Checklist : know if you are eligible

Checklist : know if you are eligible

Social purpose organizations are eligible for the IRP. This includes co-operatives, non-profit organizations, charities, and for-profit social enterprises registered in Canada that have a well-defined social, environmental and / or cultural impact in Canada.

[INNOWEAVE] In determining whether and how to use social finance, organizations should consider:

  • What the money is needed for, and how the money would be used;
  • How the money will be paid back at a later date;
  • How the financing opportunity aligns with their mission, values, and capacity.

The Innoweave Social Finance Investment Readiness stream helps organizations:

  • Generate ideas on how they can use social finance;
  • Clarify an idea that is mission-aligned, impactful, and feasible;
  • Identify areas of investment-readiness support required to access social finance.

Community Foundations of Canada (CFC)

To be eligible for the IRP, social purpose organizations must:

  • Have, or plan to operate, a mechanism that generates revenue from the sales of goods and/or services.
  • Have a charitable number/be a qualified donee or have a, business registration number.
  • Demonstrate they have a plan, capacity and expertise to carry out the proposed project for which they are applying

Social purpose organizations straddle many sectors. They include:

  • charitable co-operatives
  • other co-operatives
  • registered charities,
  • incorporated non-profit organizations
  • private social enterprise businesses advancing a social, cultural or environmental mission (for-profit social enterprise)
  • hybrid entities such as Community Contribution Companies and Community Interest Companies, found in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, respectively

Chantier de l’économie sociale

You are eligible for the IRP if your organization has its head office and operates in Québec, and is incorporated in the form of a:

  • Co-operative
    • Consumer cooperative
    • Producer cooperative
    • Workers’ cooperative
    • Work-shareholder cooperatives with a majority buyback plan
    • Solidarity cooperative
  • Mutual
  • Non-profit organization constituted according to:
    • Part III on the Québec Companies Act
    • Part II of the Canada Corporations Act
    • The Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act
  • Private for-profit company with a social and/or environmental mission (see glossary for definition)
  • Private for-profit company with a social and/or environmental mission in which an organization or cooperative holds and maintains a majority of the voting shares

Visit funding criteria for more details.

National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)

General Eligibility

All NAFC-member local Friendship Centres (FCs) and Provincial/Territorial Associations (PTAs) are eligible to apply for IRP non-repayable capital. To be eligible for the IRP, FCs and PTAs must demonstrate that:

  • They have, or intend to operate, a mechanism that generates revenue from the sales of goods and/or services;
  • They have, or plan to build, capacity and expertise to carry out the proposed project for which they are applying;
  • That the proposed project will assist the FC or PTA in fulfilling their respective missions.

A social purpose organisation can be a co-operative, charity, non-profit, social enterprise, or for- profit social enterprise. For the purposes of the IRP, the NAFC considers all NAFC-member FCs and PTAs to be social purpose organizations.

Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF)

Eligibility for Grants

Applicants must be a registered charity OR an incorporated non-profit organization with a valid charitable number from Canada Revenue Agency OR a First Nations Band/Municipality designated as a qualified donee by Canada Revenue Agency.

If your incorporated non-profit organization DOES NOT have charitable status or is not a qualified donee, we can consider an application in partnership with another organization that is a registered charity with a mandate relevant to the project.

The other organization’s volunteer Board of Directors will have fiscal responsibility for the grant and be legally responsible for ensuring that the funds are spent for the charitable purposes intended. They will be required to sign a letter of agreement and work in partnership with the organization delivering the project.