Our Granting Guidelines

To apply for funding from Acts of Grace, charities and the projects they present for consideration must align with the Foundation's eligibility criteria, granting priorities and exclusions.

All 2024 funds have been disbursed and/or committed. Please continue to check the website for updates about future granting cycles.

Eligibility Criteria

To be considered for an Acts of Grace grant, an organization must:

  • Be a registered Canadian charity
  • Be an outwardly-focused charity, serving the broader community beyond its own constituents
  • Have an independent Board of Directors or similar committee
  • Demonstrate sustained organizational health
  • Provide 3rd party prepared and reviewed financial statements for the two prior years
  • Demonstrate a proven record of successfully delivering impactful, culturally and geographically relevant projects

The Acts of Grace Foundation accepts one application per granting cycle per charity. Charities are not eligible to apply for new grants until all requirements for active grants have been met, including follow-up and final reports. We prefer granting to Christian organizations. In addition to these minimum criteria, other factors will also be considered such as the Foundation's Granting Priorities and Exclusions, as outlined below.


To view our full Granting Guidelines, click here.

Granting Priorities

To be considered for a grant, projects must address at least one of the following:

  • Eradicate systems and conditions that enable or proliferate physical, material or spiritual poverty
  • Increase the charity's long-term efficiency, effectiveness or capacity in delivering programs, services
  • Increase individuals' capability to affect long-term self sufficiency, well-being, spiritual growth


Projects must also be characterized by all of the following:

  • Serve marginalized people
  • Be culturally and geographically relevant
  • Be a specific and time-limited initiative
  • Have observable activities, outputs, outcomes
  • Improve the factors giving rise to the project
  • Include clearly defined sustainability plans


To be considered for an Acts of Grace grant, grant requests should:

  • Be of sufficient proportion to propel the project (or significant portions of) forward
  • Apply Acts of Grace funds directly to project costs
  • Clearly identify measurable outcomes by which the charity will demonstrate the project's intended impact


We prioritize projects that enable development or foster system-wide transformation. Acts of Grace does not provide funds for aid (relief).

Exclusions

Given the breadth of applications presented to the Foundation, Acts of Grace has made the necessary decision to direct its funding to specific areas. To that end, the Acts of Grace Foundation does not fund any of the following:

  • Individuals
  • Government departments or agencies
  • Start-up organizations
  • Membership-based organizations (including political parties, lobbyist organizations, service clubs or special interest groups)
  • Places of worship, churches, denominations, dioceses or agencies thereof (especially where the purpose of these organizations is inwardly-focused at serving their own members or constituents)
  • Administrative expenses such as mortgage, rent, utilities, administrative salaries, etc. (salaries and administration directly related to the delivery of a particular project will be considered)
  • Aid or relief efforts
  • Culture and the arts
  • Environmental and resource protection or conservation
  • Climate action and clean energy
  • Industry and infrastructure development
  • Legislation and policy reform
  • Scholarships and bursaries
  • Community recreation (community halls and recreation facilities, libraries, zoos, parks and public spaces, etc.)
  • Contributions to a charity's unrestricted/general funds
  • General or annual fundraising campaigns or general contributions to large-scale capital campaigns
  • Fundraising or promotional events
  • Lobbying efforts
  • Advertising and publicity costs
  • Inwardly-focused projects aimed at serving an organization’s own constituents
  • Projects with significant portions of the work taking place and/or the project completed prior to the granting decision deadline (the Foundation does not make grants to retroactively fund a project)

To view our full Granting Guidelines, click here.


The Acts of Grace Foundation uses an online Grant Management System and does not accept Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) by mail or email. 


To learn more about our application process, click here.


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