Funding Application Form
We are no longer accepting applications for the 2024 Groundswell Annual Grant.
Please check back here in Fall 2024 for details about our next granting cycle.
- Grants are for up to $5,000.
- Please follow the instructions below very carefully. Groundswell has no paid staff, so we rely on your help to make the process work. If you do not follow the instructions carefully, it could result in your application not being considered.
- Applications submitted by email, and not using the form on our website, will NOT be accepted.
- Before you apply, review the funding priorities on the other tab of this page.
To submit a Groundswell annual grant application
- If you received money from Groundswell last year, fill in the report form before applying again.
- Download the two forms:
- Grant Application Form 2024
- Groundswell Annual Grant Budget Form (this form has three sheets)
- Complete the two forms. For the application, pay attention to the word count limits for each question. Save your application form as a PDF.
- When you are finished, fill in the form below and submit: application form, budget, reference letters and supporting materials all at the same time. Wait until you are ready with all your materials before you submit.
Funding Criteria
Groundswell annual grants will go to towards member-driven, grassroots initiatives or organizations that face difficulty raising funds needed for their work.
Our goal is to increase the capacity of organizations that are struggling for social change that challenge the dominant, oppressive structures in our political, social, and economic system. This year we also particularly encourage groups doing Palestinian solidarity and liberation organizing to apply.
While we recognize how important it is to counter the criminalization of dissent, applications for legal defence costs are not typically eligible for funding. If you’d like to request an exception for legal defence costs as part of an impactful project, please write to us in advance at info@groundswellfund.ca to determine if your legal defence costs may be considered.
We also do not provide core funding for any organizations funded by a settler government agency (e.g., federal, provincial and municipal governments, including government-funded agencies), extractive industries (e.g., mining companies), energy corporations, or banks. We may consider funding projects housed by such organizations. If your organization falls within this exception, please ensure that both your application forms and budget clearly explain that the funding sought is for a project that is not also funded by settler government agencies, extractive industries, energy corporations, or banks.
Applications on behalf of individuals will not be considered.
The fund prioritizes the following things:
- Groups led by the communities they are organizing; specifically, folks who are most directly affected by oppression.
- Transformative work that seeks to confront the root causes of oppression and work toward lasting change.
- Work that actively confronts power imbalances and seeks to build community power.
- We are committed to giving a minimum 50% of total funding to organizations led by Black and/or Indigenous organizers.
- Work that increases organizational infrastructure, allowing groups to do their work on a long-term basis.
- Work that can not get adequate funding from other sources.
- Work taking place across the expanse of Turtle Island, now called Canada (Given our commitment to decolonization, we do not define our work according to colonial borders but instead engage applicants with some flexibility around their geographies).
IMPORTANT: Applications for legal defence costs are not typically eligible for funding (see above). Organizations funded by a funded by a settler government agency (e.g., federal, provincial and municipal governments, including government-funded agencies), extractive industries (e.g., mining companies), energy corporations, or banks will not be funded. We may consider funding projects housed by such organizations. Applications on behalf of individuals will not be considered.
We know your time is valuable. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to visit our website to see if their work clearly falls under Groundswell’s mandate before applying.