City of Toronto grants are funding partnerships or investments that help the City achieve its social, economic and cultural goals. Community organizations receiving City grants work directly with the people they serve and deliver services effectively, efficiently and with a great degree of community acceptance. All applicants must meet a set of strict criteria to be considered eligible for a City of Toronto grant.

Core Values for City Grants

• Accessibility - all qualified applicants will have the opportunity to make application to the City of Toronto.
• Fairness and equity - no organization or individual will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of geography, race, nationality, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or ethnic origin.
• Openness and transparency - the City of Toronto will make information about the evaluation processes and criteria publicly accessible.
• Accountability - the City of Toronto will make information about its granting activities available to the public and will ensure that grants made by the City are used for the purposes for which they are provided.
• Responsiveness - the City of Toronto will involve the community in the ongoing review of community needs and will ensure that its grants programs are able to meet new and emerging needs.

For each of its grants programs, the City of Toronto will

• Provide staff assistance in advising applicants and in devising applications prior to the application deadlines.
• Involve individuals with appropriate expertise in the review process that may include a peer/citizen review mechanism.
• Provide an appeal process and provide review results in writing in time for applicants to exercise any rights to appeal.
• Provide for staff follow-up and evaluation of how funding was used.
• Develop evaluation and monitoring strategies to ensure that individual organizations achieve their outcomes and that funding programs achieve their stated objectives.
• Collect only the information related to the review and monitoring process.
• Make all granting decisions publicly available.

Eligibility

Grants programs identify their specific criteria. They include areas such as:

• Consistency with the City's objectives - the activity or outcomes for which funds are sought must support one or more goals of the City of Toronto.
• Financial Need - the applicant must demonstrate that it does not otherwise have the resources to undertake the activity for which funds are sought.
• Not-for-Profit Status - the applicant must demonstrate that the activity for which funds are sought will be organized without financial gain for its members or directors.
• Status of the organization - the applicant must be in good standing with the City of Toronto.
• All grants have specific program criteria in addition to application forms and processes.