Funding Opportunities

Our fall grants intake is now open from November 12, 2024 until December 11, 2024 (5pm PST).

This is our second intake of an ongoing, evolving, multi-year program.

Please find below a Guide to the Grants Program and Application as well as a list of some Frequently Asked Questions.

Open Grants Intake: November 12, 2024 – December 11, 2024 (Intake Closed)

If you missed our webinar on November 21, 2024, you can find our webinar recording and slides below. If you have further questions don’t hesitate to reach out to our grants team at grants@watershedsecurityfund.ca.

Webinar Recording

Webinar Slides

Funding Streams

There are widespread needs and interests in watershed funding across the province which far exceed available funds. Given the small size of our funding envelope in 2024/25, three funding streams have been identified with some limitations on the maximum grant size.

Organizations are eligible to make one application per intake.

Emergent, early forming, or smaller projects or those at exploratory and learning stages, partnerships and relationship building.

Scope: project design, research & planning, initial partner conversations & readiness building

Small to medium scale, further along in design, development, collaboration, and implementation than Stream 1.

Scope: community engagement, detailed research planning, partnership, and project development; smaller scale implementation and shovel ready projects.

Larger scale, stronger foundation of prior work and partnerships, collaboration, and readiness to implement.

Scope: Partnerships in place, plans and projects or initiatives are well developed and ‘implementation’ or ‘shovel’ ready.

Project Themes

Grant funding is available to support projects and initiatives that achieve actionable progress on ecosystems health, and which prioritize reconciliation, healthy communities, climate resilience and sustainable economies in any of these areas of watershed-based work.

We recognize the holistic, interwoven aspects of watershed work and understand that most projects will connect across several areas.

Learn more about our Project Themes.

Project Themes

Assessment Criteria and Eligibility

The WSF is committed to upholding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). UNDRIP principles and efforts toward reconciliation and reciprocity can be intentionally woven into organizational culture, practice, and project work.

Teachings from Indigenous Leaders and outcomes from previously funded work demonstrate that the most effective means of advancing UNDRIP is for Indigenous-led teams to design and direct projects to benefit their Nation and members. For non-Indigenous-led project teams, up-front partnership development and co-design of project objectives with the Nations involved is a key enabler of advancing UNDRIP. Additional ways may be through project activities that support the exercise of Indigenous rights, incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge, communications, and outreach to First Nations leadership, and weaving of Indigenous ceremony, training, rights and interests into budgets, planning and activities.

The review and decision-making process for grant applications will consider many dimensions of a project proposal. These are some additional considerations, which if relevant to your proposal, will help guide our review and funding recommendations:

Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC)
Equity
Community Connection
Economic Resiliency, Jobs, Training & Mentorship
Diversity of Interests & Collaboration

Applicants will have the opportunity to briefly describe how their project addresses any of these aspects. Descriptions of assessment criteria intentions are provided in the Application Guide.

Eligible organizations for WSF grant funding include Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations in any of these categories:

Registered Non–profit
Educational Institution
Social Enterprise (C3)

And:

First Nation (including First Nation governments, Tribal Councils and others)
Local/Regional Government

Eligibility is not restricted to Canada Revenue Agency registered charities or qualified donees. In addition to those listed above, some other types of organizations may be eligible.

WSF Grants are not able to fund:

Activities that primarily provide financial benefits for individuals
Debt retirement, reserves, mortgage paydowns
Retroactive expenses (costs incurred prior to funding being approved)
Purchase of land or large-scale development of buildings
Endowments
Partisan political activities
Projects or initiatives that do not take place in what is known as British Columbia.

Applications for short-term or multi-year projects and initiatives can be submitted.

Ways to Apply

We aim to uphold grant making practices that are approachable, accessible, adaptable, and supportive and grounded in good relationships, trust and partnerships. With this in mind, we are offering three different ways to apply:

Online Portal

Fill out the application through our online portal. Intake is closed for 2024.

Word Document

Fill out the Application Form and submit by email.

Submit to grants@watershedsecurityfund.ca

Please note these documents will download directly to your downloads folder on your computer.

Application Form

Budget Form

Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Phone Call Conversation

Connect with our Grants program staff, who will complete your application based on your dialogue. Your application will be sent to you to confirm what was shared before finalizing.

To set up your conversation with a Grants Program staff member, please email us at grants@watershedsecurityfund.ca or call us at 604-343-2620 Ext 101.

Please note, application intake via a conversation with our Grants team can take place between November 12, 2024 and November 28, 2024. Please arrange this with our team well in advance, to allow time for us to schedule the call and then confirm and finalize the application content before the deadline of December 11, 2024.

Application Supports and Guidance

Interested in applying for a grant? Not sure where to begin? We’re here to support you in your application.

Please feel free to view our recorded webinars that go over the grants program, the application process, and more. We also encourage you to connect with our program staff prior to submitting your application.

Email Us Watch our Webinars Get Grant Program Reminders