Creation FAQ

Creation offers three types of grants – General Granting Streams, Emerging Needs Streams, and Partnership Streams – and different kinds of projects may be eligible for different types of grants.  

General Granting Streams: 

• Creation’s core funding streams, namely: Youth Empowerment Stream, Small Project Funding, Medium Project Funding, Large Project Funding, Scaling Growth Stream, and Multi-Year Funding  
• We call these “General Granting Streams” because there are very few restrictions on what kind of projects Creation will fund in these streams 
• If the project is led by Indigenous youth and will positively impact Indigenous youth and/or their communities, then that project is eligible for funding in these streams! (Please note however that Creation cannot provide funding to projects that are political in nature, or that involve the distribution of alcohol, drugs, or other mind-altering substances) 
• Examples of past projects funded in these streams include: starting a youth council, running a community meals on wheels program, hosting a podcast, hosting a gathering, offering leadership capacity building workshops, Indigenous language classes, creating and sustaining a community garden, creating a social media app for Indigenous youth, etc. 

 Emerging Needs Streams: 

• These streams are targeted themed streams designed to help meet current needs in Indigenous communities, as identified by Creation’s Advisory Circle 
• As such, the actual streams offered change year-to-year, and the kinds of projects funded also change, depending on the theme of the offered streams 
• For Emerging Needs Streams, we recommend checking the “Project Summary” and “Project Focus Areas” in the relevant Funding Guide to see what kinds of projects are eligible for funding! 

Partnership Streams: 

• These streams are offered in partnership with one of Creation’s sponsors, and generally have specific requirements that distinguish them from Creation’s General Funding Streams 
• Requirements may be tied to geographic location, community type, or project type, and different Partnership Streams will have different requirements 
• Like the Emerging Needs Streams, the actual streams offered and kinds of projects funded change year-to-year, depending on active partnerships 
• As such, for Partnership Streams, it is also recommended to check the “Project Summary” and “Project Focus Areas” in the relevant Funding Guide to see what kinds of projects are eligible for funding! 

The best place to find more information about any of our funding streams is on our Creation Grants page, below the “Featured Funding Streams” heading.

Each stream has a webpage that will share upcoming deadlines, the funding guide, previous impact, examples of funded projects and more! If the grant you are interested in applying foris currently open or will be opening soon, it will be visible right under either the “Featured Streams” section.  Click on the image for the grant you’re interested in, and that will bring you to the stream webpage. On that webpage you can also download a PDF copy of the funding guide in English and French

If you’re interested in applying for a funding stream that isn’t currently open, you can learn more about those streams by clicking on the “+” button next to the “Upcoming Funding Streams” or “Closed Funding Streams”  titles. Once you have expanded those sections, you can again click on the image for the stream that interests you to access that stream’s funding guide. Please note that not all funding streams will be offered again in future. 

Most of the Creation funding streams require a group of (2–3 Indigenous youth to be eligible). Some streams may allow individual applicants. If this is the case, we will ensure that the community is aware by informing them via the stream funding guide and social media promotion.

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 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. 

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 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 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 Indigenous community