Who can apply
Eligibility
To apply, you must meet all the eligibility criteria found below.
Organizations with a mandate or mission to primarily serve seniors are strongly encouraged to apply.
Eligible Applicants
- Not-for-profit organizations
- Coalitions, networks and ad hoc committees
- Municipal governments
- Research organizations or institutes
- Educational institutions (in other words, universities, colleges, CEGEPs, school boards/school districts) *
- Public health and social services institutions
- Indigenous organizations, including:
- band councils
- tribal councils
- self-government entities
- *Provincially/territorially funded institutions are eligible with the agreement of the provincial/territorial government.
Ineligible Applicants
- For-profit organizations
Note to organizations located and operating in Québec
If your project proposal is selected for funding, you may be required to obtain approval from the Quebec government before you can accept our funding. Please consult the Act of respecting the Ministère du Conseil exécutif
Note on proposals that include multiple locations within an overall organization
- ESDC will not accept multiple applications from organizations with the same Canada Revenue Agency Business Number.
- If your organization has multiple locations, you will be required to submit one application per CRA business number.
Note: ESDC may consult with the Canada Revenue Agency to confirm information provided in the application.
Projects
Your project must meet all of the following criteria:
- be no longer than 52 weeks
- request no more than $50,000
- meet 1 program objective*
- seniors will lead or play a vital role in its planning and/or delivery
- seek to benefit seniors and their communities
- demonstrate cost effectiveness (value for money)
* Note: If your proposed project is requesting capital assistance, it must meet 2 program objectives:
- objective 5: capital assistance
- any other objective
Capital assistance projects may use up to $25,000 of the total approved funding, for eligible capital expenses.
Activities
Applications must demonstrate the active participation of seniors in the eligible activities. Activities must be confirmed and described when the application is submitted. The application cannot indicate that it will be determined by a committee after the project has been approved for funding.
Examples of eligible activities:
- seniors sharing their knowledge, skills and experience with other seniors
- promoting awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse
- seniors involved in developing/sharing tools and resource materials to benefit other seniors
- seniors learning from each other's life experiences
- purchase or replacement of equipment for programs and activities for seniors (must be related to the project objectives and activities). An example can include purchasing a sewing machine for arts and crafts classes or tools for seniors to mentor woodworking.
- renovations and repairs to facilities owned by the applicant and where programming directly related to seniors is offered, such as renovating a space where social gatherings take place to encourage social inclusion (i for example: board games, coffee or a place to gather and chat)
- travel to the main activity location in instances where seniors are unable to reach it otherwise, if the main activities are eligible
Examples of ineligible activities include, but are not limited to:
- activities where there is no link to the program objectives
- activities where seniors are not the primary participants
- activities where the role of seniors is minimal or not clearly described
- activities where tourism or leisure is the main project activity
- transportation for the sole purpose of leisure activities (for example: transportation for a personal event of a senior)
- projects which provide core health services to individuals (for example: one-on-one service or training, projects that deal primarily with health interventions, or continuance of a meal delivery service for personal consumption)
- core operational tasks
- fundraising activities or projects seeking reoccurring funding for ongoing projects
- projects seeking funding to renovate or maintain an establishment that is:
- not owned by the applicant
- does not provide direct seniors' programming (for example: theatres, healthcare establishments such as health and foot clinics)
What the funding can be used to pay for
Eligible costs
To be eligible, all costs must be reasonable and directly related to project activities and their development and implementation. It should also be outside of project administrative costs.
Projects costs must be tied to projects that are designed by seniors and/or delivered for seniors. These costs must support seniors to be connected and active members of their communities and contribute to improving their social inclusion.
Requested funding cannot exceed $50,000 (including taxes and shipping, if applicable).
Whenever possible, we encourage applicants to consider supporting local, regional or national businesses by choosing to "Buy Canadian" when purchasing goods and services for their project.
Examples of eligible costs:
- administrative costs directly related to the project (Max 25% of total funds requested)
- accounting
- phone
- internet
- bookkeeping
- scheduler
- capital costs
- facilities: Capital assistance to conduct repairs or renovations up to $25,000
- capital assets: purchase of equipment that relates to the project and are linked to eligible project activities.
- direct costs
- staff wages: staff wages to deliver the project activities. this includes salary, wages and mandatory employment related costs (MERCs).
- project costs
- professional fees for a professional not already employed in your organization, for example:
- instructor
- presenter(s) for topics in a lecture series
- external facilitators
- costs related to planning and offering events and workshops
- materials and supplies to support the project
- honoraria to express gratitude or to symbolize respect
Notes:
- Should your project require renovations, you must provide a minimum of 1 quote and must be dated within one (1) year
- Administrative costs for the administration of the project can be up to 25% of project costs (for example, office supplies and utilities, bookkeeping)
- Costs for internal staff to facilitate and deliver project activities should not be included as administrative costs as they are direct project
Ineligible costs
Ineligible costs include, but are not limited to:
- core operational expenses of an organization, such as:
- salary dollars unrelated to project activities
- utilities
- day-to-day maintenance of facilities including general operating costs of your organization that are not related to this project
- medical interventions/devices
- purchase of vehicle(s)
- purchase of land or buildings
- purchase of alcohol, tobacco (outside of specific cultural rituals), cannabis etc.
- repairs or renovations to a building or the purchase of equipment for the new building that your organization does not yet occupy
- repairs or renovations to a building you do not own
- new construction, including physical expansion of an existing structure that would increase its overall square footage/footprint
- decorating and beautification costs, such as:
- painting
- landscaping for aesthetics purposes
- transportation costs for leisure activities (for example: sightseeing trips) that do not have a clear educational or social engagement of seniors with other groups
- costs incurred to prepare and submit the application for funding, such as:
- costs used to pay for third parties assisting the applicant in obtaining Government of Canada funding usually seen under professional fees (for example: lobbyists)
- grant writer costs to submit the application
- costs incurred before the agreement has been signed by ESDC and the organization