Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition
The Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition at the Foundation of Greater Montréal aims to step up the fight against climate change and stimulate the adaptation, resilience and ecological transition in Greater Montréal.
The Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition in 2024
For environmental justice and the socio-ecological transition
This year, with a view towards environmental and social justice, the Fund will support organizations or projects aiming at empowering communities that are over-exposed to the effects of the climate crisis and adverse characteristics of their built environment and geographical area. Following the principles of the socio-ecological transition, initiatives scaled at the local level will be prioritized.
Participation to the 2024 edition of the Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition will occur through an invitational process only. As part of this process, FGM will act intentionally to reach and include organizations, projects, grassroots initiatives or other groups facing systemic obstacles in their search for funding, including those that are emerging. The consultation, invitation and analysis process by the Fund’s advisory commitee has been launched in the spring, and granting is planned to follow in the summer of 2024.
For more information about the reflections behind the Fund, its orientations and analysis process, read this explainer.
Check out our Strategic Granting Framework and our trust-based philanthropy approach to better understand the principles that govern our granting choices.
Learn more about the organizations that were supported by the Fund last year:
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) – Prioritized communities
Initiatives specifically working towards quality-of-life improvements for historically marginalized populations, as identified by FGM in its Strategic Granting Framework will be prioritized. They are: Indigenous, Black or racialized individuals, women and girls, and those belonging to LGBTQ2S+ communities, living with functional limitations (physical or intellectual) or who are neurodivergent.
In a perspective of territorial equity and social justice, the following communities will also be prioritized:
- Those living in neighbourhoods whose living environments’ characteristics are unfavourable or which are under-served in terms of natural or green infrastructures.
- Those that are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.
Special attention will also be paid in order to ensure an equitable distribution of funding in Greater Montreal’s various neighbourhoods, including the North and South Shores.
Download this explainer for more information about FGM’s Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition.
Montréal mobilizes for the climate and ecological transition
All over the world, major cities have become living laboratories where solutions that will propel the future ecological transition are being found. Montréal is in the vanguard of this movement. Several ecological initiatives have sprung up here over the past few years, and a diverse ecosystem has emerged. Still, even in this dynamic environment, funding sources continue to be scarce, fragmented or not flexible enough to allow for innovations to be scaled up throughout the region.
In 2019, the philanthropic sector mobilized to support Montréal’s objectives in the fight against climate change. Several Montréal philanthropic institutions and foundations (Trottier Foundation, ECHO, Bronfman Foundation, McConnell Foundation, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) teamed up with the City of Montréal, the David Suzuki Foundation and C40 to develop a climate plan. Several other foundations showed an interest in this initiative, which demonstrated the potential for philanthropic sector cooperation on climate and ecological transition.
The Montréal Climate Partnership (MCP)
In 2020, Montreal’s economic, philanthropic, institutional and community stakeholders wanted to join forces to speed up the city’s decarbonation and improve its resilience. This momentum gave birth to the Montreal Climate Partnership (MCP), in which the vision and mission of the Collective Fund for climate and ecological transition are brought to life.
With the participation of philanthropic institutions, notably the Trottier Family Foundation and the Foundation of Greater Montréal, which acts as its operational and financial arm, this association sets the stage for generating a foundational impact thanks to collaborative work and shared resources.
Through the Fund, FGM pursues four strategic objectives:
- Mobilize and reinforce the capacity of the ecosystem of organizations active in the ecological transition;
- Increase the funding available for initiatives that contribute to the fight against climate change and move forward the ecological transition in Greater Montréal;
- Unite Montréal’s philanthropic actors behind Greater Montréal’s climate- and environment-related objectives so as to enhance their reach and impact;
- Support foundational or innovative projects with a significant potential impact.
Components of FGM’s Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition:
- Projects aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change;
- Initiatives dealing with adaptation to climate change, protection of natural environments, greening and natural infrastructures;
- Projects aiming to increase awareness, mobilization and engagement both on a citizen and a community level;
- Research, data collection, reports or studies to fill gaps in this area;
- Foundational projects not falling under any other category.
Fund partners may direct their contribution towards any of the components, or contribute unrestricted funds.
Download this explainer for more information about FGM’s Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition, or contact us to learn more about how to donate or how to make a funding request.
Through the Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition, FGM supports the Montreal Climate Partnership (MCP). As part of its Great Expectations campaign, the MCP invites all Greater Montreal organizations, businesses and institutions to commit to a number of actions in support of climate and the ecological transition. Click here to learn more about the commitments FGM has made.