Open calls for proposals: Eligibility

Call for proposals 1: Women’s Economic and Leadership Opportunities Fund
Call for proposals 2: Women’s Capacity Fund

2. Eligibility

Applicants

All applicants under these calls for proposals must meet the following criteria:

• be a Canadian organization
• be a not-for-profit organization
• be legally constituted
• have proof of incorporation or be created under an Act
• have experience in advancing equality for women 

Only the following organizations may apply to Call 1: Systemic change:

• Women’s organizations
• Indigenous women’s organizations
• Other equality-seeking organizations 

Only the following organizations may apply to Call 2: Capacity-building:

• Women’s organizations
• Indigenous women’s organizations 

For these calls for proposals, we will use the following definitions for eligibility:

• Women’s organization: Its primary mandate and objective is to promote equality for women in Canada. It includes those that advocate, increase awareness, engage, and act to advance women's equality. The use of the word “women” is inclusive of both cisgender and trans individuals.
• Indigenous women’s organization: It represent First Nations, Inuit, or Métis interests and is representative of the population it serves. Its work includes advancing equality for Indigenous women in Canada. The use of the word “women” is inclusive of Two-spirited, cisgender, and trans individuals.
• Other equality-seeking organization: It works to address disadvantage and discrimination. It challenges barriers to equal access, opportunities, and resources and seeks social justice for individuals and communities. 

For both calls, applicants that are not eligible include:

• not-for-profit organizations that do not have experience in advancing equality for women
• for-profit Canadian organizations
• Indigenous governments, including band councils, tribal councils and self government entities and their agencies
• provinces, territories, municipalities, and their agencies
• research organizations and institutes
• centres of expertise
• educational institutions
• individuals
• organizations outside of Canada
• political parties and organizations involved in political activities that are partisan

Funding

You can only apply to one call for proposals and one stream. This means that you can only apply to one of the following: 

Consider the following notes:

• For Call 1: Systemic change. For projects with a pan-Canadian reach: Project activities must have an impact in at least four WAGE regions and be carried out in both official languages. Note that Indigenous organizations do not have to deliver the project in both official languages.
• For Call 2: Capacity-building: The project reach must be the same as your current organization scope. For example, if your organization scope is local, the project reach is also local.
• Organizations that cover one of Canada’s three largest municipalities, Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver, would qualify as regional.
• There are often extra costs of living and traveling in northern or remote areas. You may apply for an extra 35%, but only for activities that happen in these areas. See Activity location type for more information.

Duration

Projects should start no earlier than March 2024. 

You must complete your project by:

• Call 1: Systemic change
  • Stream A: a new systemic change project: March 31, 2027
  • Stream B: scale a successful systemic project: March 31, 2026
• Call 2: Capacity-building: March 31, 2026

Activities

Before starting an application, we encourage you to take the free online course: Introduction to Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus).

GBA Plus is a process used to assess how diverse people may experience policies and programs. The “plus” in GBA Plus shows that GBA goes beyond sex and gender differences. We all have many identity factors that intersect to make us who we are. It also considers many other identity factors like ethnicity and age.

Eligible activities

Before starting an application, we encourage you to attend a virtual information session.

All activities must align with these calls for proposals’ objectives.

Call 1: Systemic change

In Stream A, your project must propose a new systemic change project. It must include an external project evaluation to measure and assess the project’s impact. This includes an evaluation plan and a final evaluation report. If your work plan and budget do not include an external evaluation, you will need to add it to your project if approved. No additional funds will be available after approval.

In Stream B, your project must propose to scale a successful systemic change project. The proposed project must:

• Provide evidence that the past project advanced systemic change. Usually, evidence is only available for completed projects or those that are almost complete.
• Include steps to increase the reach and impact of the project:
  • It can expand the project to a new location, to a new population, or to a new sector or industry.
  • It can use the positive results of the previous project to influence systemic change at higher levels of a system. For instance, it could advocate for changes to laws and policy.

Examples of activities in line with Streams A and B include to:

• change laws, policies, or practices that discriminate against women
• design and put in place ways to increase women’s opportunities and participation in the job market
• design and put in place ways to increase women’s leadership in democratic, civic, public, or private sectors
• engage communities to address harmful attitudes and barriers to diverse women
• engage women and girls with lived experience to develop solutions to systemic barriers
• help stakeholders who can influence change understand barriers for women and put in place solutions
• work with other stakeholders to influence change

Call 2: Capacity-building

Project activities could improve:

• how your organization makes decisions
  • assess and improve board governance
  • develop or revise bylaws and policies
• how your organization manages money
  • learn how to write funding proposals
  • secure funding from many sources
• how your organization works with others to achieve a common goal
  • build and improve regional and national partnerships to fill gaps in the networks within the women’s movement
• how your organization manages people
  • develop and put in place strategies to attract and keep the right people
  • use Gender-Based Analysis Plus to adapt human resources policies and tools
• how your organization drives change
  • develop and implement an advocacy strategy to drive change. Activities cannot include carrying out advocacy activities
• how your organization makes plans
  • develop and implement a strategic plan
  • review your resources or share resources with other women’s organizations
• how your organization learns as a team, not only as individuals
  • how to use technology to be more efficient
  • how to manage projects
• how your organization learns about challenges and barriers to women’s equality
  • engage with women to better determine their needs and align services
  • research the needs of women and address barriers to equality
• how your organization manages for results
  • determine what activities are most aligned with your goals
  • learn how to measure your activities to determine if they are effective
• how your organization will advance systemic change in the future
  • learn about the skills your organization needs to advance systemic change
  • learn about how to conduct analyses such as GBA Plus to understand how diverse women and girls interact with a system

Priorities

For both calls for proposals, we will prioritize proposals:

• that focus on women who are:
  • Indigenous
  • living with a disability
  • members of 2SLGBTQI+ communities
  • newcomers or migrants
  • Black or racialized
  • members of an official language minority community
  • seniors
  • young women and girls
  • living on a low income
  • living in a rural, remote, or northern community
• that address any other gap, such as geography, as deemed by the department
• In Call 1: Systemic Change: We will prioritize proposals submitted by women’s organizations and Indigenous women’s organizations.
• In Call 1: Stream B: The priority for scaling projects is to those that were previously funded by WAGE.
• In Call 2: Capacity-building: We will prioritize proposals submitted by organizations that have not previously received capacity-building funds from WAGE.

Ineligible activities

The department will not support activities that:

• deliver services or programs, such as career help, support services, and fundraising. To be clear, you cannot create new or expand existing services or programs.
• train employees or volunteers unless this increases the organization’s capacity and not an individual’s capacity
• create unfair advantage or profit
• involve construction and renovation
• involve the purchase, lease, or long-term rental of real property
• are religious or politically partisan in nature
• take place or address a related issue abroad, such as initiatives that advance equality for women in a country other than Canada
• are only to build organizational capacity in Call 1 Systemic Change. The exception is activities proposed under Call 2: Capacity-building.

The following activities will only be eligible as part of a broader project if they are necessary to advance these calls for proposals’ objectives:

• information campaigns
• awareness-raising
• networking or partnership development
• delivery of training to women, such as leadership or occupational training
• conferences
• studies
• publications or newsletters
• research

Costs

The department will only fund eligible costs. Eligible costs are those that are necessary to support the purpose of the project. We will only reimburse eligible costs incurred after the signature of the agreement. Read the Guidelines on Eligible Expenditures for Funding Programs for more information. 

Total government funding for the project must not exceed 100% of eligible costs. This includes federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal assistance for the same goal.  We will adjust the level of funding and seek reimbursement if necessary.

There are two categories of eligible costs:

• Direct costs: expenses related to the delivery of the project that are linked to specific activities
• Administrative costs: expenses incurred to manage and support the project 

The department will determine the final value of funding. 

Eligible costs 

The department will fund as many projects as possible to have a greater impact, but funding is limited. Please only request eligible costs that are necessary to deliver the project. This allows other projects to be funded. For these calls for proposals, eligible costs include: 

Direct costs (necessary to deliver activities):

• travel costs must not exceed the rates in the National Joint Council Travel Directive. This includes the Travel Directive’s Kilometric Rates, Meals Allowances, Accommodation - Canadian city rate limits and Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures.
• salaries and benefits for staff related to project delivery
• honoraria and professional fees, including those paid to Indigenous Elders for their services
• materials and supplies
• spaces used for project activities
• translation
• training related to the project
• publicity and promotion
• other costs such as snacks or meals served during key project activities 

Administrative costs (necessary to manage and support the project):

• project oversight
• office space for project staff
• phones
• computer equipment
• IT maintenance
• accounting 

Include audit costs for projects of $300,000 and above in your administrative costs. The department requires the following on an annual basis:

• externally reviewed Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for projects between $300,000 and $999,999
• audited Financial Statements for projects of $1,000,000 and above 

Administrative costs can be up to 20% of the total funding requested from the department. 

Ineligible costs 

Ineligible costs include:

• core or operational funding for existing or ongoing activities, projects, engagement, or advocacy
• general core or operating costs for the organization that are not related to this project such as:
  • rent
  • utilities
  • phones
  • property taxes
  • equipment for staff
  • insurance not required for this project
  • audit costs not required for this project
• capital expenditures, such as land, buildings, vehicles, and other major capital costs, except for computer equipment such as desktops, portables, and small peripherals required to carry-out the project
• salaries, allowances, and benefits for directors of a board or other governance body
• budget deficits, debt reduction, organizational reserves, or endowment funds
• costs added to a project over the estimated project value to cover unexpected costs
• costs incurred before a funding decision is made
• further distribution of funds
• payment of debts or coverage of losses