Community Grant Program

• Groundwork Grant (multi-year) – up to 3-year funding agreement with the County for community organizations to strengthen their organization or to ensure the continuation of long-running programs that are of vital importance and value to the community
• Bloom Grant (one year) – provided for programs or events that engage in one time funding for initiatives in alignment with the Community Grant Program goals
• Grassroots Grant (one year) – for unincorporated grassroots groups or newly incorporated not-for-profit organizations that require support for a new initiative (This stream is limited to a maximum of $3,000)

Organizations may request Groundwork funds for up to a 3-year term. This is accomplished by allowing applicable overhead, administrative and/or capital expenses, as needed to sustain an organization as eligible expenses. Applications for Groundwork funds must clearly demonstrate need and how the organization benefits residents of Dufferin, as well as how multi-year funding will address a funding challenge for the organization.

Applicants must be:

• a school, a registered not-for-profit or charitable organization
  OR a non-registered group or organization that is partnered with a registered organization, in which case you must attach a letter of support/partnership or endorsement from the partner that includes their registration/charitable number, if applicable
• located in Dufferin County and /or must serve Dufferin County in its catchment area
• The project or organization cannot already be supported by the County of Dufferin
• Funding requests are limited to one application per organization. (Partner organizations can support more than one applicant)
• Projects must benefit Dufferin County residents.

The Community Grants Program will not provide funding to:

• Individuals
• For-profit organizations
• Other levels of government
• Political organizations
• An organization that acts as a funding body or makes grants to another organization
• Organizations whose activities could be deemed discriminatory as defined by the Ontario Human Rights Code

Eligible Expenses

• Purchase of goods and services in keeping with the aim of the project
• Advertising and Marketing
• Overhead or administrative costs (limited to 15% for Bloom Grant & Grassroots Grant)

Ineligible Expenses

• Capital funding and infrastructure costs (exceptions may be made for limited capital expenditures that are directly needed to run proposed programs)
• Debt retirement, deficit reduction, depreciation or financing charges
• Secondary allocations. This refers to the process where funds received through the Community Grant Program are allocated to another organization by the applicant or a third party via a funding allocation process such as a grant program.

Grant applications will be assessed by Headwaters Communities in Action and will be evaluated against a matrix to ensure transparency and an equitable process. The evaluation matrix is intended to be an objective tool to assess each of the applications against the criteria outlined in the Community Grants policy. The scores determined by the use of the evaluation matrix are not to be considered the sole determining factor on which grant decisions will be made but is rather a tool to facilitate discussions about each application. The committee will also consider the overall distribution of funds across the County’s goals and may recommend partial awards to ensure that benefits apply broadly across the community.

Grant applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Alignment with the County’s Strategic Plan and other County Plans (e.g. Community Safety & Well-Being, Economic Development, Climate & Environment Plan)
• Community Impact/Benefit to Residents
• Merits of the funding request
• Organizational profile
• Organization’s finances
• Anticipated positive community impact aligned to the Community Grant Program goals. Project proposals must clearly indicate how the initiative will benefit the participants and the Dufferin community.
• Evidence of community support. This support could include:
  • additional financial and non-financial resources being leveraged from other sources;
  • details of the number of volunteers that will be involved in the work, and the number of hours they will bring; and
  • collaboration or partnership with other organizations
• Strengthens or supports the longevity of the organization and activity as applicable. Sound organizational track record. This considers if the organization has the ability, skills and capacity, including financial capacity, to undertake the work as described in the application.
• The activities can not unnecessarily duplicate successful efforts that already exist in the community.
• Evidence that the organization needs the funding. Organizations that have budgets or financial statements indicating a significant surplus will be required to provide explanations of the surplus and how the organization intends to use it. The level of organizational reserves may be considered.
• The amount of funding requested by applicants, the funding available in the program and the number and quality of funding requests.

Other Considerations

• This is a competitive process. Overall funding allocation may vary depending on the budget passed by Council. Funding requests may be granted in full, granted in part or declined, at the discretion of the assessment team.
• New or recurring events – preference will be given to events that are not fundraisers. For events that also fundraise, the ultimate beneficiary must be identified in the application. Also, any funds granted from the County must be used for the event aspects that are of direct benefit to residents, not to pay fundraising costs.

Applications for the 2025 Community Grants will open later this year. Applications will close in early 2025. After the HCIA Assessment Committee reviews the applications, grant recommendations are presented to the General Government Services Committee for review. The Committee then makes a recommendation to Council.

Following Council approval, grant funds are distributed through electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by cheque to the recipients.