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Eligibility

 Free to Play was created to support open-ended, adventurous play that helps kids thrive and communities come together.

Eligible Organizations

Organizations must: 

Notes on Eligibility:

  • Local chapters of provincial/national charities and/or local charities that have multiple local branches may apply if they have their own accounting and finances. Multiple chapters can apply if they are distinct legal entities.
  • Activities must take place within the area served by a participating community foundation.

Ineligible Organizations: 

  • For-profit organizations
  • Unincorporated nonprofits
  • Business non-profit institutions, including business associations, chambers of commerce and condominium associations;
  • Individuals

Activities

Projects must:

These examples are meant to spark ideas. We welcome creative ideas that reflect your community’s needs and encourage you to explore projects beyond this list of examples.

A family resource program develops a vision and set of policies for outdoor play within its programming. They hire an outdoor play consultant or partner with a non-profit organization to train staff on outdoor play and risk. Working with a landscape architect, they naturalize their outdoor play space and acquire loose parts through donations and purchases. After sharing information about play and risk with community members, they offer drop-in outdoor play sessions for children and caregivers and invite local childcare programs to visit regularly.

A municipality or local Nation brings together child-serving organizations, Elders, and community members to co-create a vision for outdoor and land-based play. The municipality or Nation provides information and training on play and risk, and builds relationships to plan outdoor play experiences across neighbourhoods. Activities may include temporarily closing streets for outdoor play, hosting traditional land-based gatherings, supporting intergenerational play, and training staff and volunteers to facilitate outdoor play in parks and public spaces.

A local school collaborates with community partners to (re)develop outdoor spaces for shared use by the school, after-school programs, and local community groups. Together, they create a community-wide outdoor play vision, develop shared-use agreements, and organize joint learning opportunities about play and risk. Children engage in outdoor play during recess, after school, and through outdoor, play-based learning during class time.

A community researcher partners with local organizations and residents to identify barriers to outdoor play and co-design responsive local programming. Multi-sector teams work together on communications and outreach to build awareness, participation, and ong-term community support for outdoor play.

Ineligible Activities:

  • Take place outside of Canada;
  • Are not open to the community they intend to serve;
  • Are one- or two-day events without lasting impact;
  • Are partisan, political, or election-related;
  • Are purely research based;
  • Are religious or include a requirement to participate in any dimension of faith;
  • Benefit private individuals or interests;
  • Build endowments and reserve funds;
  • Deliver virtual programming for children;
  • Focus solely on purchasing playground equipment without activities that promote outdoor play;
  • Focus solely on core funding where there is no project;
  • Involve major capital projects (e.g. building infrastructure or purchasing land or buildings);
  • Involve the purchasing of electronic devices;
  • Undermine or infringe on human rights protected in Canada.

Expenses 

Projects can begin in 2026 and may continue for up to three years, as long as all funding is used by 2028.

All expenses must directly support the project.

Eligible expenses may include:

  • Administrative costs directly related to the project;
  • Communications;
  • Contractor or professional service fee;
  • Evaluation of the project;
  • Honoraria;
  • Materials and supplies;
  • Staff salaries and related employment costs;
  • Training and workshops;
  • Translation and interpretation services;
  • Travel and transportation costs.

Ineligible Expenses: 

Ineligible expenses include:

  • Activities or services carried out outside of Canada;
  • Costs incurred before April 2026 or after November 2028;
  • Expenses not directly related to the approved project;
  • Politically partisan activities, including supporting or opposing any political party, andidate, or elected representative;
  • Purchase of land, buildings, or real estate-related costs;
  • Purchase of electronic devices.

Interested in joining the participatory cohort? Contact us at Harry@sjfoundation.ca for more information.  

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