Click here to download a PDF of the Application Guidelines
The Canadian Red Cross has committed a total of $50M to the Community Organization Partnerships Program, with matching funds from the Government of Alberta.
- Registered charities, not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, schools, school boards, Indigenous Peoples organizations, faith-based organizations
- Preference will be given to organizations located in communities affected by the 2016 Alberta Wildfires
- Organizations must be located within/ have their head office/ office of incorporation in Canada
- Under some circumstances, more than one application from an organization can be considered at a time. Such requests will be considered on an case-by-case basis and the applicant organization may wish to contact ABCommunityPartners@redcross.ca for more information.
- For-profit businesses
- Programs within legislated mandates of government or city departments
- Political organizations
- Community events where a profit is being made by the organization
- Fundraising events (including, but not limited to golf tournaments and galas)
- Projects that require adherence to a specific faith (the Red Cross is committed to the Fundamental Principle of neutrality and impartiality)
- Initiatives that would result in double recuperation of funds, for example for items or services covered by insurance
- Costs for major capital equipment/ renovations and minor renovations and financing of deficits
- Projects with political activities
- Projects that do not fall within our charitable objects
- Research projects
- The Red Cross is supporting the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). If your organization has a research project that you think will contribute positively to the recovery of the community and is within the scope of CIHR’s research funding parameters, please go to www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/ for more information.
If you are concerned you may be ineligible but have a strong rationale for your initiative or organization, or if your project
- Involves clean-up activities
- Includes construction of housing or shelter structures
- Addresses economic recovery
Please contact ABCommunityPartners@redcross.ca for additional information as we are currently developing our Recovery Plan and want to hear from you!
More information on Canadian Red Cross’ long term initiatives and recovery planning will be forthcoming.
Applications for the Program have been accepted since June 2, 2016. Since then, both the Red Cross and the United Way have received numerous applications, many of which were to support emergency needs and re-entry needs. The Red Cross has established four annual Calls for Applications. For the upcoming year, these will be:
- May 1, 2017 to June 30, 2017
More dates to be shared soon
The following criteria must be included in the application documents.
- The activity, project or initiative must directly support either a community affected by the wildfires, or a population/group affected by the wildfires.
- The project must adhere to the Fundamental Principles and humanitarian values of the Canadian Red Cross.
- Based on the nature of the project, there may be a requirement to sign against CRC policy including the Child Protection Policy and accompanying annexes.
In addition to the Project Criteria described above, the project must also clearly be categorized under one of the following funding streams. Applicants must be able to show a strong, clear link between their project and one of these five funding streams.
- Emergency Relief: To support immediate relief and early recovery efforts including re-entry
- Community Strengthening: Aim to strengthen a sense of community, reduce social isolation and create ties between fire-affected communities.
- Building Back Better: Contribute to the restoring of facilities and infrastructure in ways that ‘build back better’. (This does not include shelter or clean-up projects.)
- Building Community capacity for future disasters: To enable communities to feel prepared for future fires and other potential emergencies: raising awareness about potential household and community risks; ensuring that communities are better prepared for emergencies.
- Restoration, Conservation and Non-Structural Mitigation Measures: Supporting preservation, conservation, restoration and non-structural mitigation measures through environmental work. Activities could encourage local communities to reconnect with, and gain a better understanding of, their local natural environment.
As of August 5, 2016 we are only accepting online applications. To go to the online application portal, please click here. Once you register for the portal, you will be required to answer some questions regarding the eligibility of your organization and proposed project. If you meet both sets of eligibility criteria, you will proceed to the application form.
The application form will ask for detailed information such as:
- Project title, funding stream, timeline, location, contact information
- Whether the project involves work with any special population groups
- Amount of funding being requested from the Red Cross
- Amount of funding being requested from other agencies
- Organization background & structure in relation to proposed project
- Overall project objective (how does it support the people affected by the wildfire)
- Project description & rationale
- Project outcomes & outputs
- Quantitative indicators & means of verification
- Relevance of results
- Beneficiaries impacted (direct & indirect)
- Monitoring, evaluation & reporting plan
- Work plan
- Insurance
- Volunteer management plan
- Risk assessment
- Budget & financial management plan
Note:
- If more than one project is to be considered from the same entity, a separate application is required for each project
- Under some circumstances, more than one application from an organization can be considered at a time. Such requests will be considered on an case-by-case basis and the applicant organization may wish to contact ABCommunityPartners@redcross.ca for more information.
- If you are submitting as a joint venture, please ensure this is clear in your application and identify both party names
Upon submission of an application through the online system, users will receive a confirmation email. A member of the Community Partnerships team will contact you as we begin the review of your application.
At any time during the review process, the Canadian Red Cross reserves the right to reject or remove from further consideration any application for any reason that it deems appropriate.
Both the Red Cross and the United Way have established processes to continue to review and evaluate applications that are under $100,000 in funding requests. Applications that are under $100,000 that meet the Program requirements and eligibility may be approved by the Red Cross, with potential consultation between the Table co-chairs. Applications that are over $100,000 or have a wider impact on community, will follow the same internal review process, but will be put forward to the Table for review and recommendation before a final decision is made. For more information on the Table, please click here.
Invoices and approved project costs will be paid directly by Red Cross in accordance with Red Cross accounting procedures. Specific financial reporting requirements will be included in project contracts. Please refer to the Eligible Costing Rules and Financial Management Guidelines for more information.
You will be required to recognize the Canadian Red Cross, in all of your project deliverables and project communications. This recognition is important as it will identify the contributions of the Canadian public and government to those impacted by the wildfires. We will also post basic information regarding approved partnerships on our website
here.