The Sector

FedDev Ontario – Community Economic Development & Diversification Funding – starting at $250,000

Driving innovation and growth:

To continue driving innovation and growth in the region, FedDev Ontario has been provided over $1 billion in new funding.

FedDev Ontario is looking for:

  • Businesses or not-for-profit organizations in small communities who are working to develop, diversify and transform their local economies.
  • Rural partners to help address the unique economic conditions in small towns and rural communities.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

Applications can be submitted for:

  • Non-repayable contributions from $250,000 up to $5 million per project for not-for-profit organizations.
  • No interest, repayable contributions from $250,000 up to $5 million per project for incorporated businesses, including Indigenous businesses.

Funding is available to:

  • Enhance business attraction, investment, retention and employment opportunities in southern Ontario communities.
  • Develop and expand collaborative efforts that strengthen regional competitiveness.
  • Support regional businesses, hubs and communities with the goal of economic diversification, integration and transformation.

Examples of projects include:

  • Creating financing opportunities to reduce risk and enable businesses to make investments in innovative technologies.
  • Integrating local businesses into national or global supply chains.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

The Sector

Local Food Infrastructure Fund – Funding for NPOs to support local food systems

Your not-for-profit organization could get funding to improve access to safe, healthy and culturally-diverse food and to promote environmentally sustainable food systems while supporting local communities.

Money

  • Minimum: $5,000
  • Maximum: $250,000

Status

  • Accepting project proposals
  • Closing on December 31, 2023

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

What this program offers

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF) is a five-year, $50 million initiative ending March 31, 2024. The program is part of the Government of Canada’s Food Policy which is Canada’s roadmap for a healthier and more sustainable food system in Canada. The LFIF objective is to strengthen food systems and to facilitate access to safe and nutritious food for at-risk populations.

The LFIF’s objectives are to:

improve access to safe, healthy and culturally-diverse food while promoting community development

support local economies

  • improve health outcomes for Canadians most at-risk
  • promote environmentally sustainable food systems

The fund supports community-based, not-for-profit organizations to improve their food systems through investments in infrastructure that are directly related to addressing food insecurities and increasing the accessibility of healthy, nutritious, and ideally, local foods within their community.

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants are not-for-profit organizations that have been in operation for at least two years as a legal entity capable of entering into a legally-binding agreement. Furthermore, applicants must be able to demonstrate the ability to maintain the proposed operations beyond the funding period.

Eligible applicants consist of:

  • community or charitable organizations
  • Indigenous groups
  • not-for-profit co-operatives

Eligible projects

Projects should be mostly infrastructure specific, community-driven and dedicated to improving access to safe and healthy foods for Canadians at risk of food insecurity. The risk factors and prevalence of food insecurity vary from community to community and can impact Canadians in both rural and urban environments through a lack of access to affordable and nutritious food choices.

For the purpose of this fund, Canadians at risk of food insecurities are part of one of the following groups:

  • Indigenous
  • Persons who are homeless or street-involved
  • Low income households
  • Isolated and rural communities
  • Persons with disabilities
  • Other groups with social or employment barriers including literacy and numeracy
  • Newcomers to Canada (including refugees)
  • Visible minorities
  • Women
  • Youth
  • Seniors
  • LGBTQ2 community
  • Official language minority communities
  • Other (please specify)

Eligible projects can range from simpler infrastructure requests such as purchasing a refrigerator for a food bank to more complex requests that strengthen local food systems, such as projects that integrate multiple areas of the value chain through the creation of partnerships. The applicant must demonstrate how their project will be integrated into and strengthen the local food system and how it will impact the well-being of community members.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

#funding #impactinvesting #foodsecurity #sdgs #ESG #socialenterprise #socialinnovation #impactinvesting #charity #nonprofit #thesectorinc #consulting #mba #wbs #bradfordturner

The Sector

Ontario Labour Market Partnerships – Ministry of Colleges and Universities

The Labour Market Partnerships program supports partnerships among employers, employer/employee associations, and community organizations. The program is intended to help partners to:

  • Promote the creation of broad industry/community partnerships necessary to address labour market issues
  • Assist local communities with the development of innovative strategies to prepare for future skills requirements and prevent skills shortages within new and emerging industries and organizations
  • Plan for effective utilization of local human resources
  • Develop and promote labour market intelligence and its use in labour market development

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

What types of projects are eligible for support?

The Labour Market Partnerships program supports projects that:

  • Address a labour market issue
  • Include two or more partners, contributing financial or in-kind resources
  • Are finite, with clear start and end dates
  • Are not dependent upon future funding

The amount awarded to each project will vary depending on the project.

Preference is to be given to industry sectors that are experiencing one or more of the following:

  • Projected growth rates in high-demand occupations
  • Current or emerging issues significantly impacting human resource requirements or labour market adjustment needs
  • Current or projected skill shortages
  • Highest potential for value-added growth and innovation

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

#strategy #consulting #funding #ontario #workforcedevelopment #labourmarket #socialimpact #socialenterprise #impactinvesting #mba #wbs #toronto #sdgs #fundraising #charity #nonprofit #thesectorinc

The Sector

Rural Economic Development program – Province of Ontario – Submissions Due Feb 21.

Funding to help create jobs and boost growth in your rural community.

How it works

Ontario’s Rural Economic Development (RED) program provides cost-share funding to support activities that create strong rural communities in Ontario, and opens doors to rural economic development through:

  • funding assistance to address barriers to economic development, better position rural communities to attract and retain jobs and investment, and enhance economic growth
  • funding to build community capacity and support for economic development in Ontario’s rural communities
  • investments in rural communities to help diversify and grow local economies – making economic growth more inclusive so Rural Ontario continues to share in the province’s economic prosperity

This page provides a summary of the RED program. Read the RED program guidelines for the full details about eligibility, program funding and application requirements.

The RED program is now open and accepting applications. This intake will close on February 1, 2021.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

Who is eligible

To be eligible for the program you must be:

  • a municipality
  • a not-for-profit entity
  • an Ontario Indigenous community or organization
  • a Local Services Board

Funding amounts

Economic Diversification and Competitiveness Stream: up to 50% of eligible project costs to a maximum of $150,000.

Strategic Economic Infrastructure Stream: up to 30% of eligible project costs to a maximum of $250,000.

Calculation of Costs

The calculation of cost-share funding for all selected projects will be based on the total eligible costs outlined in the application.

  • Funding may be provided at the amount or percentage requested, or at a reduced amount or percentage (subject to limits within each stream).
  • The project’s maximum eligible costs cannot be increased.
  • The timeframe of the project cannot be extended without the written approval of OMAFRA (in its sole discretion).

All selected applicants must enter into a contribution agreement with the Province of Ontario. All applicants have joint and several liability for any funded project.

Program streams

Economic Diversification and Competitiveness Stream

Economic diversification and competitiveness projects:

  • remove barriers to business and job growth
  • attract investment
  • attract or retain a skilled workforce
  • strengthen sector and regional partnerships
  • diversify regional economies in rural Ontario

The majority of costs for projects in this stream will be non-capital. Projects must include implementation-oriented activities beyond strategic plan development (for example, economic development, feasability, marketing, research or evaluation.

Strategic Economic Infrastructure Stream

Strategic economic infrastructure projects advance economic development and investment opportunities in Rural Ontario, such as:

  • rehabilitation of cultural, heritage or tourism attractions
  • redevelopment of vacant or under-used properties
  • main street minor capital improvements

Applications for strategic economic infrastructure projects should include previously completed work (for example, plans, strategies, research and data) that identifies the project as an economic development priority.

The RED program is now open and accepting applications. This intake will close on February 1, 2021.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

#funding #ontario #impactinvesting #socialenterprise #socialfinance #socialinnovation #sdgs #thesectorinc #consulting #mba #wbs #bradfordturner #sustainability #ESG #venturecapital

The Sector

Government of Alberta Funding – Enhanced Capacity Advancement Program

This program provides funding for up to 3 years to Alberta-based capacity building non-profit organizations.

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

Overview

The Enhanced Capacity Advancement Program (ECAP) helps to advance and strengthen the non-profit/voluntary sector, by providing multi-year operational funding for up to 3 years to Alberta-based non-profit organizations that have a primary mandate and proven ability to:

build the capacity of other non-profit organizations in Alberta

strengthen and advance the capacity of Alberta’s non-profit/voluntary sector as a whole*

The ECAP defines capacity building as the process of developing the knowledge, skill and ability to make and implement decisions in a manner that achieves effective and efficient results at the individual, organizational and sector level.

Funding through the ECAP focuses on strengthening the non-profit/voluntary sector in 5 areas of focus:

  • Strategic Leadership Capacity
  • Adaptive Capacity
  • Management Capacity
  • Operational/Technical Capacity
  • Systems Capacity

Funding

Designed to meet the unique needs of diverse capacity building non-profit organizations, the ECAP provides 2 levels of funding:

  • Core funding of up to $75,000 annually
  • Enhanced Capacity Building funding of up to $150,000 annually

Core funding

Supports internal capacity building and invests in the operations and administration of an organization to further its mission. Funding is determined based on meeting eligibility requirements and the internal capacity building outcomes identified within 4 of the capacity building areas of focus outlined above (excluding Systems Capacity).

Organizations that have been successfully assessed for Core funding will then be assessed for Enhanced Capacity Building funding.

Enhanced Capacity Building funding

Supports external capacity building and invests in a broad range of activities designed to build the capacity of other non-profit organizations and the sector as a whole. Funding is determined based on the breadth and impact of the organization’s external capacity building outcomes as identified from all 5 capacity building areas of focus outlined above.

Eligible organizations

Organizations must have:

a primary mandate and proven ability to:

  • build the capacity of other non-profit organizations in Alberta
  • strengthen and advance the capacity of Alberta’s non-profit/voluntary sector as a whole

the ability to demonstrate:

  1. proven ability to deliver on its mandate
  2. sufficient community support for its mandate, which includes ongoing financial support from a range of sources
  3. broad accessibility and use of programs and services

registration as a non-profit organization, in good standing, under one of the following acts:

  • Societies Act
  • Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act with a registration in Alberta under the Business Corporations Act
  • Companies Act, Part 9 (Non-profit Companies)
  • Special Act of the Alberta Legislature
  • Part 21 of the Business Corporations Act – Extra-Provincial Corporations*
  • *must have an Alberta-based address that is regularly monitored by an active member of the organization
  • a history of operating in Alberta for at least one year

We can help with your strategy & submission: info@thesectorinc.ca

#funding #consulting #strategy #socialimpact #nonprofit #sdgs #socialinnovation #socialenterprise #investmentreadiness #impactinvesting #charity #government #alberta

#mba #wbs #bradfordturner