Grants
The Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation is dedicated to promoting and sustaining the Greenbelt as a beneficial, valuable, and permanent feature, enhancing the quality of life for all residents of Ontario. Our vision is a vibrant and healthy Greenbelt with a protected and restored natural environment, a strong and successful rural countryside, a robust agricultural sector and a pattern of urban settlement that supports the Greenbelt.
We will support a variety of activities in the following three program areas:
- Promoting Greenbelt-grown food;
- Greening the Greenbelt through cleaner air and cleaner water; and
- Inspiring innovation in the Greenbelt.
The Foundation is interested in being a positive force for creating new relationships and connections across the Greenbelt. We encourage proposals that integrate the three program areas and seek outcomes that are beneficial to each of our agricultural, rural and environmental goals. We also encourage applicants to consider including public awareness and engagement activities in their proposals or to conduct specific public awareness efforts geared to targeted audiences with focused messages and benchmarks for success.
Greenbelt-Grown Food
The Greater Golden Horseshoe has the largest concentration of farmers and residents in Canada, making it a dynamic place to foster a local food network. The Greenbelt’s abundance of products ranging from fruit and vegetables, to meats, dairy, spices, wine grapes and specialty crops can deliver a wide selection of products to retailers and the region’s diverse population. The Greenbelt is essential for securing a sustainable and stable local food supply.
The goals of this program area are to:
- Establish structural and permanent elements of a local food system in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe region
- Increase the viability of Greenbelt farming
- Stabilize the local food supply
We would be interested in projects that:
- Open up new marketplaces for Greenbelt farmers
- Develop and implement government policies and infrastructure favouring Greenbelt-grown food
- Develop new distribution links between farmers and purchasers
- Encourage consumers and retailers to buy local
- Promote locally-grown ethno-cultural crops since we are one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world
Greening the Greenbelt Through Clean Air and Clean Water
The Greenbelt’s natural capital delivers some $2.7 billion worth of ecological goods and services to Ontario each year, making its forests, wetlands, meadows, grasslands and other natural features extremely valuable, particularly in providing clean air and safe drinking water to the residents in this region and enhancing biodiversity.
The goals of this program area are to:
- Improve the ecological functions in the Greenbelt
- Foster more environmentally-sustainable farming practices
- Achieve cleaner air and water and greater biodiversity in the Greenbelt
Generally, we would be interested in projects that cover large landscapes and/or have a significant impact on natural capital. Please note that we cannot fund the cost of ecological restoration work such as tree planting, riparian re-vegetation, erosion control, etc. Specifically, we would be interested in projects that:
- Maintain and improve the natural and hydrological features that provide clean drinking water, water and air filtration/treatment, biodiversity and carbon storage
- Advance sustainable agricultural practices
- Apply assessments of, or increase natural capital values for, the Greenbelt
- Identify and protect species at risk and their habitats
- Promote green energy
- Mitigate climate change
Insipiring Innovation in Ontario's Greebelt
The Greenbelt invites its rural communities and urban neighbours to imagine a healthier future and find new approaches to challenges. This bold legislation has created the largest greenbelt in the world, one which fosters a more sustainable way of living and enhances the quality of life for over eight million residents and thousands of businesses who call this region home.
The goals of this program area are to:
- Increase the size, and ensure the permanency, of the Greenbelt
- Strengthen public and municipal support for the Greenbelt
We would be interested in innovative projects that:
- Inspire rural and urban communities to embrace the Greenbelt, utilize its assets to help create a healthy future and promote economic development that supports the Greenbelt
- Encourage new models of growth for municipal planning and address land use controversies within the Greenbelt
- Monitor Greenbelt Plan implementation and, where needed, encourage better adherence with the Plan
- Grow the Greenbelt in order to extend its protection to vulnerable agricultural lands, natural and hydrological features
- Extend Greenbelt principles and best practices beyond the Greenbelt in ways
