Community grant information
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Anti-racism legislation
In June 2022, the province reached a major milestone when British Columbia’s Anti-Racism Data Act (ARDA) became law and paved the way for race-based data collection. Building on this momentum, our priority now is to make further progress with broader anti-racism legislation.
It is important to hear directly from racialized community members on their personal experience and concerns with systemic racism, to make sure that community needs are understood and reflected in the anti-racism legislation.
Applications were open June 5, 2023 and run until July 4, 2023, or until funds were fully allocated, whichever came first.
Community partners and organizations could apply for funding through this page, and if successful would be granted funds to conduct community engagement sessions in partnership with the Province.
How the engagement process works
The Province is seeking participation and input from diverse ethnocultural, racialized, LGBTQ2S+ and faith-based communities through community-led engagement opportunities to better understand the challenges of systemic racism in our province. The information provided through this engagement process will inform the development of the anti-racism legislation.
To support communities wishing to host conversations with their members, funding of up to $5000 was available for communities to work with the Engagement team to conduct consultations in a collaborative process.
Successful applicants will work with an Engagement specialist to prepare, execute and report back on engagement activities with their communities.
Purpose of grants
The purpose of these grants is to support ethnocultural, Indigenous and racialized communities, faith-based communities, and intersectional organizations to host public engagement sessions from July to the end of September 2023. The purpose of these engagement sessions is to collect input from community members that will inform the anti-racism legislation and policy related to the systemic racism in government policies, programs, and services. Grant recipients will be required to incorporate feedback from the ministry and a lead engagement consultant in developing questions and reporting tools for the engagement sessions while also having the flexibility to design engagement session(s) that are culturally appropriate, safe, and responsive to the needs of the individual communities being engaged.
Funding
Funding of up to $5,000 has been made available to ethnocultural, racialized, intersectional and faith-based community organizations to conduct engagement sessions in their communities. Funding was available on a sliding scale, and will be distributed on a rolling intake process, with applications being assessed as they come in.
Determine your eligibility
Organizations that were eligible to apply:
- Registered non-profits, incorporated, and in good standing under the Societies Act [SBC2015], or a British Columbia-based, federally registered charity, also in good standing.
- Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, or Métis) governments, tribal councils, band councils, or organizations
- Provincial public institutions such as boards of education, schools, colleges and universities, libraries, chambers of commerce, hospitals, and other health-care institutions with at least one BIPOC-led non-profit society as a partner.
- Municipal and regional district governments with at least one BIPOC-led non-profit society as a partner.
- Private sector organizations with at least one BIPOC-led non-profit society as a partner.
Eligible organizations must have a British Columbia address.
Applications
Applications were reviewed on an ongoing-basis (i.e rolling intake) until – July 4, 2023 or unless grant funds were fully allocated. In assessing grant applications, consideration was given to ensuring equitable distribution of grants to communities across the Province, as well as to equitable distribution to various Indigenous and racialized communities, faith based communities and intersectional organizations in B.C. If your organization has submitted an application but has not received notification of its status by July 17, 2023, please contact the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Division by email (antiracism@gov.bc.ca) and include “Anti-Racism Legislation Community Engagement Grant Application Follow-Up” in the subject line.
Reporting requirements
You will need to work with the Engagement Lead to submit a report on how you used the funds and the results of the engagement process.
This will include:
- Details on the number of participants, their general geographic location, as well as other pertinent demographic data.
- A high-level summary of the overall engagement process.
- Provide the responses to questions provided during the engagement session (or sessions if hosting multiple).
- If there were changes to the proposed budget, provide 2-4 bullet points about these changes.
How to use the grant
Eligible grant expenses
Eligible expenses must be for the direct costs needed to conduct engagement sessions. Grant recipients may spend funding in one or more of the following categories:
- Event or workshop materials, such as:
- Pens, paper and other tools
- Virtual meeting software subscription such as MS-Teams or Zoom
- Fees, such as:
- Project coordinator’s fees
- Facilitators’ fees
- Workshop fees
- Food and beverage, such as:
- Food and non-alcoholic beverages for participants and volunteers
- Honorariums, fees and contract agreements, such as:
- Indigenous or other cultural elders
- Facilitators, speakers, and cultural workers
- Technicians
- Note: Conflicts of interest need to be identified in advance
- Marketing and communications, such as:
- Newspaper ads
- Social media ads
- Graphic design fees or software subscription
- Equipment rental, such as:
- Lighting, sound and audio-visual
- Transportation costs for participants where transportation is a barrier to participation
- Venue rental
- Volunteer expenses
Ineligible grant expenses
Applications seeking grant funding to cover expenses in one or more of the following categories will not be considered:
- Salaries and fees not directly related to delivering the project
- Capital projects
- Major equipment purchases
- Alcohol
- Recurring business expenses, such as:
- Rental of office space
- Utility, telephone and other recurring expenses