Funding Program Directory

The Youth Grant provides funding to organizations on Haida Gwaii for educational and recreational services aimed at youth. In general, we are interested in applications that support increased opportunities for youth in sports, culture, arts and outdoor activities, reduce barriers to participation, and promote youth leadership.

The Youth Centred Communities Grant provides a predictable source of revenue to operate youth centres and/or offer youth activities in each community on Haida Gwaii.

The Continuing Education Grant was designed to encourage all Haida Gwaii residents to pursue educational opportunities of all kinds, both on and off-island. This grant can help cover the cost of tuition and materials for courses at recognized universities, colleges, and trades programs, including online courses. Long-term courses are courses that are three months or longer, such as university or college semesters.

Mentorships allow artists to receive training in an informal environment. This grant pays a wage subsidy to either a mentor or an apprentice to encourage mature artists to share their expertise with emerging artists.

In 2006 the Gwaii Trust Society made a commitment to the high schools on Haida Gwaii to establish bursary disbursements on an annual basis. Based on the criteria developed by the High School Scholarship Committee (consisting of a Gwaii Trust representative, principal, parents, and teachers), students are eligible for a bursary that ranges from a minimum of $300 to a maximum of $3000.

In 2013, the Gwaii Trust Youth Board created the Youth Leadership Awards. Each year the Trust awards $1,000.00 ($500 each) to go to two deserving students for their outstanding leadership within their school or community.

The Food Security Grant provides stable, annual funding to organizations that support access to food for the residents of Haida Gwaii.

The Arts Grant is designed to encourage the development of artistic skills and expression on Haida Gwaii. The grant has a long history of supporting diverse and creative projects in a wide range of media. We welcome applications from individual artists who seek to explore new ideas and advance their work. We also welcome applications from organizations for a wide range of areas, including community-based art projects that are accessible to all.

The Community and Holiday Events Grant provides up to $6,000 annually to each Gwaii Trust Community for public events. The purpose of the grant is to help support open and accessible community events for the residents of Haida Gwaii.

The Community Innovation Grant funds innovative small projects that will contribute to enhancing the overall wellbeing of islanders, our communities, and Haida Gwaii. We welcome applicants from a wide range of areas such as education, wellness, infrastructure, and training to apply. Community Innovation is our “catch all” program for small grants.

The Continuing Education Grant was designed to encourage all Haida Gwaii residents to pursue educational opportunities of all kinds, both on and off-island. This grant can help cover the cost of tuition and course materials for courses at recognized universities, colleges, and trades programs, including online courses. Short-term courses are defined as courses that take less than three months to complete.

The Major Contributions Grant is designed to support larger projects in community infrastructure and planning. Our goal is to help build safer, healthier, and more attractive communities. Major Contributions is designed to help enhance the lives of all islanders and make our island a more desirable place to live, work, play and visit.

The Group Travel Assistance Grant is open to all residents of Haida Gwaii, as well as local schools and non-profit organizations. This grant helps teams and other groups travel off-island to participate in educational, cultural, arts, sports and seniors’ events.

The Individual Travel Assistance Grant helps residents travel off-island to participate in educational, cultural, arts, sports and seniors’ events.

The Arts Workshop Grant aims to support artistic development through learning opportunities for artists and residents of Haida Gwaii. The Arts Workshop Grants can fund travel for individual artists or groups of artists to attend workshops off-island, or to bring facilitators to Haida Gwaii to deliver workshops here.

The purpose of the Haida Language grant is to support initiatives to revitalize and sustain the Haida language. Financial support is directed at the three Haida language organizations here, enabling them to pursue projects that will improve fluency, transfer knowledge from one generation to the next, and nurture mentorships.

The purpose of this grant is to provide stable and predictable funding to Kids Camps on Haida Gwaii. Our goal is to help the camps continue operating, for the benefit of local youth. Through this program, we are helping to provide youth with access to outdoor recreation opportunities and cultural lessons.

A strategic priority at Gwaii Trust is supporting healthy and active youth on Haida Gwaii. In support of this goal, we provide annual grants to School District 50 to help students access healthy foods, to enhance educational experiences, and to recognize youth leadership.

The School Food Grant’s primary focus is to make nutritious and culturally appropriate food more accessible to students. This program is administered by School District 50 and provides funding towards food programs for each school on Haida Gwaii. For details on how the funding is allocated, contact the School Board office.

The Food Sovereignty Grant funds small projects that will contribute to improving local food production, harvesting and distribution in a way that is sustainable in the long term. The ultimate goal is to improve food security and self-sufficiency on Haida Gwaii.

Occasionally Gwaii Trust provides grant funding for strategic projects that don’t fit into our typical granting streams and fall outside our annual budgets. Special Projects grants support projects that are large in scale, of all Island benefit, and align with the strategic priorities of Gwaii Trust and Haida Gwaii.

Green Shield Canada Oral and Mental Health Care Grant

The Winter Holiday’s Grant provides up to $12,000 annually to each Gwaii Trust Community to help support open and accessible holiday events and programs for the residents of Haida Gwaii.

The Gwaii Trust Board of Directors recognizes that travel costs can be a barrier to students’ participation in sporting, cultural and educational activities. The Field Trip fund provides direct funding to School District 50 to assist in offsetting travel costs for school teams, classes, and clubs to participate in Field Trips.

The Post-Secondary Institution Tours Grant assists local high school students experience off-island post-secondary institutions prior to graduating. This grant assists in travel costs for grade 10, 11 and 12 students to travel to post-secondary institutions to help familiarize themselves with college and university lifestyle and academic requirements once they graduate.