Value
The 2022/23 micro-grants offer four categories and six $5000 cash micro-grants.Description
The IEF micro-grants exist to support Canadian entrepreneurs and small & medium sized enterprise (SME) business owners belonging to racialized and/or equity-deserving communities as they overcome and recover from the various global and regional business disruptions and impacts of recent years.
Eligible Applicants
Applicants must:
- Be alive and be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
- Be at least one of the following for the business the application is based on: founder, owner, co-founder, co-owner, person who owns or co-owns the entity or trademark for brand, product name, or service.
- Be active in the business and a key decision-maker/senior leader.
- Business has been registered with the Canada Revenue Agency.
- The applicant identifies as a member of (a) equity-deserving or/and racialized community(ies). See definition below.
- The business and/or the owner/co-owner or founder/co-founder meet the additional categorical requirements specified in the grant being applied for.
We align our definition of racialized and/or equity-deserving groups with definitions used by United Nations, and that used by the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health: defined as members from groups and communities that experience social, cultural, political, educational, and economic discrimination and exclusion because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, educational, social, and cultural dimensions.
Eligible Expenses
Micro-grants Categories:
- The Climate-Related Product Innovation Micro-grant, sponsored by UPS: granted to a business demonstrating innovation to address urgent climate-related issues. One (1) $5000 cash micro-grant available.
- The Global Impact Micro-grant, sponsored by UPS: granted to a business who has demonstrated international scale. One (1) $5000 cash micro-grant available.
- Woman & Women-Identifying Business Owner Micro-grant, sponsored by TD #TDWomenInEnterprise: Three (3) $5000 cash micro-grants available, granted to women & women identifying business owners seeking access to a business grant to scale their businesses.
- The Digital Innovator Micro-grant, sponsored by Meta: granted to a business who moved their operations online as a result of the COVID–19 pandemic. One (1) $5000 cash micro-grant available, including an additional $5000 Meta advertising credits. An additional three (3) $2000 Meta advertising credits (no cash) micro-grants will be gifted to other applicants.