Social Sustainability Fund (SSF)‍ ‍

Strong applications will demonstrate:

• Clear community need

• Alignment with Vital Signs priorities

• Measurable outcomes (KPIs)

• Realistic budget and plan

• Collaboration where appropriate

• Applications Open: Spring 2026

• Deadline: TBD

• Decisions: TBD

• Project Start: TBD

Organizations must:

• Be a Registered Charity under the Income Tax Act; OR

• Be an Incorporated Nonprofit Organization

• Operate within the City of Kawartha Lakes

• Deliver all project activities locally

• Be in good financial standing and hold a bank account in the organizations name

• Maintain an active governance structure

• Hold a bank account in the organization’s name

• Organizations must not have an active SSF-funded project at the time of application

• Individuals

• For-profit businesses

• Municipal departments

• Max Request amount: $10,000
  Partial funding may be awarded.

• Funding requests should be proportionate to project scope and organizational capacity.

• Direct program delivery costs

• Supplies and materials

•   Modest staffing or facilitation costs

• Transportation and accessibility support

•   Evaluation, training and learning activities

• Food and basic needs directly tied to programming

• Coordination costs within collaborative initiatives

• Pilot projects and learning-based initiatives are welcome.

• Large infrastructure or capital construction projects

• Ongoing core operating deficits

• Fundraising events, sponsorships, or annual appeals

• Political or religious activities

• Retroactive expenses

• Purchase of used or second-hand equipment

Applications will be reviewed by a community-based assessment committee. All proposals are evaluated using consistent criteria:

• Alignment with 2026 funding priorities

• Demonstrated community need (including alignment with Vital Signs findings)

• Clarity and feasibility

• Collaboration and community connection

• Realistic and appropriate budget

• Organizational capacity

SSF emphasizes learning and impact over compliance.

Funded organizations will submit:

• A short narrative final report

• Basic financial confirmation

• Optional storytelling reflections

SSF may publicly share funded initiatives to celebrate community impact.

To support a smooth application process, we encourage applicants to consider the following:

• Draft offline if helpful: If you are more comfortable working in Word or another document, you may copy and paste the application questions into a separate document and draft your responses there before entering them into the online form.

• Save your work: Online forms may time out. We recommend saving your responses regularly outside of the form.

• File attachments: If you experience issues uploading documents through the application form, you may submit attachments separately by email.

• Submitting attachments by email:
  Please send files to grant@kawarthafoundation.ca and include the following in your subject line:
  Organization Name – Project Title – SSF 2026 Application Attachment

• Double-check before submitting: Ensure all required fields are completed and attachments are included (or emailed separately, if needed).

SSF is committed to reducing barriers in the grant process.

• Plain-language application form

• Staff support available by email at grant@kawarthafoundation.ca

• Accessibility accommodations available upon request

Applicants are encouraged to contact staff prior to submission with any questions.