This is our Grocery Grant Application Form for programs that focus on serving children and youth.
If you are a frontline program that primarily serves children and youth, please fill out our Grocery Grant: Children & Youth application here! There are separate Grocery Grant applications this year for:
- Organizations that mainly serve adults
- 'Umbrella' model organizations that resource other, smaller frontline food aid programs through a 'business-to-business' model.
Please choose the appropriate stream for your organization. If you are unsure of what granting stream would be the best fit for your program, please email our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca, with some information on your circumstances.
Each organization may only apply for a Grocery Grant once per year. You may not apply for multiple Grocery Grant across different streams (e.g., you may apply for ONLY ONE of the Children & Youth, General / Any Ages, and Umbrella streams). If your organization runs multiple programs, please choose one amongst your team and apply for the appropriate stream. Please look at the instructions and eligibility form at the beginning of each stream to determine which Grocery Grant you wish to apply for. If you still are not sure, please email us at granting@mazoncanada.ca
THIS YEAR, APPLICATIONS ARE ONLY OPEN TO 2023 GROCERY GRANT RECIPIENTS:
Due to Mazon’s limited resources this year against widely increased demand, we are only able to open our 2024 Grocery Grant application to organizations that received a 2023 Grocery Grant from Mazon Canada.
As a community foundation, Mazon’s grantmaking budget is formed primarily based on our annual fundraising from grassroots donors across the country. Unfortunately, our grantmaking budget and organizational capacity are not where we were hoping they would be this year, while we are simultaneously witnessing a large increase in interest towards our Grocery Grant applications. As a result, Mazon’s Board of Directors has had to limit the eligibility criteria for our Grocery Grant grantmaking to a smaller number of applicants. We did not want to waste the time of so many critical food-aid organizations by opening our grant applications to far more organizations than we could fund.
So: if you received a 2023 Grocery Grant, we look forward to seeing your application for a 2024 Grocery Grant! Please note that funding is still not guaranteed. Announcements will go out in mid-November!
For those who do not qualify under this new eligibility criteria, we are so sorry to share this news. It is not the news we wanted to share, especially knowing how many of us and our neighbours are struggling with food insecurity. We are striving to increase our fundraising, as well as advocate for policy solutions that will reduce systemic Canadian food insecurity. We hope to be able to share better news in the future.
TO USE THIS APPLICATION, APPLICANTS MUST MEET ALL THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
- Received a 2023 Grocery Grant from Mazon Canada
- Run food programming that mostly serves food-insecure people
- Request funds only for the purchase of food (not salary, rent, equipment, etc.)
- At least 50% individuals below the age of 21
- The program you are applying for is intentionally designed to reach children and/or youth.
If you don’t track this information, estimates are fully acceptable!
If you are not sure which application is the best fit for you, please email our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca, with some information on your program.
TIMELINE:
DEADLINE: Applications will close at midnight on August 25th. Please fill out the Extension Request Form linked here if you'll need an extension for any reason (it's no big deal!). We can allow extensions up to 14 days after the deadline.
DECISIONS: Announcements go out in mid-November, and funds will be distributed by mail immediately following announcements.
NEXT STEPS: If you are successful in receiving a Grocery Grant, you will be required to submit a short Supplemental Application by December 31st (extensions available) and another short Impact Report by March 31st (extensions available).
GRANT AMOUNTS: You can request up to $5,000. Most applicants receive $2,500 - 4,000. Across the last 3 years, the average Grocery Grant was around $3,200.
MORE RESOURCES:
All application questions in .docx form (please use ONLY for preparation)
APPLICATION FORM INFORMATION:
You'll need to upload your most recent audited financial statements at the very end, so please keep them handy if you have them!
This form is intended to be as simple as possible; most questions are multiple-choice or short-answer, though you have the option of providing more information if you prefer. Most applicants spend 1-3 hours on this form last year (and we hope this year will be much faster); spending longer is unlikely to increase your chances of receiving funding.
Throughout the application, you may be asked for information about numbers of clients served, dollar amounts, percentages, or other quantities. For all of these questions, estimates are fully acceptable!
You will have the opportunity to save your work at any time with a 'save' button at the end of each page.
You are also welcome to fill out this application form via video submission - please record all of your answers to the questions as described in the Application Questions Preview document above, and email a link to the video to robbie@mazoncanada.ca
GRANTEE FEEDBACK
Our aim is to build a transparent grant-making process with two competing goals: (A) simplifying the process to respect the busy schedules of non-profit staff and volunteers, and (B) creating enough space for applicants to accurately represent the value of their work, and its importance to their clients. To this end:
Most questions are short-answer or multiple-choice. However, we've also added spaces to describe the needs of your program at greater length when you feel context is helpful; these long-form answers are optional. At the bottom of this form, we ask for feedback on our application process! This is optional but we appreciate it so much - we've changed a lot about our process based on past grantee feedback.We'd especially like to know how long it took you to fill out the application (so please notice as you go), and how well we did at making our grant-making philosophy (above) a reality.If you have any questions or would like to offer feedback in a conversation, please be in touch with our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca
We look forward to hearing about your program and the good you bring to your community!
Grocery Grant: Children & Youth (Frontline)
This is our Grocery Grant Application Form for programs that focus on serving children and youth.
If you are a frontline program that primarily serves children and youth, please fill out our Grocery Grant: Children & Youth application here! There are separate Grocery Grant applications this year for:
- Organizations that mainly serve adults
- 'Umbrella' model organizations that resource other, smaller frontline food aid programs through a 'business-to-business' model.
Please choose the appropriate stream for your organization. If you are unsure of what granting stream would be the best fit for your program, please email our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca, with some information on your circumstances.
Each organization may only apply for a Grocery Grant once per year. You may not apply for multiple Grocery Grant across different streams (e.g., you may apply for ONLY ONE of the Children & Youth, General / Any Ages, and Umbrella streams). If your organization runs multiple programs, please choose one amongst your team and apply for the appropriate stream. Please look at the instructions and eligibility form at the beginning of each stream to determine which Grocery Grant you wish to apply for. If you still are not sure, please email us at granting@mazoncanada.ca
THIS YEAR, APPLICATIONS ARE ONLY OPEN TO 2023 GROCERY GRANT RECIPIENTS:
Due to Mazon’s limited resources this year against widely increased demand, we are only able to open our 2024 Grocery Grant application to organizations that received a 2023 Grocery Grant from Mazon Canada.
As a community foundation, Mazon’s grantmaking budget is formed primarily based on our annual fundraising from grassroots donors across the country. Unfortunately, our grantmaking budget and organizational capacity are not where we were hoping they would be this year, while we are simultaneously witnessing a large increase in interest towards our Grocery Grant applications. As a result, Mazon’s Board of Directors has had to limit the eligibility criteria for our Grocery Grant grantmaking to a smaller number of applicants. We did not want to waste the time of so many critical food-aid organizations by opening our grant applications to far more organizations than we could fund.
So: if you received a 2023 Grocery Grant, we look forward to seeing your application for a 2024 Grocery Grant! Please note that funding is still not guaranteed. Announcements will go out in mid-November!
For those who do not qualify under this new eligibility criteria, we are so sorry to share this news. It is not the news we wanted to share, especially knowing how many of us and our neighbours are struggling with food insecurity. We are striving to increase our fundraising, as well as advocate for policy solutions that will reduce systemic Canadian food insecurity. We hope to be able to share better news in the future.
TO USE THIS APPLICATION, APPLICANTS MUST MEET ALL THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
- Received a 2023 Grocery Grant from Mazon Canada
- Run food programming that mostly serves food-insecure people
- Request funds only for the purchase of food (not salary, rent, equipment, etc.)
- At least 50% individuals below the age of 21
- The program you are applying for is intentionally designed to reach children and/or youth.
If you don’t track this information, estimates are fully acceptable!
If you are not sure which application is the best fit for you, please email our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca, with some information on your program.
TIMELINE:
DEADLINE: Applications will close at midnight on August 25th. Please fill out the Extension Request Form linked here if you'll need an extension for any reason (it's no big deal!). We can allow extensions up to 14 days after the deadline.
DECISIONS: Announcements go out in mid-November, and funds will be distributed by mail immediately following announcements.
NEXT STEPS: If you are successful in receiving a Grocery Grant, you will be required to submit a short Supplemental Application by December 31st (extensions available) and another short Impact Report by March 31st (extensions available).
GRANT AMOUNTS: You can request up to $5,000. Most applicants receive $2,500 - 4,000. Across the last 3 years, the average Grocery Grant was around $3,200.
MORE RESOURCES:
All application questions in .docx form (please use ONLY for preparation)
APPLICATION FORM INFORMATION:
You'll need to upload your most recent audited financial statements at the very end, so please keep them handy if you have them!
This form is intended to be as simple as possible; most questions are multiple-choice or short-answer, though you have the option of providing more information if you prefer. Most applicants spend 1-3 hours on this form last year (and we hope this year will be much faster); spending longer is unlikely to increase your chances of receiving funding.
Throughout the application, you may be asked for information about numbers of clients served, dollar amounts, percentages, or other quantities. For all of these questions, estimates are fully acceptable!
You will have the opportunity to save your work at any time with a 'save' button at the end of each page.
You are also welcome to fill out this application form via video submission - please record all of your answers to the questions as described in the Application Questions Preview document above, and email a link to the video to robbie@mazoncanada.ca
GRANTEE FEEDBACK
Our aim is to build a transparent grant-making process with two competing goals: (A) simplifying the process to respect the busy schedules of non-profit staff and volunteers, and (B) creating enough space for applicants to accurately represent the value of their work, and its importance to their clients. To this end:
Most questions are short-answer or multiple-choice. However, we've also added spaces to describe the needs of your program at greater length when you feel context is helpful; these long-form answers are optional. At the bottom of this form, we ask for feedback on our application process! This is optional but we appreciate it so much - we've changed a lot about our process based on past grantee feedback.We'd especially like to know how long it took you to fill out the application (so please notice as you go), and how well we did at making our grant-making philosophy (above) a reality.If you have any questions or would like to offer feedback in a conversation, please be in touch with our Community Lead, Robbie Solway, at robbie@mazoncanada.ca
We look forward to hearing about your program and the good you bring to your community!