The Capacity Building Grant welcomes applications from Indigenous-led organizations, including both registered non-profits and charities, as well as community-based organizations.

As a general guideline, organizations must demonstrate Indigenous leadership and decision-making authority at the governance and/or senior leadership levels. They must also directly serve or support Indigenous people and communities through their mandate, programming, or organizational purpose. For this grant, Indigenous organizations must have a majority (at least 50%) Indigenous Board of Directors, executive staff, and/or membership.

As this grant stream is designed for smaller Indigenous-led organizations seeking to build their internal capacity, an eligible organization would typically have fewer than six (6) or seven (7) full-time staff and operate with an annual budget of under $1,000,000.

These thresholds are flexible and are intended to reflect The Blanket Fund’s focus on supporting organizations in their growth and development.

INELIGIBLE GROUPS

• Individuals
• For-profit businesses
• Organizations that are not Indigenous-led
• Organizations whose mandates does not align with serving Indigenous Peoples and communities
• Municipal, Provincial, or Territorial governments or entities
• Government of Canada and federal entities
• Political parties or partisan organizations
• Organizations not legally recognized in Canada

The Blanket Fund grants are administered by DWF. Successful applicants will be required to submit a report to DWF annually, including a financial breakdown of how the grant has been spent to date. A completed report will be required each year in order to release the next installment of funding. DWF will work with the grantees to address any challenges in submitting the annual report to ensure there are no barriers to meeting the requirements of the grant.

As the Capacity Building Grant stream is a major commitment of both time and resources, the process to identify successful applicants has a three-stage approach. It is designed to identify applicants who will benefit most from our support, while also respecting the time and effort of ineligible groups. Applicants who do not meet the criteria will be notified after the Expression of Interest phase. Subsequent phases focus on co-developing partnerships between successful applicants and The Blanket Fund staff. Applicants will then participate in prioritizing and directing available funding through a participatory review process.

Annual Timeline: 

Phase A | Expression of Interest

The Expression of Interest stage is intended to ensure your organization fits the criteria and would benefit from the support of the grant.

The online application can be accessed here: Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund Reconciliation Action Grant Application. Applicants will complete the following questions within the online portal:

1. Project Name
2. Timelines
   • Start Date
   • End Date
3. Organization Type
   • What type of group are you?
     • Registered charity/qualified donee (Please provide registered charitable #)
     • Registered non-profit/non-qualified donee
     • Other (“Other” might be a community group, collective, etc. Applicants must have a bank account in their organizations name.)
4. Project Description – Describe the details of the project
5. Explain how Indigenous people play a role in your organization
6. Connection to Indigenous communities or people – Explain how this grant will benefit your organization
7. Explain what capacity you will build through this grant
8. Explain how this new capacity will be sustained
9. Explain the impact this new capacity will have
10. Describe how this project will support Indigenous people and communities
11. Describe the expected outcomes

The Expression of Interest is meant to ensure that shortlisted applicants meet the following criteria:

• Your organization is Indigenous-led and has real, meaningful connections to Indigenous peoples and communities.
• The work you do directly impacts Indigenous people and communities.
• The opportunity to unlock growth, either through supporting programs or capacity development for your organization.
• The growth is sustainable after the funding ends.

Shortlisted organizations will be invited to Phase B and asked to submit a more detailed Scope of Collaboration, which builds on the criteria above. This will include a meeting with The Blanket Fund staff so you can verbally explain your organization and impact before moving on to Phase B.

Phase B | Scoping of Collaboration

The Scoping of Collaboration phase will be an opportunity to establish your capacity-building goals, articulate how you intend to achieve them, and discuss what role our partnership will play. The result will be the completion of Scope of Collaboration documents that break down your needs by financial and operational requirements.

The Scope of Collaboration documents will also clearly outline your organization’s Indigenous leadership or how you are connected to Indigenous communities, what impact you will have, what the opportunity for growth is, and how this growth can be sustained.

DWF will provide templates to support your Scope of Collaboration.

Phase C | Participatory Review

The final documents created in Phase B will be reviewed by other potential grant recipients through a participatory review process. Each component of the document will be commented on by the other potential grant recipients. We want to ensure applicants take leadership roles throughout this process, which includes using their lived experience to reflect on and make final decisions on impacts and resourcing needs amongst applicants.

The Blanket Fund will take the direction provided by the review group and will allocate available resources to best meet these recommendations based on the funds available.

The Blanket Fund will work to provide potential recipients who the review committee does not feel meet the funding criteria with support to continue with a portion of their proposal. This monetary support will not exceed $10,000.

If you have any questions or need any support submitting your application, please contact us at fund@downiewenjack.ca or 1-833-666-2414 ext. 13.