Creation FAQ

A: All Creation grants require that a minimum of 2 (sometimes 3, depending on the stream) Indigenous youth aged 15-29 design and run the project. This means the youth leads come up with the idea and structure of their project, complete the application, attend necessary meetings with their IYR grant coordinator, attend two mandatory workshops, plan and run the project, take charge of their project evaluation, and serve as primary contacts for their project. If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry! We’ll explain more and we encourage youth teams to have support from adults too. Successful applicants will also be assigned an IYR Grant Coordinator to support them along the way.

Sometimes youth groups will apply to do a project in partnership with a larger organization and while that would still qualify, the project itself would still need to be meaningfully youth-led as outlined above.

A: IYR is committed to ensuring that funds from this granting program are going into the hands of Indigenous-led groups, organizations and collectives. When we refer to an Indigenous organization, we require that they meet the following criteria:

Incorporated organizations/registered non-profits must meet all of the following three criteria:

• A mission/purpose, mandate, and vision statement that outlines your organization’s commitment to working with Indigenous communities.
• At least 50% of the organization’s Board of Directors are Indigenous and/or the organization is staffed and led by primarily Indigenous people.
• The organization uses an Indigenous model/practices to serve the Indigenous community.

Grassroots groups and collectives must meet all of the following three criteria:

• At least 50% of participants in programming run by the group are Indigenous (work is Indigenous-focused).
• At least 75% of staff/organizers are Indigenous.
• The group uses Indigenous practices to serve the Indigenous community.

A: The Creation granting program allows a group or collective to hold up to $30,000 in grants in a group leader’s personal bank account. However, if funds are larger than $30,000 and the group is a collective or grassroots, they will need to find an incorporated organization to support by trusteeing the grant. A trustee holds the grant funding for the grassroots or collective group, assumes the financial responsibility for managing the funds, and ensures that the project deliverables are completed. In addition, the trustee may choose to take a small admin fee for holding the responsibilities outlined above — at Creation you can have the admin fees covered in your grant if you decide to add it to your budget when applying for funding. A grassroots or collective may also choose to have a trustee for $30,000 and below funding. This option is okay and is the choice of the collective or grassroots group leaders.

Successful applicant groups (with leaders aged 15-17) will require a local non-profit or trusted community member over age 18 to serve as their grant trustee. This trustee may be someone the applicants are already familiar with or IYR can support in connecting them with a willing organization or community member as well as with creating a trustee agreement that ensures youth will be supported.