Communities

We take a broad view of community: a group who share common barriers, needs and goals, whether defined by geography, identity, interest, purpose, practice, or other commonalities.

How we support change

Our Communities focus area prioritizes work that rebalances power and centres communities in addressing their own needs. We aim to partner with and strengthen organizations and networks that reflect the communities they serve, and that represent their interests as they seek to address historical and ongoing barriers to social and economic justice.

Proposals will be evaluated not only for the perceived impact that their project is looking to have on a given community, but also on the level of involvement the community has in the design and implementation of the project.  It is important to ask: how is the project fostering long-term systemic positive outcomes for the community?

To drive this focus area, the McConnell Foundation uses the four principles of equity, trust, community self-determination and collaborative engagement. These principles are centred around the belief that communities know what is best for them.

With this focus area, we seek to support organizations (non-profits, community groups, charities, and the like) who have community at the heart of their actions and purpose. As a national funder, our role is to offer our resources as a lever for communities working to address the root causes of inequity at a meaningful scale. As such, we are looking to help fund activities that fall in one of the two 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.

To learn more about the questions and criteria for both funding strategies, please read our sample application form.