$150,000 Family Innovations Scale Grant

Deadline: 17-Apr-2024

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is accepting applications for the Family Innovations Scale Grant.

Through the Family Innovations Stream, the Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) recognizes the impact that healthy and resilient families have on the future success of young people.

Through this grant stream, established groups led by parents, guardians and caregivers can apply for a grant to scale work they have been delivering to community. YOF’s work is founded in the belief that grassroots leaders who have tested community-based projects over at least two years have the skills to grow those projects to better serve the communities they support.

They define a parent, guardian, or caregiver as someone, or one of the people, responsible for the physical, emotional, and economic wellbeing of children and youth. The definition of parents, guardians and caregivers is inclusive and respects diverse cultural and decolonized interpretations of these roles. With a Family Innovations Scale grant, parents, guardians and caregivers can:

Enhance the quality of parents, guardians and caregivers’ experiences to deepen the impact of a current project, or
Expand a current project to impact more parents, guardians and caregivers

YOF prioritizes grassroots groups that are looking to address the experiences of Indigenous and Black parents, guardians and caregivers who continue to face systemic barriers and oppression.

In addition to prioritizing Black and Indigenous grassroots groups, YOF prioritizes investing in projects that positively impact parents, guardians and caregivers with the following intersecting lived experiences or identities:

Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children in conflict or at risk of being in conflict with the law
Parents, guardians, and caregivers at risk of contact or in contact with child welfare services
Parents, guardians, and caregivers whose children are at-risk of dropping out or have dropped out of school
Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children living with disabilities or special needs
Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children who are two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual (2SLGBTQIA+)

Funding Information

Maximum $150,000

Duration

Minimum 2 years, Maximum 3 years

Priority Outcomes

Creating opportunities for Indigenous and/or Black parents, guardians, and caregivers to strengthen relationships, build strong community and cultural connections, and heal from trauma
Supporting parents, guardians, and caregivers to navigate and access resources for economic stability
Supporting parents, guardians and caregivers to effectively navigate, access, and influence systems that affect family well-being

Eligible Projects

Scale grants can help you improve or expand your own successful project, where you’ve delivered core activities for over two years. Two types of projects qualify for a Scale grant. Choose the one that most closely aligns with your project.
- Enhance the quality of parents, guardians and caregivers’ experiences to deepen the impact of a current project
  - Choose this project type if:
    - This is a project your group currently delivers and/or has delivered for at least two years and you have had a positive impact on the parents, guardians and caregivers you serve.
    - You have developed a program model with positive results.
    - You can sustain the program as a result of your group’s track record and continued engagement with parents, guardians, caregivers, and community.
- Expand a current project to impact more parents, guardians and caregivers
  - Choose this project type if:
    - Your group has already been successfully delivering core activities through this project for at least two years and has had a positive impact on the parents, guardians and caregivers you serve.
    - You have developed a program model with positive results and now your group wants to expand the impact of your project by reaching more parents, guardians and caregivers.
    - You can sustain the program because of your group’s track record and continued engagement with parents, guardians and caregivers and the community.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Groups
- A grassroots group that is not registered as a charity or as an incorporated not-for-profit
  - The work of a parents, guardian and caregiver-led grassroots group is community-led and community-inspired. Grassroots group means that core group members share identities and lived experiences with the parents, guardians and caregivers who will benefit from the project.
  - If you are a grassroots group from a First Nation, you are eligible to apply. Your group cannot have more than 50% of its members as part of the band office or band council.
- An organization incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation without share capital in a Canadian jurisdiction
  - This includes a Chartered Community Council, operating under the Métis Nation of Ontario, or Inuit communities that are registered as not-for-profit corporations without share capital in Canada.
  - The organization is required to have independently managed revenues of $50,000 or less in either of the last two years.
  - Board members and day-to-day management must also be parents, guardians and caregivers.
  - The group is led by parents, guardians and caregivers.
Group Requirements
- Groups need to meet the following requirements to be eligible for funding.
  - Reflect communities served
    - Core group members (including board members, where applicable) reflect the identities and experiences of the parents, guardians and caregivers they are working with and for.
    - YOF prioritizes projects led by and for Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, Inuit) and Black parents, guardians and caregivers.
  - Experience
    - Core group members have experience doing work together. This experience can include delivering core program model or other activities.
    - The group demonstrates that collectively they have the skills and experiences to deliver project activities and scale this project.
  - Core group
    - The group has at least three core group members.
    - More than 50% of core group members need to be at arm’s length relationship to each other. An ‘arm’s length’ relationship means board members and group members are not married or related to each other, do not work as business partners or are otherwise in a relationship where interests may be compromised.
    - Parents, guardians and caregivers must make up more than 50% of the core group.
    - The group is based in Ontario and the work will benefit parents, guardians, and caregivers in Ontario.
    - The group exists independently of a larger organization (other not-for-profit), charitable organization or municipality, university, school, religious institution and/or hospital.
    - The group agrees to work with an Organizational Mentor and has autonomy to choose their Organizational Mentor, design the project, identify group members, and plan for the future.
  - Note
    - Groups can only apply for one Youth Opportunities Fund grant at a time.
    - If your group has an active Youth Opportunities Fund grant, you can only apply for funding if you are in the last year of your active grant.

Ineligible

The following are not eligible to apply:
- Registered charities
- Religious entities established for the observation of religious beliefs, including, but not limited to, churches, temples, mosques and synagogues.
- Municipalities
- Groups/projects based at an existing organization (not-for-profit or for profit)
- Groups specifically designed to serve parents, guardians, and caregivers through committees or clubs of institutions, including municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals
- Groups looking to design programming for children
- For-profit organizations and businesses
- Individuals

For more information, visit OTF.