Neighborhood Small Grants
Neighbourhood Small Grants (NSG) are grassroots grantmaking to support people making positive changes in their community. NSG's empower community members to bring their neighbours together, create new connections, and make their community a better place to live.
Community Foundation Grey Bruce (CFGB) is a registered charity that supports non-profits in Grey and Bruce counties through grants from endowment funds created locally for local benefit. NSG are offered using the grants available from a Community Fund that benefits a specific municipality or geographic area.
An Overview
Application Process:
Applications are once or twice a year and are available for a specific community. The program begins with community outreach and a call for applications. A range of methods are used to promote the program and support people to apply, including holding information sessions, putting up posters in the community, and doing outreach through local media outlets and social media. Applications are filled out online. The community members that apply are referred to as Project Leaders.
Application Review and Grant Decision Making:
Once the application deadline closes, local members of each Neighbourhood Grant Committee consider grant applications and identify projects that meet the program principles, local program priorities and application guidelines. Once all the applications are reviewed, applicants are notified about whether they will be funded. Generally, it takes 6-8 weeks from application submission to granting decisions.
Partner Organizations:
CFGB’s charitable objectives require that grants made to individuals though NSG’s use a partner organization as a qualified done. In Grey Bruce the partner organization might be the municipality, or an active registered charity in the community.
Project Leader Orientation:
Once grant decisions are made, each community organizes a Project Leader Orientation event where Project Leaders (the people that have applied for the grant) receive their grants, learn about the program, and connect with other people involved in the program.
Implementation of Projects and Story Harvesting:
Funded projects are implemented over a 6-8 month period. During this time, Project Leaders are provided with resources and encouraged to advertise their upcoming NSG projects and share their project stories in various ways.
Learning and Mentorship:
“We learn together” is one of the principles of grassroots grantmaking. There are many opportunities for community members, Partner Organizations and funders to share, build and capture knowledge, skills and information that can be used within and beyond the NSG program. For example, these may include the NSG projects themselves, NSG community events such as the Project Leader Orientation and Wrap-Up Celebrations, various mentorship relationships, and NSG Learning Days, which bring together program participants for networking, inspiration and skill building opportunities.
Evaluation:
The NSG program is evaluated annually to measure how well we are fulfilling the program principles and to identify areas for growth and improvement. Surveys are circulated to the NGC members and Project Leaders to gather their feedback. This feedback gets compiled in a report that is shared widely and used to enhance the quality of the program in the future. Partner Organizations are also required to prepare a financial report detailing how the NSG funds are used and encouraged to reflect on the grant statistics from their particular granting cycle.
Wrap-Up Celebrations:
Once all the projects are complete, the community wraps up the program with a celebration event. Wrap-Up Celebrations bring together Project Leaders, NGC members, Partner Organization staff, local officials, and project participants to acknowledge everyone’s contributions to their communities and showcase stories from the projects that occurred that year.
Some examples of Project areas are:
- Neighbourhood identity and pride; festivals, dinners
- Clean-up and physical improvements; beautification projects, public art
- Communication; networks of neighbours
- Neighbourhood facilities development; parks, gardens, facilities
- Crime Prevention; done in partnership with local police departments
- Environmental protection; training, workshops, identifying hazards
- Youth involvement and development; workshops, drop-in centre
- Senior’s connections; social group, book club
Read full criteria here
Download the CFGB Neighbourhood Small Grants Overview here.
Current Community Funds offering Neighbourhood Small Grants:
- Southgate Neighbourhood Small Grants - CLOSED for 2024