We’re pleased you’re interested in securing a grant from us to help lower carbon emissions or air pollution in the region.
Priorities
Our granting programs focus on the two biggest sectors for carbon emissions: the building sector and the transportation sector.
In the building sector, we are looking to provide grants to scalable projects that:
- Demonstrate new approaches to significantly reduce the carbon intensity and increase the energy efficiency of existing buildings, especially multi-unit residential buildings, aiming to reduce the average GHG intensity of large buildings in the GTHA 35% by the year 2030.
- Support the transition of new construction in the GTHA to be near net-zero carbon emissions and energy consumption by the year 2030
- Advance policy and financing approaches to facilitate and scale energy-efficiency retrofits
- Pilot demonstrations of promising energy efficiency and zero-emissions building technologies and management approaches
- Deepen tenant engagement to support behaviour-related energy efficiency practices
- Work with diverse collaborators to demonstrate the co-benefits of energy efficiency such as improved indoor environmental quality and local job creation
- Quantify and describe the workforce and training gaps that need to be filled to serve a scaled-up energy efficiency retrofit sector, informing the creation of the TransformTO Workforce for High-Performance Building Campaign
In the transportation sector, we are looking to provide grants for scalable projects that:
- Speed up the transition to electric vehicles to help achieve our 2030 vision of electric vehicles making up 40% new passenger vehicles in the GTHA
- Address key barriers and opportunities associated with the electrification of transportation such as grid capacity, refuelling infrastructure, resilience, and equitable access to affordable low-carbon mobility options
- Work with diverse collaborators to examine the co-benefits of clean transportation solutions including job creation, equitable access to mobility, and public health improvements
- Advance policy and financing approaches to achieve our provincial and municipal targets, for example ensuring that 100 per cent of our transportation network is fueled by low-carbon energy sources by 2050
- Create new models for mobility service that improve efficiency and reduce emissions, such as first and last mile solutions, and shared mobility
- Reduce distances travelled (vehicle-kilometres travelled) through improved transportation options or avoided trips across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area
Eligibility Criteria
- Your application must demonstrate the project’s potential to reduce carbon emissions in the GTHA and/or air pollution in Toronto.
- Only registered charities, not-for-profit organizations and municipalities in the GTHA are eligible to apply for TAF grants.
- Project applications can be single-year or multi-year requests. The requested funds should be in line with the project’s scope and timeframe.
Process
- Once you have reviewed our granting streams and recent recipients, get in touch with TAF’s grantmaking team via grants@taf.ca to discuss your idea.
- Fill out the appropriate application form and submit it before the grant intake deadline.
- TAF will assess each application against the pre-set evaluation criteria outlined in our application forms.
- The Grants and Programs Committee reviews each application and makes a funding recommendation to our Board of Directors.
- The Board then makes a final decision on each grant proposal. Grant proponents may request an opportunity to address the TAF Board directly concerning their grant, should they wish to dispute the Committee’s recommendation.
Upcoming grant intake deadlines:
- Feb 21, 2020 (Board approval: April 28, 2020)
- May 15, 2020 (Board approval: July 16, 2020)
- August 28, 2020 (Board approval: November 6, 2020)
FAQ
Upcoming grant intake deadlines:
- Feb 21, 2020 (Board approval: April 28, 2020)
- May 15, 2020 (Board approval: July 16, 2020)
- August 28, 2020 (Board approval: November 6, 2020)
TAF will not fund:
- Partisan political activities
- Projects where the primary activity is an event such as a conference, workshop, or training session
- A project that builds on, or is another phase of, a currently funded project from the same proponent. However, TAF can provide concurrent funding to the same recipient for different projects.
Grants can be used to fund all project-related costs, including project evaluation and third-party advisory services. Funding can also be used to offset operating costs and a portion of administrative costs directly linked to a TAF-funded project.
Once you have discussed your idea with our grants team, you can complete and submit an application form to grants@taf.ca together with the following information:
- Completed budget spreadsheet
- Evidence of legal status as a registered charity or not-for-profit organization
- Most recent financial statements (audited where possible)
- Names and affiliations of Board directors
We may request additional materials to support your grant proposal. These could include references, confirmation of other sources of funding, CVs/LinkedIn profiles of project team members, etc.
We fund initiatives at different stages of the project cycle, from concept development to project implementation. Please use our standard application form for proposals that are fully-developed. If you seek support to refine early-stage ideas and demonstrate their feasibility, please use our concept development application form. These grant requests tend to be smaller (e.g., $10,000 to $20,000) over a shorter time period (e.g., 6 months). If you’re not sure which form is best suited to your project, please contact us.
TAF analyzes each project’s emissions reduction potential with the help of its in-house emissions quantification expert. We base our analysis on the details you provide regarding how you will design your project and what the anticipated scale-up opportunities are across the region. As part of our technical analysis, we may get in touch with you to clarify your key assumptions or to request further research to support our calculations.
Here is a list of leading Canadian funders that support projects related to climate change and air pollution: George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation The Metcalf Foundation’s Environment Program has three areas of focus:
- Carbon Landscapes
- Climate Blueprints
- Cycle City
Independent Electricity System Operator The IESO offers several funding programs that support the design and delivery of renewable energy and conservation initiatives in Ontario. Federation of Canadian Municipalities FCM’s Green Municipal Fund provides funding for municipal environmental initiatives that improve air quality and reduce emissions. This funding stream provides support for plans, feasibility studies, pilot projects, and capital projects. Ontario Trillium Foundation The Trillium Foundation has a Green People action area with two priority outcomes:
- More ecosystems are protected and restored
- People reduce their impact on the environment
McConnell Foundation McConnell Foundation emphasizes a balance between social, economic, and environmental priorities. Applications are taken on a rolling basis; there are two environment-focused granting streams:
- RENEW: Energy and Economy
- Sustainable Food Systems
Ontario Centre for Excellence OCE’s TargetGHG program helps large industrial plants to adopt leading-edge technology and supports Ontario’s entrepreneurs to develop creative new cleantech solutions. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation supports a wide range of environmental initiatives, with a primary funding focus on:
- Environmental education
- Urban green space programs
Ivey Foundation The Ivey Foundation’s Economy and Environment program supports the development of projects that integrate the economy and the environment. All proposals must be from a registered Canadian charitable organization. Government of Canada The Low Carbon Economy Challenge leverages Canadian ingenuity to reduce emissions and generate clean growth, aligned with the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change goals. The Challenge can fund provinces and territories, municipalities, Indigenous communities and organizations, businesses and not-for-profit organizations. The EcoAction Community Funding Program funds projects across Canada to encourage Canadians to take action to address clean water and climate change, and to build the capacity of communities to sustain these activities into the future. Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Liveable Communities The Funder’s Network Partners for Places matching grant program invests in partnerships between local government sustainability offices and place-based foundations to promote a healthy environment, a strong economy, and well-being of all residents. Additional resources:
- Natural Resources Canada curates a Directory of Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy programs in Canada.
- City of Toronto provides a number of energy efficiency incentives, such as the High Performance New Construction Program or the Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), to help achieve our TransformTO climate goals.
- Here’s a list we compiled of grants and incentives for home energy retrofits in Ontario.