Mental Health and Climate Change Community Action Grants

Applicants are required to meet all three of the following core criteria to be eligible for grants:

1. Projects relate to both climate change and mental health/well-being.

2. Projects have impact within the province of British Columbia (BC). 

3. Applicants are either: 

   • Registered organizations (e.g. registered non-profits, charities);

   • Qualified donees (e.g. First Nations); or 

   • Sponsored* by a registered organization. 

If you are not a registered organization, you will need to connect with a registered organization or qualified donee to sponsor your application in order to receive funds. For instance, you might collaborate with a local non-profit (e.g. a neighbourhood house), your First Nation or Band, a larger charity, or a registered provincial organization (e.g. Métis Nation BC Chartered Communities could be sponsored by Métis Nation British Columbia). On your application, you will be asked to include contact information for your contact at the sponsoring organization. During application review, MHCCA may reach out to the sponsor organization, your contact, or request a letter of support from that organization. If your project is awarded a grant, the funds will be transferred to the sponsoring organization to support the project as outlined in your application. Please contact MHCCA if you have any questions!

In addition to the core eligibility requirements above, applications that demonstrate the following will be prioritized:

• Grounded in community needs and responsive to the population(s) they intend to serve;

• Aware of and tending to emotional safety, cultural context, and potential climate-related trauma;

• Integrating cultural safety, accessibility, justice, equity, and inclusion;

• Realistic and clearly described within the proposal; and

• Aligned with one or more of the ten guiding principles (please see our website).

Additionally, the Large Grants will also consider if the applying organization demonstrates that they are: 

• Positioned to develop and deliver the project; and

• Prepared with a clear approach to reflecting on outcomes and learning from the project.

This funding offers two granting streams: 

• Small Grants of up to $10,000 to support smaller-scale, community-led initiatives that address mental health and wellbeing in the context of climate change.

• Large Grants of up to $100,000 to support larger, more comprehensive initiatives that require greater investment and coordination.Organizations can apply once to each granting stream; sponsoring another application does not count toward this limit.In total, $750,000 is available for the Mental Health and Climate Change Community Action Grants, with $250,000 for general applicants and $500,000 for Indigenous-led initiatives. Through this, we expect to fund roughly six to seven Larger Grants and fifteen to seventeen Smaller Grants. These numbers may be adjusted based on funding amount requests and applicant interest.