Prepare to apply

What is your organization's legal name? The legal name is usually:

• the name on your registration with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or provincial/territorial equivalent, or
• the name used on funding cheques, bank accounts, etc.

What is the operating (or common) name of your organization (if it differs from the legal name)?

Please include full name rather than an acronym.

State the year your organization was established.

Please consult Who Can Apply for eligibility criteria. Choose 1 of the following:

• Not-for-profit

  Not-for-profit organizations are established for purposes other than financial gain for their members. They primarily receive provincial/federal funding (supplemented by fundraising and fees). They often rely on volunteers to deliver programs, and are often governed by a Board of Directors or a Committee. These organizations include:

  • community, charitable or voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations (for example, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques)
  • associations of workers or employers as well as professional and industrial organizations
  • Indigenous not-for-profit organizations
  • non-governmental organizations
  • unions Sector councils
  • not-for-profit Band Councils
• Public sector

  All companies and agencies under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada are classified as public sector employers. For the purposes of certain statutes, various agencies, such as school boards and hospitals, are considered part of the public sector. They are often referred to as parapublic organizations. Public sector employers can be large or small. They often have numerous employees and are governed by Public Policy mandates.

  Public sector employers include:

  • public community colleges and vocational schools
  • public health, including public hospitals, nursing homes, senior citizen homes, rehabilitation homes
  • public degree-granting universities and colleges
  • municipal governments and agencies, including regional legislative bodies and departments
  • school boards and elementary and secondary institutions

  When a public sector employer uses a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) registered charity business number, it does not change the organization's designation to a not-for-profit.

For this CFP's eligibility criteria consult: Who Can Apply . Enter the most appropriate category from the list below based on what you chose in Question 4.

• Not-for-profit sector includes, but is not limited to:
  • Indigenous not-for-profit groups
  • local community, charitable, voluntary organizations
  • national non-governmental organizations
  • provincial non-governmental organizations
  • not-for-profit Band Councils
• Indigenous organizations include, but is not limited to:
  • band council
  • Tribal council
  • self-government entity

• Provincial/territorial entities include, but is not limited to (check note below):
  • educational institutions: school boards, colleges and universities
  • health and social services institutions: hospitals, community health centres, community centres
  • municipalities: towns, cities or municipal government departments and agencies
• Public sector includes, but is not limited to (check note below):
  • Public degree school boards / school districts
  • Municipal public health
  • Municipal governments and agencies
  • Public community colleges and vocational schools
  • Public degree-granting universities
  • Public degree-granting colleges

To be eligible for funding, you must provide a business number which is a unique 15-digit number that that the CRA assigned to your business or legal entity. For example, 123456789 RR 0001.

You can find your CRA business number on tax-related documents or written communications from the CRA. It should be dated within the last 2 years.

Find more information about the Canada Revenue Agency.

For registered charities and not-for-profit organizations, what is your registration number?

Acceptable alternatives - If you do not have a CRA business number or a charity or not-for-profit registration number, you may also use your Registraire des Enterprises du Québec (REQ) number or federal corporation number with Industry Canada, or you can provide 1 of the following documents:

• If incorporated:
  • a copy of letters of patents
  • articles of incorporation
  • certificate of incorporation
  • memorandum of association
  • your organization’s rules, by-laws, or constitution
• If not incorporated, provide:
  • a copy of your rules
  • bylaws
  • council resolutions, or
  • constitution

State the primary address of your organization. The primary address is usually the head or main office. Give a complete address in a format recognized by Canada Post. Consult the Canada Post website for information.

State “yes” or “no” to the question of whether your mailing address is the same as the primary address. If you answer “no”, state the mailing address of your organization.

In 500 words or less, describe the main activities of your organization. Please explain your mandate and how your organization supports persons with disabilities.

Who is the main contact person for the proposed project? Provide the contact information for the person who will be ESDC's primary contact person in respect to your application for funding.

This person must be available for questions during the review process.

Should the contact details change after your application submission, you must notify the Department in writing as soon as possible.

Note that this email address will be used for all correspondence.

If we cannot reach the main contact, who else can we contact? Provide the person's full name, telephone number where we can reach them during business hours and their email address. The secondary contact's information should be different from the main contact person.

This person must be available for questions during the review process.

Note that this email address will be used for all correspondence when we cannot reach the primary contact.

If “Yes”, complete the fields for each amount owing. We will not reject your application for this reason or make it ineligible. Your organization must provide details as to the type of debt and the arrangements you have for repayment.

If you have a payment plan in place to repay the debt, check “Yes” under Question 19, otherwise check ‘No’. You could be asked to provide the current arrangements for repayment during the assessment of your application.

Give a short title that describes your project. The title must be a maximum of 64 characters. Do not use “National Accessibility Week”, or your organization’s name.

State the planned start and end dates of your project. The start date should be February 2025.

Please note that your project must cover activities to be implemented for NAAW 2025 and NAAW 2026.

We will notify you in writing on the status of your application. You cannot begin any of the proposed activities or incur any expenses until your project is approved. Approval requires both you and the Department to sign a Funding Agreement. Do not assume any commitment until the signing of the Funding Agreement. If you purchase anything for the project after the approval but before the signing of the Agreement, the amount will not be reimbursed, and your project may no longer be eligible.

Please provide the amount of funding you are requesting from ESDC for your project.

This amount should be no more than $100,000 (at a maximum of $50,000 per year) over 2 years or $200,000 (at a maximum of $100,000 per year) over 2 years.

Please note that if your project proposal is requesting funding over $100,000, you will need to meet the additional project eligibility requirements. Consult Part 4 - Questions 33 to 36 below.

You must explain:

• the need for your project in the disability community
• the expected result
• the targeted groups
• the partnerships with diverse groups from within the disability community, that your organization has secured to support the project when required
• any other relevant information related to the delivery and success of your project

If you require additional space please use Question 37.

Annex - Please include any additional information which did not fit above in this section (Question 37). Please make sure to identify which question(s) you are providing additional information on by starting with: Additional information for question "insert question number".

Note: If you are requesting more than $100,000, please complete the additional questions in Part 4 - Questions 33 to 36.

Describe how the project meets the objective(s) and priority(ies) of the call for proposals. Explain how your project plans to include people with disabilities in planning and delivery. Include how you will test, learn, and expand activities to reach more people and partners.

Please note that your project objectives must be more specific than the overall goals. Both the objectives and outcomes should be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound)

Explain how you will track the progress of your project. Provide details on you will measure success, for example; identify who is benefiting from the project.

If you require additional space please use question 37 (Annex).

Annex - Please include any additional information which did not fit above in this section (Question 37). Please make sure to identify which question(s) you are providing additional information on by starting with: Additional information for question “insert question number”.

Note: If you are requesting more than $100,000 please consult the additional questions in Part 4 – Questions 33 to 36.

Project activities must go beyond your organization's normal activities. This program does not fund an organization's core, existing or ongoing activities.

Project activities are the steps that you will take to meet the objectives of the project. Activities should be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Include details about all the planned activities. Refer to the list of eligible activities in Who Can Apply for more information.

The activities should show how you would achieve the project outcome (s).

The following can help guide you on how to fill out the project activities and timelines table in the Application form:

• activities should be listed in bullet point form and organized in chronological stages
• starting each bullet with a verb should help keep activities clear and concise
• if any partners are involved, specify which activities will be carried out by the partner(s) and which will be carried out by your organization
• if any of the activities involve participants, include a brief description of how participants will be involved and for what specific purpose, and
• if any of the activities involve research, include a brief outline of the methods, processes or strategies that will be used, created or established (for example marketing strategy, research or survey)

State where your project activities will be taking place. Will they be at the organization’s main address and/or at a different location? If you answered ‘yes’ to a different location, include the address for every other location.

We commit to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada. We support and assist their development and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French languages in Canadian society.

Official language minority communities (OLMCs) are:

• English-speaking communities established within the province of Québec, and
• French-speaking communities established outside the province of Québec

If your proposed project involves OLMCs, you should answer "Yes" to this question. Complete the question following the instructions in the application form.

Answering “No” to this question will not invalidate your application, unless you are requesting more than $100,000 and proposing activities in OLMCs. These projects must meet the outlined official language requirements and demonstrate them in Question 36.

Select "Yes" or "No"

If "yes", select the specific target group(s) that apply(ies) to your project. Select all that apply(ies).

For example:

• Indigenous Peoples
• persons with disabilities
• low income communities
• members of 2SLGBTQIA+