Systems Change Grants support projects that take action to address the root causes of pressing social, environmental or cultural issues by influencing the behaviours of populations, organizations, and institutions. What does this mean? Systems thinking takes a step back and looks at the bigger picture. Systems change projects tackle the root causes of issues by disrupting the ways that systems work – sometimes this means challenging the way things have worked for generations. We also support work that benefits communities and populations as a whole. Why? Because we believe that this helps contribute to meaningful and lasting change.

In 2018, we commissioned an external evaluation of this grant program to better understand if and how it is contributing to creating the conditions for social innovation and systems change to develop, test and scale. Download the summary and full report to learn more.

Systems Change Grants fund charitable projects in and across any sector. In addition, some of our funding is to specific sectors: social services, children and youth services, health, vocational or technical training, education, arts and culture, environment, and animal welfare. But no matter the issue area, systems change projects must be led by a registered charity or other qualified donee  listed by Canada Revenue Agency.