Community Grants Grants
Big or small, your organization’s needs are important — and our Community Grants program can help.
ECF’s Community Grants program offers funding tailored to your organization’s unique needs—whether for renovations, equipment, program support, or other priorities you identify.
Our Community Grant recipients are diverse, as their projects are! Check out successful recipients on our Granting in Action site or through the Well Endowed Podcast.
Eligibility
Community Grants aim to support our local community. To be eligible for a community grant your organization must be both:
- A registered charity with Canada Revenue Agency or other qualified donee.
- Serve the Greater Edmonton Area (includes the four surrounding counties).
Applying for a Community Grant
ECF uses a two-stage application process for all Community Grant applications. Applicants are asked to submit a Stage 1 application during the month it is open. Staff will review all submitted applications after the deadline. If successful in stage 1, we will request a stage 2 application, which will include additional, clarifying questions that will be reviewed by volunteer sub-committees.
If the organization has not received a Community Grant in the last five years, the organization is eligible to apply for up to $50,000. If you have received a community grant in the last five years you are eligible for up to $80,000.
2024 Application Dates
Fall Cycle for funding after January 1, 2025
- Stage 1 – closed
- If requested, Stage 2 submissions due October 25 at noon
- Final decisions made late November
Tentative 2025 dates
Spring 2025 cycle for funding after June 1, 2025
- Stage 1 application opens end of January 2025
- Stage 1 application closes end of February (at noon)
Our 2025 Community Grant Guidelines will be available when the application opens
Contact us for more information about our grant programs.
Reporting
Community Grant Reporting Instructions
Grant reports ensure there is accountability between your organization, Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF), and our donors. ECF staff review these reports to assess the progress and outcomes of your initiative. Additionally, these reports help us refine our granting process and identify community needs that we might address. We understand that grants take place in changing community contexts which are sometimes outside the control of the grantee.
When to Contact ECF
Contact ECF as soon as possible if any of the following arise:
- You need a grant reporting extension.
- Your organization can’t carry out the funded initiative.
- You have completed your initiative but have some funds left over.
- You need to make changes to the budget approved in your application which amount to 10% or more of the total grant. Please note ECF needs to approve proposed reallocations of this size before the funds are expended.
In all situations ECF wants to meet your organization where you’re at, and to find the best path forward.
For reporting questions, please contact grants@ecf.ca.
Grant Report Format
The report is an online forms which has a number of short answer, dropdown menu, and multiple select questions. The report questions ask about the goals of your initiative, challenges you may have experienced carrying out this initiative, how people benefitted from the initiative, and how the financial contribution of ECF was recognized. There is also a space for you to upload a pdf copy of your grant budget and actuals.
Accessing Your Grant Report
Reports are accessed through the online Grants Portal. By default, reports are added to the account of the user who applied for the grant approximately three month after the grant is awarded. Once your report has been added to your account, you can find it by logging into the Grants Portal, scrolling down to the Grant Reports section, and clicking on “Unsubmitted Grant Reports”. If you need the report moved to a different user account, you can email grants@ecf.ca.
Report Deadlines
The default report deadline is thirteen months after the grant was approved, on the last day of that month, unless the grant application indicates a later date. If you need an extension on your deadline, please contact grants@ecf.ca. We are happy to grant extensions but prefer to know if one is needed sooner rather than later.