Open March 1-31

Upcoming Funding Dates

This stream will next open for applications in March 2025. Please check back here for more information, and review previous funding guides (at the bottom of the page!). 

Description

Growing Strong Roots: Seed Grants for Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurs will provide small grants of $2,000 to youth-led business happening in rural, on reserve and remote communities across what is known as Canada.  

This stream is being offered in partnership with Moneris, and focuses on empowering Indigenous youth entrepreneurs to build, scale and enhance their businesses.

Moneris is thrilled to support the “Growing Strong Roots: Seed Grants for Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurs” in collaboration with Indigenous Youth Roots. Entrepreneurship spurs innovation and grows the economy. As a commerce company, Moneris is entirely committed to supporting the launch, growth and success of entrepreneurs and businesses coast to coast. This is also a meaningful opportunity for us to work towards economic reconciliation by funding grants for Indigenous youth entrepreneurs and supporting them through capacity building workshops.

Projects must be led by either individual Indigenous youth (ages 15-29) or 2+ Indigenous youth (ages 15-29). Youth leaders (grantees) will receive capacity building opportunities throughout the project. This funding stream is perfect for new entrepreneurs who are just starting out. 

There is a priority in this stream to support: 

  • Projects in remote, on reserve and rural communities 
  • New and emerging Indigenous youth-led businesses and social enterprises 
  • Existing small Indigenous youth-led businesses and social enterprises that are looking to scale and/or grow 
  • There is a priority to fund business led by Indigenous youth who also carry Afro-Indigenous and 2SLGBTQ+ identities
     

Focus Areas

Projects should focus on building the capacity of an Indigenous youth-led businesses and/or social enterprise. Below are some possible examples of eligible projects. These examples do not include every type of project that we would fund.  

  • Building a business plan or strategic growth plan 
  • Paying fees to table at an event (including travel fees) 
  • Purchasing materials/supplies for your business (building stock) 
  • Designing and making new products for a business 
  • Developing social media and/or promotional materials 
  • Engaging with community to plan initiatives, programs and/or give back events 
  • Hosting a product launch or artist events 
  • Working with a business advisor or taking training/capacity building workshops 

Eligibility

Funding in this stream will only fund Indigenous youth-led businesses or social enterprises.  

Please note: for the purpose of this program, IYR defines Indigenous as status and non-status First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada, living both on and off reserve. 

Eligible groups and projects include: 

  • Incorporated and unincorporated Indigenous youth-led businesses 
  • Indigenous youth-led social enterprises 
  • Individual projects led by an Indigenous youth 

 Ineligible groups and projects: 

  • Projects that are not youth-led (or where the majority of leadership is 30+) 
  • Non-Indigenous groups, organizations and/or businesses 
  • Non-youth groups, organizations and/or businesses 
  • Projects taking place outside of Canada 

Stream Specific FAQ

See the general FAQ here.

Yes! We are happy to support small businesses that are just getting started. Please share how you came up with your idea, why you think it will be successful and who you’ve talked to about it. You have a fantastic idea and it’s important to share where you think that it will grow to.   

We are looking to fund a diverse range of Indigenous youth-led businesses. This could include artist collectives, online marketplaces, product-based businesses (whether clothing, traditional artwork, etc), businesses focused on experiences (I.e. recreation, history tours, etc), businesses focused on skill-building (i.e. facilitation and consultation), etc.  

We are also interested in funding social enterprises. A social enterprise is an initiative that markets and sells a product or service (I.e. merchandise, fee-based workshops, etc), and the profits made from those sales are put back into community initiatives. An example of this could include a youth program that makes and sells t-shirts their participants design, and any profits made from the selling of those t-shirts goes back into funding youth programming.  

Growing Strong Roots Funding Guide

2025

March View English Guide

Grant Contact Name and Pronouns

Forrest Eaglespeaker

(he/him)

Program & Community Engagement Coordinator