What We Fund

Our funding priorities

As a private philanthropic foundation, we aim to use our resources to help address some of society’s most important challenges. We have chosen to focus our funding on issues of generational importance, that are impacting communities across the country, and where we believe we can contribute to creating significant change. On this page you will find information about our focus areas, Capacity Strengthening and Montreal funding streams.

Our focus areas

Our three main focus areas of Communities, Reconciliation and Climate represent what we believe to be some of the most pressing issues facing our society today. With our funding, we hope to help create significant positive impact and demonstrate that lasting change is possible across the country. Our focus areas honour the 85-year history of the Foundation and the legacy of our founder, J.W. McConnell, who sought to find solutions to some of the most important issues of his time.

While our focus areas tackle different issues, they are also interconnected. For example, we know equity-deserving groups are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and that Indigenous leadership is essential to the clean energy transition. While you must choose one focus area to submit under, there is space to identify linkages with other areas.

Additionally, we support partners to strengthen organizational capacity and leadership through our Capacity Strengthening stream. We also occasionally direct modest amounts of funding to support unique and time-sensitive needs through our Opportunity funds, or to organizations that seek to test a new idea aligned with our focus areas through our Program Development funding. These contributions are discretionary and cannot be applied for. Finally, acknowledging our special relationship with our home city, we fund organizations dedicated to improving the lives of Montrealers.

To explore your project idea, or if you are unsure which focus area is right for your application, we invite you to book a 15-minute Virtual Office Hours appointment with a member of our program team. They will help you explore potential alignment between your project and our focus area funding and guide you to resources you may need as you consider applying.

Our funding streams

Graphic of what we fund, including Communities (supporting the leadership of equity-deserving groups to address systemic barriers to social justice), Reconciliation (advancing a reconciliation economy), Climate (contributing to Canada's transition to a net-zero economy), Capacity Strengthening for organizational and leadership development, and funding for Montreal charities.

We fund activities that align with at least one of our three focus areas: Communities, Reconciliation, Climate. We also allocate roughly $2 million to funding Montreal charities. Our Capacity Strengthening stream supports partners to bolster organizational capacity and leadership.

Communities

Our Communities focus area aims to support the leadership of equity-deserving groups to collectively address systemic barriers to economic and social justice.

Reconciliation

Our Reconciliation focus area aims to address – and redress – the socioeconomic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples by building prosperity with and for Indigenous peoples.

Climate

Our Climate focus area aims to tackle the climate crisis by funding climate mitigation solutions and by supporting the communities most impacted by climate change in designing and implementing solutions.

Five individuals of different genders and races in conversation at a conference table. They are smiling at a young man talking.

Capacity Strengthening

McConnell has a long history of supporting capacity strengthening initiatives for the charitable and non-profit sector. We currently support capacity strengthening in three ways: as part of our focus area funding, for initiatives that benefit the sector, and Innoweave.

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Montreal

John Wilson McConnell made his home in Montreal. Since its founding in 1937, the McConnell Foundation has held a special place in our hearts for Montreal and has supported many organizations dedicated to improving the lives of Montrealers. Today, alongside our focus areas, the Foundation remains deeply committed to our Montreal roots, where we continue to support local projects.

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Northern Manitoba Food, Culture, and Community Collaborative

Raising the Roof

EDIA and reconciliation

The Foundation is working to build our knowledge, practices and policies related to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA). Similarly, we are committed to embedding reconciliation into all of our work. On both fronts, we have undertaken training and sought external support to build our knowledge and understand where we should make changes to the way we work.

These Foundation-wide priorities show up in many ways, including our funding. Therefore, while alignment with our focus area strategies is our primary lens, we also explore how proposed projects integrate EDIA and/or reconciliation to bolster their impact. For more about how EDIA and reconciliation are integrated into our funding and partnerships, please refer to our Funding and Partnerships Guide.

Get more information about how to apply for our Focus Area, Capacity Strengthening and Montreal funding on our "For Applicants" page.

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