McConnell Foundation Grant Program

McConnell Foundation Grant Program

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation
Last Updated: March 11, 2026

Summary

The McConnell Foundation Grant Program supports innovative initiatives focused on community resilience, reconciliation, and climate change. As a private Canadian foundation, it collaborates with various sectors to address critical social issues. The program emphasizes capacity strengthening and encourages projects that connect different focus areas. It also provides resources and guidance for potential applicants, particularly those in Montreal, to foster impactful solutions and enhance organizational leadership in addressing pressing societal challenges.

Overview

About the McConnell Foundation We are a private Canadian foundation that contributes to diverse and innovative approaches to address community resilience, reconciliation, and climate change. We do so through funding and investment partnerships, and by collaborating with the public, private and non-profit sectors. 3 focus areas We fund organizations working to address community resilience, reconciliation, and climate change. We also support Capacity Strengthening projects for the sector, and, in honour of our history, Montreal-based organizations. Our three main focus areas of Communities, Reconciliation and Climate represent what we believe to be some of the most pressing issues facing our society today. With our funding, we hope to help create significant positive impact and demonstrate that lasting change is possible across the country. Our focus areas honour the 85-year history of the Foundation and the legacy of our founder, J.W. McConnell, who sought to find solutions to some of the most important issues of his time. While our focus areas tackle different issues, they are also interconnected. For example, we know equity-deserving groups are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and that Indigenous leadership is essential to the clean energy transition. While you must choose one focus area to submit under, there is space to identify linkages with other areas. Additionally, we support partners to strengthen organizational capacity and leadership through our Capacity Strengthening stream. We also occasionally direct modest amounts of funding to support unique and time-sensitive needs through our Opportunity funds, or to organizations that seek to test a new idea aligned with our focus areas through our Program Development funding. These contributions are discretionary and cannot be applied for. Finally, acknowledging our special relationship with our home city, we fund organizations dedicated to improving the lives of Montrealers. To explore your project idea, or if you are unsure which focus area is right for your application, we invite you to book a 15-minute Virtual Office Hours appointment with a member of our program team. They will help you explore potential alignment between your project and our focus area funding and guide you to resources you may need as you consider applying. Communities Our Communities focus area aims to support the leadership of equity-deserving groups to collectively address systemic barriers to economic and social justice. Reconciliation Our Reconciliation focus area aims to address – and redress – the socioeconomic gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples by building prosperity with and for Indigenous peoples. Climate Our funding priorities As a private philanthropic foundation, we aim to use our resources to help address some of society’s most important challenges. We have chosen to focus our funding on issues of generational importance, that are impacting communities across the country, and where we believe we can contribute to creating significant change. On this page you will find information about our focus areas, Capacity Strengthening For a strong and resilient social sector The McConnell Foundation’s partners must constantly adapt to large changes. Whether it’s a pandemic or the rising demand for services, there will always be challenging situations that require charities and nonprofits to act efficiently and creatively. This is why the McConnell Foundation offers support to help partners strengthen organizational capacity and leadership and to navigate change. Montreal Our commitment to Montreal The Foundation remains deeply committed to our Montreal roots, where we continue to support local projects as we have done since 1937. On this page, you will find information about the funding priorities and application guidelines for our Montreal funding stream.

Eligibility

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