One-Year Community Grants

Prior to submitting an application, please carefully review our Granting Guidelines and Eligibility.

If you have any remaining questions about completing the application form, the eligibility of your project, or the process, please contact us.

Grant applications must be submitted through our online system, which is opened approximately six weeks in advance of each deadline. To log on to the system, please use the following instructions:

  • If you have an account already, you can start a new application by clicking here. 
  • For new users to the online application system, click here. Carefully follow the instructions provided on the login page. You will receive a confirmation e-mail indicating that you have created a new account. 
  • To login and modify existing applications, click here.

Tips on completing your online application:

  • Please read the online application instructions carefully. 
  • You can view the application form in its entirety in this PDF. We recommend that you maintain a document of your responses as backup to the online content. You can also prepare responses in an offline document and cut and paste the content into the application. 
  • If you cannot complete the entire form in a single session, you can click ‘Save & Submit Later’. You will then receive an email confirmation that your application has been saved and will be able to return to it to complete and submit later.
  • Please ensure that all the required attachments have been attached to the application (see below for a complete list)
  • Upon submission, you will receive a confirmation message and email indicating that your application has been received. If you have submitted an application, but did not receive a confirmation email, please contact us immediately.

Attachments
You will be required to attach the following information for your organization before submitting your online application:

  • Project Budget Form listing all expenses and revenues. 
  • List of current Board of Directors (of the charitable organization, if applying as a charitable partnership). 
  • Most recent financial statements (of the charitable organization, if applying as a charitable partnership). 


The Partnership Agreement Formis also required for applicants who do not have charitable status and who are applying in partnership with a qualified donee (registered charity).

Important information 

  • Please note that applicants can request up to $25,000; however, the average grant is between $10,000 and $15,000. 
    • The Community Grants Program does not typically provide partial funding. If you request $25,000, you will likely either receive $25,000 or be declined. Therefore, we encourage applicants to carefully consider the needs of their initiative before determining how much to apply for. 
  • We accept only one application at a time from an organization. However, a charitable organization can both apply on its own behalf and also serve as the charitable partner on an initiative being led by another organization in the same grant round. 
  • Organizations must report on initiatives previously funded by the Ottawa Community Foundation before re-applying. If your previously funded initiative is not yet complete, you can submit an interim report in lieu of an evaluation report. To obtain the grant evaluation report template, click here. 
  • Grant decisions are typically communicated by the end of April for the Spring round, and the end of November for the Fall round. While initiatives may begin before these dates, costs that the OCF is being asked to cover should not be incurred before the grant decision is communicated. 
  • The Grants Committee reviews only the information in the application and budget (other attachments are used to confirm eligibility). If you wish for the Committee to know about letters of support, client comments, evaluated outcomes of past initiatives, etc., please reference and/or quote from those in the application itself. If you believe it is important that we have such documents on file, please submit them separately from your grant submission by email to grants@ocf-fco.ca. 
  • We only accept applications submitted through our online granting system. 

What to expect after you submit
Once submitted, grant applications go through a three-step process:  

  1. They are evaluated for eligibility by OCF staff. 
  2. They are reviewed by the Grants Committee. 
  3. Applications approved by the Grants Committee are matched with funding. 

The period from the application deadline to the notice of decision to applicants is about 2-3 months. Applicants submitting for the February deadline usually receive notice by late April, and applicants for the October deadline usually receive notice by the end of November.  

Successful applicants are requested to contact the OCF when they are ready to proceed with their project or initiative, at which point we forward the approved amount. Grantees have up to 6 months from the date of the decision notice to claim the grant.