Funding
Take part in experiential education that makes an impact. Student groups will be empowered to bring their ideas from conception, through planning, to execution, gaining practical skills and knowledge that will serve as life skills and career building blocks for the growing green economy.
What projects qualify for funding
Projects we support
We are looking to support projects that address both of our N:OW for Net-Zero Goals:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in schools/community
- Projects that mitigate the amount of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions that your school or community is responsible for. Specifically by adapting existing infrastructure and consumption methods to more sustainable alternatives and upgrades.(Things like installing solar panels at your school so that you can get power and energy from the sun instead of fossil fuels)
- Improve net-zero and climate literacy
- Projects that provide hands on educational opportunities for students to learn climate science and net-zero solutions
- Projects that engage in community action on net-zero and activate civic engagement on climate and net-zero advocacy
Please be aware that projects actively focused on mitigating GHG emissions in their solutions will receive funding priority
Project examples
- Explore our previous grantees in our Solutions Stories tab
- Fill in our Energy Audit Scavenger hunt to see what opportunities your school has to reduce emissions
Check out these net-zero projects from New Myrnam School, our very first grantee!
Funding amount
We are offering flexible funding amounts to meet the needs of your project. You can apply for any amount of funding you need, but ideally, we are looking to fund projects between $2,500.00 and $15,000 CAD.
Who can apply for funding
Eligibility requirements
- Must be a part of a Canadian registered educational institution for grades 6-12 (middle schools and high schools) OR an Indigenous community project that substantially involves youth under the age of 18.
- Must be a project that is youth led and youth implemented, by at least 2 or more youth with support from at least one adult
- Projects can not be partisan
- Projects can not instigate, participate in, or lead to participation in violent or illegal activities
- All grantees must adhere to our FES Principles and Community Values.
Project leads
Youth Lead: Primary youth contact, between grades 6-12, that will be coordinating the implementation of this project.
Adult Contact: Primary adult contact, preferably a teacher or administrator, that is over the age of 18 and will be assisting with the implementation of this project.
Priority groups
We will support a diverse and broad range of groups, but we do aim to prioritize those in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
Francophone schools
Residents of Quebec and francophone schools in other provinces/territories are eligible to apply for this grant. However, currently our grant application, coordination, and approval processes are only available in English for English submissions.
How to recieve funding
How to apply
Applicants can apply by filling in the written application form.
*With the aim of making the application more accessible, we also give the options to answer the application questions in either of these alternative formats:
- Video Application: where you record your answers to the application questions and submit them in video format
- Live Meeting Application: where you schedule a virtual meeting with us and you answer the application questions while chatting with us about your project, much like an informal interview.
If either of these options better suits your ability to communicate your thoughts and project ideas please feel free to do so.
Please note that the offering of these additional types of applications is purely from an accessibility standpoint and all types of applications are given equal priority.
Application support
We know applications can feel intimidating and we want to do as much as we can to make this accessible for everyone. If you have any questions at all or want advice about how to approach answering the questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Use this contact form and we’ll get in touch to schedule a call to chat about it or answer any quick questions via email.
What to expect
Application at a Glance:
- SECTION 1: WHO
- Short answer and multiple choice questions that will let us know who you are (contact information) and if you qualify (eligibility checkboxes).
- SECTION 2: WHAT and HOW
- You will submit two documents and answer a few short answer questions to tell us about the challenge/problem in your school and what your project idea is for tackling it. You will use our templates to submit a 2 page Project Proposal and a Budget.
And that's it!
How we select grantees
N:OW for Net-Zero uses two peer assessment models to review the applications and make grant decisions during the evaluation and assessment period:
- Staff Juries: with a minimum of 5 internal FES staff evaluating the applicants
- Steering Committee: where a committee of climate science experts, teachers, students, and school board staff evaluate the applicants and share feedback and recommendations with you
(you may only choose one)
We will evaluate all applications after the September 12th deadline, and will let all applicants know about whether or not they received funding by early-mid October 2024.
Stay tuned on updates and announcements about the Funding for Net-Zero grants by signing up here.
You’ll be added to our email list where we send programmatic updates and grant application deadline reminders.
