Grant Program FAQs
General Eligibility
Applicants can include registered charities or other qualified recipients such as incorporated non-profit organizations with audited financial statements, municipalities, First Nations and Indigenous communities, and conservation authorities.
Organizations can apply individually or in collaboration with others. Lead applicants must be a registered charity or non-profit organization.
The Foundation does not fund individuals.
Yes, the Foundation does fund municipal governments to undertake innovative and leading-edge projects that benefit the Greenbelt.
Funding Priorities and Restrictions
A list of eligible/ineligible costs and activities can be found in Appendix A and Appendix B of the Grant Guidelines.
Typically, the Foundation does not consider requests for:
- Buildings and infrastructure (i.e. bricks, mortar)
- Deficit financing
- Land claim disputes
- Establishment of new farmers’ markets
- Projects occurring outside the Greenbelt and Greater Golden Horseshoe region
- Projects that are solely sponsorships, festivals, and events
- General management costs for the recipient or grantees, including board and committee meetings that are not specific to the Project
- Legal costs not necessary for the Project
- Costs of alcohol
- Costs of travel outside Ontario
- Costs associated with preparing and submitting grant proposals and letters of intent, unless funding is given for a planning grant or feasibility study
- Refundable expenses
It is essential that each project has an obvious relation to, and direct impact on the Greenbelt.
Please review our maps of the Greenbelt for reference.
For the 2026 Grant Round, the Greenbelt Foundation will consider funding proposals (in each of the three streams) between $25,000-$100,000 for projects that can be completed by December 2026.
Funding requests can be for multi-year projects, but the phase of work outlined in your grant application must be completed by the end of the year. Since funding announcements will be made in spring 2026, project proposals should be for activities that can be completed within 6-8 months.
Application Process
First time applicants must complete an eligibility quiz on the grant portal to register.
Upon successfully completing the eligibility quiz, you will be able to register your organization on the grant portal.
You will receive a confirmation of your registration along with your credentials to access the grant portal within two business days.
Yes, we require an indication of how funds will be spent under each budget line using our budget template provided in the application grant portal.
Financial and Budget Guidelines
Yes, the Foundation funds salary and administration costs for hiring new staff or extending the existing hours of current staff required to carry out the project. A reasonable proportion of management staff time for supervision will also be considered.
No, staff and consultants are not considered overhead. There are separate budget lines for those two expenditures in the budget template. Overhead is a portion of rent, utilities etc.
Matching funds are strongly encouraged but not required. The Foundation tracks the amount of funds leveraged through grantmaking and leveraged funds will garner favourability for approvals.
For larger funding requests, the Greenbelt Foundation strongly encourages grantees to seek funding beyond just the Greenbelt Foundation. Larger funding requests with confirmed funding from other sources, will be viewed more favourably than those without confirmed and/or anticipated funding.
Contact Us
After reading our Frequently Asked Questions and Grant Guidelines, if you still have questions regarding eligibility, registration, your proposal, or a technical aspect of the application process, please contact the Grant Program staff.
The Greenbelt Foundation is a non-partisan independent registered charity. While our Foundation’s grant program receives funding from the Government of Ontario to support stewardship of the Greenbelt, such support does not indicate endorsement by the Government of Ontario of the contents of the program.