Communities Focus Area

Communities Focus Area is sponsored by McConnell Foundation. Supports community-driven initiatives addressing systemic challenges, promoting social inclusion, and fostering intercultural connections.

Communities - McConnell Foundation Supporting communities has been central to the McConnell Foundation since our founding in 1937. In 2021, we launched a dedicated Communities focus area, with a goal to support communities to take the lead in addressing challenges they face at a systemic level. On this page, you will find information about our C ommunities funding priorities and eligibility criteria for potential applicants.

Temporary Closure of the Communities Application Portal Due to a high volume of proposals received, the application portal for the Communities focus area is currently closed. This temporary pause will allow our team to carefully review the proposals already submitted.

Because the proposals already under consideration exceed the resources we can allocate for Communities this year, we want to be respectful of your time and avoid inviting proposals we cannot yet consider. We thank you for your understanding and for your continued interest in the Communities focus area.

We see community as a group that shares common barriers, needs, and goals, whether defined by geography, identity, interest, or other commonalities. Our communities focus area aims to partner with equity-denied groups to support their path toward greater equity and justice. An equity-denied group refers to those whose access to resources, opportunities, or social benefits has historically been denied due to systemic inequities.

We also acknowledge the importance of intersectionality: the experience of interconnected forms of discrimination, acknowledging that people live with overlapping social identities such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, and religion. We want to help fund activities that support collaborative action, policy change and regeneration, helping to address barriers to social and economic inclusion. Learn more below.

We supported 59 organizations in 2025, allocating $7. 5 million in funding to partners looking to accelerate and amplify positive change in their communities. We seek to support initiatives that have community at the heart of their actions and purpose.

It is important to ask: how is the project fostering long-term systemic positive outcomes for the community? Our role as a national funder is to offer our resources as a lever to address the root causes of inequity at a meaningful scale.

As such, we are looking to help fund activities that fall into one of the following categories: Collaborative action: creating spaces of collaboration for multiple organizations to come together to address barriers to social and/or economic inclusion in a bold way. We want organizations to reach together to accomplish audacious goals that they are less likely to achieve on their own.

Policy change: advancing policies or policy changes that favour social justice, build economic resilience and address barriers. We will support policy change efforts at all stages: from advocacy to engagement, communication, consultation and priority setting. Regeneration: s upporting communities in their capacity to develop solutions that enable recovery from historical harm.

Regeneration involves processes of renewal, restoration, and growth—particularly in communities that have faced systemic damage or loss. This pillar allows us to fund groups rooted in a deep understanding of history, focusing on local innovation to rebuild a more equitable future. We recently updated our funding strategy.

To learn more, watch our webinar , where we outline the key updates and details of our approach. For details on the questions and criteria for each funding strategy, please refer to our sample application form . We do not fund frontline services or running day-to-day services or programs.

For example, we do not fund food banks, shelter programming, mental health counseling, food production or distribution, health care for people or animals, drop-in centre programs, support groups, art therapy, training, workshops, or other ongoing community services delivery. We also do not fund work that takes place outside of Canada.

Other things we cannot support include: Renovation or purchase of a building For more detail on the criteria, please refer to our Eligibility Quiz here. Key Considerations in Making Funding Decisions The belief that communities have the best understanding of the challenges they face and their potential solutions grounds the following considerations.

When reviewing applications, we consider the following: Nothing About Us Without Us: This focus area prioritizes work that rebalances power and centers communities in addressing their own needs. We aim to partner with and strengthen organizations and networks that reflect the communities they serve. Focus on racialized groups and intersectionality: Racialized groups are disproportionately affected by systemic issues.

We will pay particular attention to supporting their work to confront their unique barriers and foster justice, acknowledging how intersectionality shapes experiences within and across communities. Projects that Challenge the Status Quo: We support groups that challenge societal norms and confront existing systems, embodying McConnell’s principle of boldness to foster creativity and innovation.

Collaborative engagement: We recognize that isolated efforts rarely have the capacity to influence the systems affecting equity-denied communities. Collective action, whereby organizations collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths, has been consistently identified as a critical approach for creating meaningful change.

Allocating Resources to “Underfunded” Groups: We intentionally support groups traditionally overlooked in philanthropy to challenge conventional thinking and promote equity and innovation, aligning with our commitment to fairness and recognizing the diverse starting points and aspirations of different communities.

Work Aimed at Dismantling Racism and Colonialism: We aim to fund initiatives that help to confront and dismantle the barriers of racism and colonialism. Building “Social Infrastructures”: We aim to support community-driven systems that ensure sustainable benefits for future generations. Projects that are clear and specific: We aim to support organizations that are engaged on changing systems through work that is clear and specific.

Aura Freedom International Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health Funding will support the development of standardized audit tools for public and private long-term care (LTC) homes, with relevance to assisted living and supportive housing settings.

Canadian Network for Equity and Racial Justice Funding will help the Canadian Network for Equity and Racial Justice (CNERJ) move from relationship-building and consultation toward coordinated advocacy and implementation. Islamic Family and Social Services Association Funding will help IFSSA address public affordable housing barriers and reform public housing subsidy and financing options for Muslim communities.

Funding will support VST’s Reclaim project to run a three-year national advocacy initiative to advance reforms that eliminate coerced debt and improve financial protections for survivors. Viola Desmond Justice Institute Funding will support VDJI’s advocacy to improve access to Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCA), as well as its Pay Equity Program.

Learn more about how to apply for Communities funding on our "For Applicants" page.