Updated March 19, 2012

The Community Grant application form will assist the Alberta Ecotrust Grant Review Committee in determining whether your project is a good fit with Alberta Ecotrust's objectives. We expect that most groups will have done the necessary basic research and/or planning to undertake the proposed project.

Ecotrust has gone online! If you have any questions as you fill out the application, contact us at grants@albertaecotrust.com.

Please consider the following when completing your Application:

• We have recently revised the application form (March 2012), so be sure to review it thoroughly. If you have any comments or suggestions about how to improve this form or the application process in general, please contact us.
• Requests cannot exceed $7,500.
• Requests should not exceed 75% of the total project budget (including in-kind contributions).
• Check your application for spelling and grammatical errors.
• Supplementary materials, including letters of support, will not be considered.
• The application form has word limits, and the software will not allow you to go over the limit.  We do this to encourage applicants to reduce the workload and hone their "case for support," and to reduce the time required by our volunteer Grant Review members to review and rate proposals. TIP: type your answers in a separate document to allow you to count characters and edit your work. Copy and paste your final answers into the fields in the application form.
• We encourage you to contact the Grant Program staff to discuss your proposal, prior to submitting your application. We also recommend reviewing our website where there is additional information on eligibility and what we fund.

Community Grant Application Question-By-Question 

The following questions correspond to the questions on the application form. These descriptions should help you fill out the application form.

Section 1: Organization Information

You will be asked to provide general information about your organization, including:

• The organizations' legal name and contact information
• The organization's nonprofit status (i.e. nonprofit society/nonprofit corporation/charity)
• The organization's nonprofit society number, nonprofit corporation number, or registered charity number
• Year Founded, Vision, and Mission
• Annual budget, and approximate percentage of your annual budget supplied by government (cash and in-kind)

Section 2: Contact Information

You will be asked to provide the name, title, and contact information of

• Organization Primary Contact, such as the Executive Director.
• Main Project contact: the person who will be leading the project, or the person most appropriate for Alberta Ecotrust to correspond with regarding the application.
• Board Chair or Equivalent

You will also be asked if you would like each contact to be added to our Ecotrust newsletter contact list. They will receive the monthly EcoBreak, an e-newsletter that highlights some of the capacity building workshops and events we offer, showcases our grantees, and helps strengthen connections within our Ecotrust community. To see past EcoBreaks, click here.

Section 3: Request Information

Project Title: Should your application be successful, this will be used in media releases and on our website. Your project title should accurately and creatively capture what you're trying to do.

Project Start and End Dates: Your organization will have one year to complete your project. Alberta Ecotrust funds cannot be used for expenses that occur before the project start date. Spring applicant start dates should begin after June 15th, and Fall applicant start dates should begin after December 15th. For more information, contact Alberta Ecotrust staff (http://www.albertaecotrust.com/grant/contact)

Provide a brief summary of your proposed project and how it relates to your organization's mission or mandate. What do you hope to acheive with your intended audience, community or your organization? Tell us why your prpoject is important, how you will address issues and what the results will be. If application, how will this project help the environment? (400 words) Consider this your "elevator pitch."  It should be brief but compelling, and tell the story of the issue/problem, how you plan to address it, and why your organization is best-suited to do so. Your project should fit well within the mission of your organization.

Please indicate which of the following environmental priorities your project will address - please choose the primary priority, and select only one.
Be sure to review Alberta Ecotrust's environmental priorities, and what we will and will not fund. If your project does not fit within these priorities, it will automatically be declined. Make sure you make a clear connection in your application to our priorities.

Indicate which of the following strategies best describes how your project will address the priority identified above, select only one.
We recognize that several strategies may be employed but please choose the one that BEST represents your tactic in addressing the issue.

NOTE: To help with the next questions, you may want to use our Logic Model to help chart out your long term and short term goals, activities, and outcomes.

In the context of the environmental priority you have selected above, please describe the LONG TERM changes you anticipate as a result of your project. (100 words)
Describe the long-term changes (3 to 5 years) that may result from your work. This should align with your mission and/or other campaigns you are working on.

Describe the SHORT TERM (1-year) changes or improvements in the environment or among your intended audience that will result from your project. (100 words) What is the overall change you seek? What will improve during the year? What will decline if you do not do this program/project?

Outline the key activities and/or products for the project. (400 words)
Please BRIEFLY list some of the primary activities, events or milestones of the project. Be realistic about your goals and timelines and what can be achieved within one year

How will you measure or evaluate the success of this project?
A project requires evaluation to be effective, and it is important for our Grant Review Committee to see that you have thought your project through. Think of methods that of measuring success: will it be increased memberships in your organization? Will it be acres protected? Will it be behaviour change, and if so, will you use pre- and post-surveys? An evaluation strategy should include a method of measuring those directly impacted.

Provide the geographic scope.
We're working on re-coding these. We are sorry that they are so confusing. The dream is to one day have a clickable graphic, where applicants can simply click on the section of the province where the project will occur. Until then, we've got this mish-mash. The field is here to capture if the project is occurring outside of your organization's area. An organization may propose a project that has a different location that where the organization is headquartered.

For example, an organization is based in Bonnyville, but the project they are proposing is an educational program at Muriel Lake. The geographical location would then be Muriel Lake.

How many people will be directly engaged or involved in this project?
This must be a value: the system will not recognize any test in this field. Estimates are welcome, but must be well-thought out. Be realistic. Include your program staff, volunteers, Board members if they are involved, estimated number of participants, etc. Be aware you will be asked to provide this number in your final report, so be sure to have methods to count it.

How many people will be directly impacted as a result of this project
This must be a value: the system will not recognize any test in this field. Estimates are welcome, but must be well-thought out. Be realistic. Be aware you will be asked to provide this number in your final report, so be sure to have methods to count it.

How will this project improve the environment? (100 words)
Alberta Ecotrust is looking for significant environmental benefits. Even if your project focuses on intangible or long-term benefits, such as creating policy documents, reports, or changing behaviour, it must be apparent in this section that your project is working towards improving the environment.

Please state why your organization is qualified to undertake this project. (max 200 words) Consider staff qualifications or previous experience/achievements. How will this project advance your organization's mission? Why is your organization the most appropriate or the best placed organization to offer this project or program?

Please list the other organizations are also currently working on this broader issue? (100 words) Indicate how and with whom you intend to collaborate (may include organizations that are not working on this issue).

For example: 

Collaboration is very important to Alberta Ecotrust. Which organizations do you expect to collaborate or work directly with on this project? (500 words)
Do you plan to work directly with any of the above-noted organizations? Will you be partnering with other organizations on certain aspects of this program?

Please summarize why your project/proposal is important and should be funded by Alberta Ecotrust Foundation. Consider highlighting environmental urgency, critical timing issues, or current financial needs of your organization. (max 100 words)
This is a chance to explain why your organization needs support for this project. Are you timing your project with governmental processes or timelines? How critical is Ecotrust funding to your organization? Is this an environmental issue that is time-sensitive? Consider this a space to share anything relevant and compelling with our review committee.

Section 4: Budget Information

The Alberta Ecotrust Community Grant program allows for a maximum grant amount of $7,500. It is expected that your organization will contribute other resources toward this project.  This may be in the form of funds from within your organization, technical expertise or in-kind support from your own organization, or cash support from other organizations.  Thus this is a "matching" program, whereby the amount requested from Alberta Ecotrust must be equal to or less than 75% of the total project cost.

List all sources of revenue, whether they are pending or confirmed.  Revenue may be cash or in-kind. Expenses are listed in one table and should contain both cash and in-kind.

Volunteers should be perceived as providing market value for their in-kind serices. If you are unsure how much to "pay" volunteers, please contact us to discuss appropriate amounts.

Section 5: Certification

Please ensure that the individual who supplies their initials are authorized to speak formally on behalf of the organization, such as an executive director or board chair.

Ready to apply?

Make sure you've double-checked your eligibility , our priorities , and our granting guidelines .

Click here to access our online forms.