Prepare to apply

Before you start your application, gather your supporting documents, and get familiar with the information you will be asked to provide in the application.

On this page

Prepare your documents

You must include the following with your application for it to be considered complete.

  • Application form
  • Attestation (Part 4 of the application form)
  • Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) document for proof of organization type and status (the document should contain your CRA number and organization legal name with valid address)
    • note that Indigenous organizations are not required to provide a CRA document for proof of organization type and status

What happens if a supporting document is missing from your application

We may refuse applications that are incomplete or contain errors. We will contact you to request any mandatory information if it is missing from your application. We will do this before we determine if your application is eligible. If you receive such a request, you must respond within 5 business days of the date we sent the request. If you do not respond before the deadline, we will assess your application with the information on file.

How to answer the application Questions

The purpose of this section is to help you fill in the application. It describes the specific information you need for each question on the Call for Concepts Application Form.

In this section

Section A

Important information appears in Section A of the application and is for your information and understanding. It contains details about the Attestation, the information you provide in the application, and the access of information. Read this information carefully.

The following information is posted on the Open Government website:

  • organization name
  • business number
  • amount of funding
  • project title
  • agreement number
  • agreement dates
  • location

Part 1 – Organization

A - Organization identification (Questions 1 to 21 in the PDF version of the application form)

Legal name (Question 1)

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.
Operating (common) name (mandatory if different from legal name) (Question 2)

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

Business or registration number (Question 3)

To be eligible, all organizations must have a CRA business number or charitable registration number.

What is your full CRA business number? For registered charities and not-for-profit organizations, what is your registration number? (For example, 123456789 RR 0001).

  • the CRA business number has three parts: a 9-digit business number that identifies the organization, two letters that identify the type of account and a 4-digit reference number. You must include all 15 characters of your CRA business number on your application form

You can find your CRA business number on tax-related documents or written communications from the CRA.

You need to provide a proof of organization type and status as a supporting document. This could be a formal document from CRA that includes your organization's current address and business number. For more information, please visit CRA.

Note: If you are unable to provide that document with your application, please provide a rationale for why you cannot submit it.

If you do not have a:

  • CRA business number, or
  • not-for-profit registration number

You must provide one of following documents:

If incorporated:

  • a copy of letters of patent
  • articles of incorporation
  • certificate of incorporation
  • memorandum of association
  • your rules, by-laws, or constitution

If not incorporated:

  • a copy of your rules, by-laws, council resolutions, or constitution
Organization type (Question 4)

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), 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 Employers

    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, though 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
    • territorial governments and agencies
    • provincial governments and agencies

    Note: entities that are owned by governments or agencies, that are staffed in majority by public servants or individuals appointed by a public body, or that received in 2023 or expect to receive in 2024, 2025, 2026 or 2027 over half their funding from federal, provincial territorial or municipal governments or related agencies are ineligible initial recipients. 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.

  • Private Sector Employers

    Private sector employers are established to generate a profit or to provide an economic advantage to their proprietors, members or shareholders. They primarily operate through company profits but can be supplemented by Provincial/Federal government funding. These employers are privately owned and are independently managed. Note that volunteers may deliver some programs and a Board of Directors may govern the business.

    Private sector employers include:

    • bodies, incorporated or unincorporated, including partnerships and sole proprietorships
    • financial Institutions
    • business, incorporated or unincorporated bodies, which include:
      • federal Crown corporations operating in a competitive environment and not ordinarily dependent on appropriations for operating purposes as indicated in Schedule III, Part II of the Financial Administration Act
      • provincial and territorial Crown corporations recognized as operating in a competitive environment and not ordinarily dependent on appropriations for operating purposes
      • private health and educational institutions
      • independent owners of franchises
    • Indian Band corporations
    • private Band Councils
    • private universities or colleges
Organization category (Question 5)

Select the most appropriate category from the following based on what you chose in Question 4.

  • Not-for-profit sector
    • Local community, charitable, or voluntary
    • Provincial non-governmental organizations
    • National non-governmental organizations
    • Not-for-profit band councils
    • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) with a focus on encouraging employment
    • Unions
    • Associations of workers and/or of employers
    • Indigenous not-for-profit groups
    • Sector councils
  • Private sector
    • Businesses, bodies incorporated or unincorporated
    • Banks
    • Private universities or colleges
    • Indian band corporations (profit basis)
    • Private band councils
  • Public sector
    • Public degree school boards / school districts
    • Municipal public health
    • Municipal governments and agencies
    • Provincial governments and agencies
    • Territorial governments
    • Public community colleges and vocational schools
    • Public degree-granting universities
    • Public degree-granting colleges

Note: entities that are owned by governments or agencies, that are staffed in majority by public servants or individuals appointed by a public body, or that received in 2023 or expect to receive in 2024, 2025, 2026 or 2027 over half their funding from federal, provincial territorial or municipal governments or related agencies are ineligible initial recipients.

  • For-profit organizations may be initial recipient provided that the nature and intent of the activity funded is non-commercial, not intended to generate profit, and supports program priorities and objectives
Year established (Question 6)

What year was your organization established?

Organization address (Questions 7 to 11)

What is your organization's address? Give a complete address in a format recognized by Canada Post. For more information, please visit Canada Post website.

Organization Telephone, and fax (Questions 12 to 13)

What is your organization's telephone number, and fax number (if applicable)?

E-mail address (Question 14)

What is the e-mail address of your organization?

Mailing address (mandatory if different from organization address) (Questions 15 to 19)

What is the mailing address of your organization (if it differs from your organization's physical address)?

Telephone and fax (mandatory field if different from Organization number) (Questions 20 and 21)

What is your organization's telephone number and fax number (if applicable) if different from your organization’s numbers?

B - Organization contact (Questions 22 to 33 in the PDF version of the application form)

Primary contact information (Questions 22 to 27)

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 from the time of submission until decisions are communicated, in case the Department needs to reach out for clarification and/or documentation.

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

Include the following details:

  • question 22: Given (first) name and surname (last name)
  • question 23: What is the title of the contact person named in question 22? For example:
    • business owner
    • president
    • executive director
  • question 24: What official language would your contact person prefer to use in written and spoken communications? Choose either English or French
  • question 25: Telephone number, including extension (mandatory if different from the Organization number)
  • question 26: fax number
  • question 27: E-mail address (note that this is where all correspondence will be sent)
Secondary contact (Questions 28 to 33)

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.

  • Question 28: Given (first) name and surname (last name)
  • Question 29: What is the title of the contact person named in question 28? For example:
    • president
    • executive director
  • Question 30: What official language would your contact person prefer to use in written and spoken communications? Choose either English or French.
  • Question 31: Telephone number, including extension (mandatory if different from the Organization number)
  • Question 32: Fax number
  • Question 33: E-mail address

Part 2 – Proposed concept

A - Concept identification (Questions 34 to 36 in the PDF version of the application form)

Concept title (Question 34)

Provide a short title that describes your project.

Planned project start and end dates (Questions 35 and 36)

State the planned start and end dates of your project.

Projects must operate for 24 months, starting in January 2026.

Note: a 24-month period is the time that the organization will provide incentives to the PSWs. Organizations can seek funding in calendar year 2025 to build necessary infrastructure before the pilot projects are launched. Organizations can also seek funding to support the costs of wrapping-up pilot projects and any performance measurement data reporting activities for final reports provided to the Department in the first three months of calendar year 2028. More specifically, payments of incentives earned by PSWs in late 2027 could occur as late as January 31, 2028, and administrative costs of the project could be funded up until March 31, 2028.

We will notify you in writing (by email) of the outcome of the review of your application. You cannot begin any of the proposed activities or incur any expenses until the approval of your project. As well, both you and the Department must 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, you do so at your own risk.

B - Concept description (Questions 37 to 39 in the PDF version of the application form)

The Department uses the information you provide in this section as part of the assessment in determining whether or not your proposed concept is eligible for funding.

Project objectives (must clearly link to the program objectives) (Question 37)

Please describe how your proposed concept is clearly linked to the Call for Concept objectives.

During Step 1, the call for concept, you are expected to present your concept ideas. Concepts should provide an overview of quantifiable and measurable goals to be achieved through this concepts' major steps and objectives.

Concepts will be assessed based on their ability to meet the concept objectives:

  • help the federal government test different approaches to incent private savings for retirement by PSWs and assess parameters and designs that work best
  • increase the financial security of participating PSWs towards their retirement; and,
  • contribute to the retention of PSWs in the long-term care sector

Your response must provide information on:

  • the structure and parameters of the incentive to be provided: which tax-assisted private savings vehicle will be used and how the incentives will be structured
    • the information expected to be provided in support of this element include the type of tax-assisted private saving vehicle that will be used for the project, which actions of the PSWs will trigger incentive payments (e.g., opening a new account, making deposits into the account, etc.), and how the incentive will be calculated specifically (e.g., dollar-for-dollar matching, sliding scale, flat amount once a threshold is reached, etc.) for each of the actions triggering incentives. The maximum amount of incentives that can be provided is $5,000 per participating PSW, per year
  • the ultimate recipients targeted by the pilot project and their expected participation level
    • the information that is expected to be provided in support of this element include a profile of the PSWs that will be eligible for the project, including confirmation that they mainly perform the tasks defined in the National Occupational Classification (NOC) (2021) categories 33102 and 44101 in support of seniors or persons with disabilities, and a confirmation that only eligible PSWs will be receiving incentives. The information required also include, basic socio-economic characteristics of the eligible PSWs, including elements such as their average or median income or salary, and the province in which they work. An estimate of the number of participating PSWs in the project is also required

Your response may be used to assess priorities of the program, such as:

  • maximizing the number of PSWs participating in the program
  • incentive design parameters that will promote savings for the long-term
Project activities (give clear steps for each one) (Question 38)

Describe the key activities of your proposed concept. It must be broken down into clear steps.

Activities are the steps that will be taken to meet the objectives of the concept. Activities should be specific, measurable, realistic, and relevant to the concept objectives and demonstrate how the concept outcome(s) will be achieved.

Your answer to this question must include details regarding only planned key activities. If you are selected to go on to Step 2, further details on all planned activities will be requested in the second step of the application process.

Refer to the program's Eligibility criteria for examples and additional details on eligible activities.

Your response must provide information on:

  • the administration of the pilot project: which entities will be involved in the execution of the pilot project, including roles and responsibilities for advertising the pilot, onboarding participants, holding and managing the accounts, depositing the incentives, tracking the data required for performance monitoring
    • The information that is expected to be provided in support of this element includes name(s) of each of the entities involved in administration of the pilot project, which tasks they will perform, and their linkages, if any, with the initial recipient. The information also outlines the governance mechanisms that will be in place to ensure coordination between the different entities involved in the project and resolve any potential issues.
  • Information on how the initial contribution recipient will meet the requirement of providing all services and communications materials in both official languages

Your response may be used to assess priorities of the program, such as:

  • capacity and track record of your organization and its linkages to the proposed target population of ultimate recipients
Please explain the expected results of the project (the expected results must be clearly linked to the project activities) (Question 39)

Describe, in general, the expected results of your concept. The expected results of the project must be clearly linked to the objectives identified in question 37 and activities identified in question 38.

If you are selected to go on the Step 2, a specific list of required performance indicators based on the administrative data of the project will be provided. At that point, you will also need to present a strategy to administer entry/exit surveys to participating PSWs that will help further the understanding of how the project increased the financial security of participating PSWs towards their retirement and how it contributed to the retention of participating PSWs in the long-term care sector.

C – Priority areas

Please describe how the proposed concept addresses the call for concept priority(ies)? (Question 40)

Not required for this program

D – Organizational capacity

Please describe the organization’s capacity to undertake the project? (Question 41)

Your response may be used to assess priorities of the program, such as:

  • capacity and track record of your organization and its linkages to the proposed target population of ultimate recipients

Part 3 – Funding

A - Anticipated sources of funding (Questions 42 to 45 in the PDF version of the application form)

Please provide overall details on the funding for the proposed concept.

Note: For all projects funded as a result of this process, applicants may request a minimum of $1,000,000 up to a maximum of $30,000,000 in total funding for a concept.

The Department's funding programs generally encourage and/or require applicants to seek cash and/or in-kind contributions for their proposed project from other sources of funding. Each program has a "stacking limit", that is, a maximum permitted amount of combined funding from federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments for any one project or initiative. Contributions to the concept cannot exceed 100% of eligible expenditures.

The Department uses the information provided in this section to verify that your funding request conforms to any stacking limit or requirement for funding from other sources.

"Other sources of funding" includes any source of funding (including from your organization) other than the program to which you are applying for funding.

Source name (Question 42)

Please include the names of organizations that are anticipated, at this stage of the concept application, to contribute funds and/or in-kind to the project. ESDC should be listed as the first source name followed by any other sources.

Note: If a concept is selected, a full list of all organizations that will contribute financially or in-kind to the concept will be requested as part of the budget details.

Source type (Question 43)

Please identify the types of organizations that are contributing funds to this concept from the following sectors:

  • not-for-profit organizations
  • municipal governments
  • provincial and territorial governments, institutions, and Crown Corporations
  • Indigenous organizations including:
    • band councils
    • tribal councils
    • self-government entities
  • international organizations
  • coalitions, networks or committees
  • research organizations or institutes
  • educational institutions
  • for-profit organizations
  • union
  • other (please specify)
Cash contributions (Question 44)

Please indicate the amount of cash funding, in dollars, that will be provided by each contributor.

Note: Applicants may request a minimum of $1,000,000 up to a maximum of $30,000,000 per concept from the Department for this Call for Concepts.

In-kind contributions (Question 45)

Please indicate the dollar value of each in-kind contribution that will be provided.

In-kind contributions are non-monetary goods or services that may be contributed to the project by your organization or other organizations or partners for which your organization will not be requesting reimbursement. In-kind support may include donated equipment, services or facilities necessary for the proposed project that would otherwise have to be purchased.

To be considered valid, in-kind contributions should contribute to the success of the project, and their monetary equivalent estimated at fair market value.

Part 4 – Attestation

To be considered eligible, an official representative must attest that they:

  • have the capacity and the authority to submit this Concept application on behalf of the organization
  • certify that the information provided in this Concept application and any supporting documentation is true, accurate, and complete, and
  • have read and understood all the program's requirements

To do this, the official representative must provide their name, title and the date.

As this is an attestation, no signature is required.

If you need extra space on the form

If you did not have enough space for your answer, please attach a Word document to your email when applying, and specify the question and section meant to be continued. All items marked with an asterisk (*) in the concept application form are mandatory. For example, write the following:

Part 2, Section B, Question 37 continued: insert the rest of your answer.

Page details

Date modified: