TD Park People Grants

We made a few changes to the program this year, summarized below.

Application Management Tool: We are moving from Survey Monkey Apply to Blackbaud Grantmaking. Learning to use a new tool can take some adjustment, but question 4 of this FAQ provides guidelines for navigating it. Additional support documents will be available to you as well, and you can always contact us at boursestdppgrants@parkpeople.ca for help.

Eligible urban areas: St John’s, NL joins the list of eligible urban areas in 2026, while Brandon, MB is no longer an eligible urban area.

Multi-year recipients: Groups that have received the grants before can apply again, but to prioritize first-time applicants, those funded two years in a row must take a one-year break before reapplying. For example, a group funded in 2024 and 2025 would next be eligible for the 2027 TD Park People grant.

Decisions will be made by a team of reviewers composed of Park People staff in consultation with TD. Application selection will be based on the following criteria:

• Strength of the application – past event experience, compelling argument describing the proposed events
• Environmental focus – groups should incorporate an environmental care or protection component into their events or event activities.
• Equity-deserving communities – at least 50% of grants will be given to these groups. These may include, but are not limited to, Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities, disabled persons or people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+, newcomers, women, and low-income people.
• Geographic diversity – representation of many neighbourhoods in each city and representation of the 21 urban areas eligible for the grants. 
• Originality of the event ideas – aiming for many different types of events in parks
• Evidence of consideration of inclusion/accessibility

While meeting any or all of these criteria will not guarantee that your group will be awarded a grant, we are looking for these qualities in each application.

The application form should take about 2 hours to complete once you’ve planned your events. Here is a preview of the questions:

• Describe your group or organization, and indicate if your group is from an equity-deserving community.
• Outline your past experiences in hosting community events in parks and green spaces.
• If partnering with other groups or organizations, list them and briefly describe their roles.
• Provide a brief description of the two events you plan to host.
• Describe the steps you will take to ensure your events are inclusive, accessible, and safe.
• Explain how your proposed events will focus on environmental impact (e.g., environmental education, sustainability practices, or stewardship activities).
• Highlight the significance of these events for your community. 
• Describe how you will use the $2,000 grant to support your events. List any additional sources of funding, confirmed or anticipated.

Your group can demonstrate an environmental focus in many ways, whether through environmental education, a commitment to sustainability practices, or stewardship activities: 

• Raising awareness on environmental issues, such as climate change, or teaching about the local environment by hosting a nature walk. 
• Committing to sustainability practices, such as ensuring your event is zero-waste or hosting a bike repair clinic or clothing swap. 
• Hosting stewardship activities could include park cleanups, planting and gardening, invasive species removal, and other projects that enhance local green space.

We encourage you to get creative and think outside the box!

Here are some useful links: 

• Stories from TD Park People Grant Recipients
• Planning a Zero-Waste Event in Your Park
• Host a Climate Change Workshop
• Make Your Park Clean-Up a Great Community Event
• How A Food Forest Took Root In A Concrete Jungle

Hosting a free, open-to-the-public event is not enough to ensure it is inclusive and accessible. 

Here are some measures past grant recipients have adopted to make their park events inclusive:

• Inviting an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper or Elder to your events and offering an honorarium.
• Translate promotions into the most widely spoken languages in your community.
• Ensure the event is inclusive for people using mobility devices or accompanied by service animals, and choose a park that is fully accessible to wheelchair users.
• Serve vegetarian or vegan options, accommodate dietary needs (gluten-free, lactose-free, halal, kosher, etc.), and avoid common allergens.
• Offer portable toilets if the park doesn’t have toilets.
• Use gender-neutral language in your promotional materials and presentations, and ask your participants for their preferred pronouns.
• Use closed captions for a virtual event.
• Ensure the participation of a sign language interpreter.
• Choose a park that is easily accessible by public transportation.
• Conduct outreach beyond social media by engaging community leaders, schools, local newspapers, language centers, etc.

We also suggest including an accessibility section on your event page that provides information on location, transportation, food, sensory experiences, and interactions one might expect. It will help people determine if they can/want to participate and plan accordingly.For further reading, see our resource on Events Accessibility.

If successful, your group will receive a total of $2,000 to be spread across both events. Once you have received the funds for your grant, you are free to use them however you’d like for your events. This could include providing transportation to the event with bus tickets. You may also combine the money received from this grant with other sources of funding.

For the purposes of the program, a group is considered equity-deserving if the people helping run it are part of an equity-deserving community and/or if the group serves or engages with equity-deserving communities. We prioritize equity-deserving groups in our granting to address the inequitable distribution of resources within the parks sector.

We define equity-deserving communities as those that, due to systemic discrimination, face barriers that prevent them from having the same access to resources and opportunities as other members of society. These may include, but are not limited to, Black, Indigenous and people of colour communities, disabled persons or people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQ+, newcomers, women and non-binary people, and low-income people. 

These communities may be present in specific geographic areas in some cities, including Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas or Montreal’s Integrated Urban Revitalization zones*, but they are not limited to those areas.