Gender Equality Grant

Fund for Gender Equality

In Canada today, too many women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals still face barriers and discrimination of all kinds. To create communities of true belonging, we need to advance gender equality across the country.

We know that investing in women is not just the right thing to do, it is a strategic choice. By funding women-led and women-serving organizations, we can deliver double the impact—support decent work for female staff at these nonprofits and support the programming that serves women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people.

Why now? 

• 2020 is a landmark year for gender equality around the world:
  • 25 years since UN Women’s Beijing Declaration and Action Plan, the most progressive global blueprint to advance women’s rights
  • 5 year milestone of the adoption of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
• For a just recovery from the pandemic, it is more pressing than ever to invest in women, girls, Two-Spirit people and gender-diverse people.
• The work is necessary and the time is now. 

About the collaboration between community foundations, the Equality Fund and the Government of Canada

• In 2019, CFC became one of the founding partners of the Equality Fund, a groundbreaking collaboration that will deliver new momentum for women’s movements in Canada and around the world. 
• As part of the collaboration, CFC and the Equality Fund have developed a five-year initiative to advance gender equality in Canada with support from the Government of Canada. 
• Participating community foundations in this new initiative are not only undertaking grantmaking activities to support local organizations, but also examining their own institutional and investing practices to advance gender equality. 

About the Fund

• Over 5 years, this collaboration will make $8.2 million available to women-led and women-serving organizations across Canada.
• In 2021 and 2022, the Fund will be hosted by participating community foundations who will make a total of $3.4M available to projects in their communities. 
• Grants can be used for a variety of purposes, including to pilot new initiatives, to address long-standing community needs, or to support a just recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives themselves may touch on a wide range of areas that are affected by gender equality, including food insecurity, income inequality, racial injustice, domestic violence, and many more. 
• Our goal is to help shift power into the hands of women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals by supporting their leadership and engagement in community-level initiatives. 
• The Fund will support organizations at the “heart” of the women’s movement: those organizations whose core activities, leadership,  mission, and vision are committed to advancing gender equality. 
• The Fund has a quick online application process, and applicants can prepare their responses beforehand. Visit the eligibility section below to view and download the Applicant Guide with more information on eligibility and next steps. 

This application period is open from October 3, 2022 and October 31, 2022. All applicants will be notified of results in early 2023.