The Collective Fund for Social Equity

Background

The Collective Fund for Social Equity was created by the Foundation of Greater Montreal (FGM) in 2021 to address issues stemming from social inequalities and related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Through this initiative, FGM’s priority is to support organizations working with historically marginalized populations, with an approach based on listening and trust, to help them achieve their transformative vision for their community. These populations include Black, Indigenous, and racialized people, LGBTQ2S+ people, women and girls, as well as people who are neurodivergent or living with physical or intellectual limitations.

The Fund’s approach, including the choice of organizations and projects it supports, is guided by the principles of trust-based philanthropy. Unlike a traditional call for proposals, this approach relies on knowledge of an entire community ecosystem and on a peer-informed decision-making mechanism. FGM developed this Fund following in-depth exchanges with the community and through active and continuous listening.

Fund objectives and funding priorities

In 2023, the Fund will provide support for organizations and initiatives working with asylum seekers, refugees, or migrants without status, or with temporary or precarious status, based on the needs identified by these communities during our consultations. Specifically, funding will be allocated in the following streams:

1. Initiatives aimed at providing or improving administrative or legal services for the identified groups;
2. Initiatives aimed at influencing public policy;
3. Initiatives aimed at strengthening individual or collective empowerment of identified groups.

This year, the Collective Fund for Social Equity has a total budget of $1,300,000. For more information about the eligibility requirements or how to request funding, check out this explainer.

Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion

In line with FGM’s principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, priority will be given to organizations and initiatives that:

• Intervene specifically to improve the quality of life of historically marginalized populations, as identified by the Foundation;
• Have been designed and implemented by people with lived experience of the realities and issues they aim to address.

We are committed to facilitating access to this process for organizations, initiatives, citizen groups, or other associations who face systemic barriers to obtaining funding, including organizations without mission-based funding, without a charitable number, those in the process of establishing themselves, or whose primary activities are advocacy, rights activism or community mobilization.