismantle the barriers of racism and colonialism.   

• Building “Social Infrastructures”: We aim to support community-driven systems that ensure sustainable benefits for future generations. 

• Projects that are clear and specific: We aim to support organizations that are engaged on changing systems through work that is clear and specific.