The TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund was launched on May 31, 2010 and took in its first round of applications on July 31, 2010. Since that time, the Fund has committed approximately $5 million to 67 projects. As envisioned at its inception, the Fund’s mandate as a grantor will end in December 2015.
In order to support potential applicants, this notice describes the remaining application deadlines, the funding allocations associated with the deadlines, and several key operational matters related to application planning.
Application Deadlines
The Fund will conduct five more calls for applications, starting in 2013. The remaining application deadlines will be:
- January 31, 2013
- May 16, 2013
- September 19, 2013
- January 30, 2014
- April 17, 2014
Funding
Approximately $5 million will be allocated over the 5 remaining rounds of the Fund, to financial literacy projects proposed by charitable and community organizations from across Canada. While this funding is equivalent to $1 million per round, the Fund will continue to allocate monies according to the quality of applications in any given round. Consequently, some rounds may see more or less funding committed, depending on the quality of proposals received. In addition, the Fund may choose to concentrate a larger proportion of the $5 million in the 2013 rounds, in order to ensure that funding is entirely allocated prior to the closure of the Fund.
Planning an Application to the Fund
1. Beginning in May 2013, the Fund will begin to reduce the 2-year duration limit of projects to ensure that they complete activities, submit final reports, and receive final payments before the December 2015 deadline. Potential applicants should use the table below as a guide to ensure any future applications comply with requirements, especially the Projects’ Latest Completion Date.
2. As with past application rounds, the Fund encourages ambitious projects that make contributions to the community and/or the field of financial literacy. For applicants, there is no advantage in the application process in requesting a small grant amount. The Fund’s assessment focuses on the content of the project, including a sensible budget, and does not weight projects according to the amount of the requested grant.
Applicants proposing far-reaching or complex undertakings may wish to consider the Fund’s $300,000 grant for coordinated applications. See “Scope of Grants” in the Fund’s Guidelines.
Feedback to Strengthen Applications
Project descriptions should focus on the project’s activities, not the organization’s general views, broad theses, advocacy concerns, etc. A clear outline of the project’s objectives, activities, deliverables, and timelines is critical to understanding a proposal’s activities and approach.
Projects that deliver workshops or other quantifiable activities should ensure that appropriate performance metrics are provided. Information related to duration, frequency, cycles, cohort size, and so forth is essential to determine if the grant amount, project description, and budget make sense as a whole.
Budgets need to include sufficient line items, and the assumptions behind allocations, for the Fund to understand how the grant will be spent. As well, there should be a very clear correspondence between the budget and the project description.
Information on the client group should be explicit. The project description should make clear how the content and methodology fit with the client group’s needs, aptitudes, etc.
The Fund’s definition of financial literacy means that training-focused projects must help to build knowledge and skills, not just raise awareness. Projects that propose courses of very short duration (e.g. 1.5 hours) do not meet the Fund’s requirements.
The number of clients reached, especially with respect to the requested grant amount, is an important funding consideration. The Fund considers the client group and its circumstances, the budget, and the proposed activities to determine if the reach is reasonable. For example, reaching 20 people over 18 months with a grant of $80,000 would not be considered reasonable, or competitive.
Please note: Feedback on unsuccessful applications is available.
For more information, see the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund website.
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