Grant Funding for Community Sport

The City of Lethbridge hosts two Grant Information Sessions annually. Sign up for the Lethbridge Sport Council E-Newsletter to hear when the next one is scheduled and other grant writing information sessions, hear about new funding opportunities, and to be reminded of grant deadlines.

Event Grants

Community Event Support Grant - provides funding for eligible not-for-profit organizations to run events and develop new events.

Major Community Event Hosting Grant - intended for events of significant size that would have an economic benefit and enhance the profile and visibility of the city. Ongoing deadlines.

Facility Grants

Community Capital Project Grant-

Not-for-profit organizations in the City of Lethbridge can apply for a Community Capital Projects Grant for financial support to:

• Construct, renovate or retrofit their facilities
• Purchase major equipment to improve operational efficiency or enhance programming

Application deadline - April 28th.

Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta

NOTE: This grant requires sport organizations to partner with a Canada Revenue Agency qualified donee organization (with national charitable status).

• Youth in Action Grants program – for programs and applications by youth. Deadline March 1st.

• Henry S Varley Fund For Rural Life – for programs and projects outside of Lethbridge. Deadline March 15th

• Community Priorities Fund – for projects and equipment, capital funding often used with the City’s CCPG grant. Deadline March 15th. For information on these grants, contact Caitlin Gajdostik at [email protected].

United Way Lethbridge and South Western Alberta Program funding based on their pillars. Applications are annual and open on January 31st. For more information contact Connolly Tate-Mitchell at [email protected]

NOTE: This grant requires sport organizations to partner with a Canada Revenue Agency qualified donee organization (with national charitable status).

Facility Grants

Community Facility Enhancement Program Financial assistance to purchase, build, renovate, or upgrade public-use community facilities. The applicant must contribute an amount equal to or exceeding the CFEP grant request towards the expenses of the project.

Program Grants

Alberta Gaming and Liquor Cannabis for community organizations to raise money for their cause. The groups volunteer in casinos, bingos, raffles and pull tickets to raise money.

Communities Choosewell Funding - Alberta Physical Activity and Recreation

Communities Choosewell offers an annual Healthy Community Grant (i.e., active living) and from time to time create other funding grants depending on needs. Their website also includes a list of External Funding Sources.

Community Initiatives Program (CIP) provides funding to support initiatives that enhance and enrich communities throughout Alberta. There are three distinct funding streams: Project-based, Operating, and Major Cultural and Sport Events.

Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Branch (SPAR) offer project grants to eligible recreation and physical activity sector organizations.

Provincial Sport Associations

Each provincial sport association determines what grants they manage to support their members from athletes to coaches to officials to local/regional sport organizations. Check with your provincial sport association to find out what is offered in your sport.

Enabling Accessibility Fund - provides funding for projects that make communities and workplaces more accessible for persons with disabilities.

The Federal Government announces, from time to time, announces one-time grants. Sign up to receive the Lethbridge Sport Council monthly eNewsletter or sign-up your sport organization to become an Organization Member to receive notices in your inbox.

Sport Support Program - Various Grants -The Sport Support Program supports the development of Canadian athletes and coaches. Funding is provided to eligible organizations for programming that is aligned with the goals of the Canadian Sport Policy.

• Innovation Initiative funds eligible organizations for the testing of innovative quality sport approaches in order to develop evidence-based solutions to improve sport participation.
• Sport for Social Development in Indigenous Communities component funds eligible organizations to deliver sport for social development projects in Indigenous communities in Canada.

Access to Action will support young people of equity-deserving populations across the country. Equity-deserving populations include Indigenous, Black, visible minorities, 2SLGBTQ+, persons with disabilities, low-income and newcomers. Increased focus will be placed on young people who face intersecting barriers to school-based physical activity participation and have disengaged from sport and physical activity over the past two years. For more information on why Access to Action will focus on these student groups, please see Statistics Canada’s Review of Canadian Youth.

Program Grants

ATB - Sponsorship support for festivals and events including sports and wellness events.

ATCO - Canopy or portable barbecues available to borrow. Grants available to not-for-profit community service organizations, associations or societies and operate in and benefit an ATCO Gas community. Sports and recreation is a considered area of support.

Blue Cross - The Healthy Communities Grant Program is suspended for 2020 and is scheduled to be back and open to applications in June 2021.

Calgary Flames Foundation strives to improve the lives of southern Albertans through the support of health and wellness, education and grassroots sports programming.

Canada Post Community Foundation - provide grants to Canadian schools, charities and organizations in an effort to make a difference in the lives of children in our communities. Eligible projects include those that support the health and physical activity of children from vulnerable communities or with disabilities or illnesses. The application period opens each March.

Canadian Tire Jumpstart Community Development Grants - helps develop or sustain sport and recreational programming. The grant can help offset the costs of registration, equipment and transportation.

NOTE: This grant requires sport organizations to partner with a Canada Revenue Agency qualified donee organization (with national charitable status)

CIBC Donations and Sponsorship Funding for non-profit organizations projects and programs that address community need and provide direct impact to the community served, and projects and programs that directly support children in need under the age of 14. Projects must also be aligned to cancer, persons with disabilities, financial literacy, or Indigenous communities.

Every Kid Can Play Program - Alberta non-profit organizations can now apply for funding to access affordable sport, physical activity and recreation opportunities for children and youth through the Every Kid Can Play program. The Every Kid Can Play (EKCP) Program is designed to address affordability and accessibility challenges to sport, physical activity, and recreation (SPAR) programs for Alberta youth and their families. - Applications are open July 18 to September 30, 2023.

Gender Equity on Sport - CPRA will support community-level interventions through programs, events, practices and/or policy changes that aim to increase participation and/or retention of girls and women in recreational sport across Canada.

Makadiff Sports is a privately funded provincial not-for-profit organization that provides financial support to the local grassroots community sport sector.

Paralympic Grants

• The Parasport Jumpstart Fund for all community and sport organizations with existing or developing Para sport programming for children with disabilities.

• The Paralympic Sport Development Fund will support initiatives and programs that contribute to athlete and coach development for those on a Paralympic pathway. It is designed to support developing athletes and enhance programs at entry level competition stages (Learn to Train) and provincial levels (Train to Train and Train to Compete).

ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge is an annual event that takes place each June that gets Canadians across the country moving together. Organizations can apply for grants and event toolkits to help put on great physical activity events during the challenge. Grant applications are generally accepted during January and February.

Servus Credit Union - Community investment includes Free Community Events that are open to the public free of charge, and Community Access – Servus partners with local non-profit organizations to offer free or reduced admission fees for people to enjoy community and cultural activities or attractions. Due to COVID-19, their application criteria has changed.

The Ted Rogers Community Grants enable registered charities and non-profits to support youth ages 12-29 through programs in education, health and sport, entrepreneurship and digital literacy. This provides support that helps empower youth in Canada to achieve their highest potential.

WISE Fund Grant - Canadian Women and Sport funds organizations to advance gender equity in Canadian sport.

Facility Grants

Co-Op Community Spaces has been developed to help protect, beautify and improve spaces across Western Canada. Projects can apply for between $25,000 and $150,000 in capital funding in three categories including RECREATION (must be available and accessible for community use).

Field of Dreams - program provides funding to design, refurbish and build safe spaces for children and youth to play baseball, develop life skills and learn from positive role models.

Wage Subsidy and Training Grants

Canada Alberta Job Grant - Eligible employers can get government funding to help employees access training opportunities.

Canada Summer Jobs - Canada Summer Jobs is an initiative that aims to provide flexible and holistic services to help all young Canadians develop skills and gain paid work experience.

The Magnet Student Work Placement Program - Employers hiring students can receive up to $7,500 in wage subsidies.

Venture for Canada - gives keen Canadian students and recent graduates immersive entrepreneurship training and real-world job experience at innovative startups, non-profits, and small businesses.

Sport Hosting Grants

See heading ‘City of Lethbridge Grants’ for local sport event hosting grants.

Province of Alberta CIP Major Cultural and Sport Events Grant - Annual application deadlines are April 1 and October 1. Projects must be completed within 18 months from the date of the grant agreement. Due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, the Major Cultural and Sport Events applications are paused.

Sport Canada Hosting Program - assists sport organizations to host the Canada Games and international events in Canada.

Destination Organization MICE and Sporting Events - Investment will support organizations to attract, and plan for future MICE, and support major sport events that are sanctioned by national sport organizations or international federations. Application intake dates are April 1-30 and September 1-30. Nonprofits must work with their DMO to access investment. The Lethbridge DMO is Tourism Lethbridge.

Research Grants

The True Sport Foundation Calls for Applications to the Lyle Makosky Values and Ethics in Sport Fund - calls for applications annually in January. The fund assists the study of values and ethical challenges affecting non-professional Canadian sport to support personal experience-based, exploratory, foundational, applied and evaluative research.

AthletesCan - keeps an up-to-date list of funding opportunities for high performance athletes.

Athletes with a Disability

Challenged Athletes Foundation- To apply for a CAF grant (click on the heading link to read about each grant), an individual must have a permanent physical disability. CAF uses the International Paralympic Committee’s eligibility criteria as a guideline. Individuals with strictly cognitive or intellectual disabilities are not eligible to apply.

Fee Assistance Programs

Lethbridge sport organizations and families have access to fee assistance programs (Kidsport, Jumpstart, City of Lethbridge, and the Calgary Flames Sport Bank) that help cover sport costs such as registration fees and equipment.