Community Grants


Burns Memorial Fund’s Community Grants support the delivery of community-based programs or collaborative initiatives, which contribute to the health, educational or recreational needs of children and youth who are living in low-income situations in Calgary.

To be eligible for a Community Grant, applicants need to:

  • Work with children in Calgary under 21 years of age who encounter barriers due to lack of financial resources
  • Apply for projects that align with at least one of BMF’s goals:
    • Each child is ready for school, experiences success in school and graduates
    • Each child is healthy, safe and has access to optimal health care
    • Each child has the opportunity to participate in recreational activities that help them to discover their talents and develop their full potential
  • Work in Calgary, or if your organization is outside of this geographic range, work in close collaboration with an identified organization or group in Calgary
  • Be a federally registered charity

What we fund:

Grants are intended to support time-limited projects, seed or start-up activities, capital costs, one-time program costs, capacity-building or other similar endeavours. Grants are not multi-year and cannot be used to cover ongoing program or staff expenses. The maximum grant size for 2024 is $15,000 per grant. Proposed projects should be completed within a year of receiving funding.

In the past, Community Grants have been approved for the following:

  • Material and equipment purchases
  • One-time programmatic costs
  • Field trips, camps, lessons, program add-ons not requiring ongoing staff expenses
  • Organizational development
  • Technology purchase or development
  • Workshop or summit expenses
  • Program pilot costs

How we assess applications:

  • Does the project align/contribute to BMF’s goals?
  • Does the project description provide a clear picture of what the applicant intends to do, how they plan to implement the project, and how they will know if they were successful?
  • Has the applicant provided evidence that they have ability to carry out the project by providing a complete proposed budget, financial statements for the organization, as well as annual report or other reports/supporting documents that demonstrate capacity?

Application Process:

Applications are due on May 1, yearly. Grant decisions are usually made within ten weeks of the application deadline.

Applicants must discuss their proposed project with Faye San Jose, Grants Coordinator, prior to submitting an application. Please call Faye at 403-234-9396 ext. 2, or set up a time to discuss your project by emailing fe.sanjose@burnsfund.com.

Completed grant applications must be submitted to communitygrants@burnsfund.com and will be acknowledged via email. If you do not receive an email notice that your application was received, please contact Faye San Jose.

Download Application:

Community Grants Application Form

Application Download Instructions:

1) To complete an application on your computer, please right-click on the form link and select “Save Link As…”
2) Save the file to your desktop or a folder.
3) Open a program like Adobe Reader to fill out and save the form.