Each year, Toronto United Church Council provides a limited number of grants from its Restricted Funds to various communities of faith and social agencies for social ministry and reconciliation programs.
There is no formal grant application process in place but letters of application must conform with TUCC’s Grant Policy.
Initial enquiries regarding support for your project should be made to the TUCC Executive Director.
Recent grants have supported:
- Filipino Christian Fellowship (Toronto), support for new Canadians
- Chalmers Community Centre (Guelph), multi-ethnic food program
- East End Regional United Church (Toronto), kitchen renovation
- Mount Dennis Neighbourhood Centre (Toronto), food program training
- Gibimishkaadimin project, reconciliation initiative
- Francophone Ministry of Toronto, social ministry network development
- Gumboot Productions, ‘Finding Peter Bryce’ production costs
The Vincent Alfano Fund
The Vincent Alfano Fund provides opportunities for emerging church leaders to gain practical experience in helping communities of faith reach out to the diverse contexts they serve and, in turn, learn fresh ways to respond to them with God’s love.
Applicants can be from ministries or communities of faith, and the grant can be used to support a wide range of formal and informal mission-focused training opportunities that meet the Fund’s criteria.
A $10,000 grant is available to ministries and communities of faith offering the training or experience opportunity, with an additional $1,500 for focused skill training for the leader or group being trained.
The full criteria for qualifying projects, and application requirements can be found HERE.
Applications are now closed for 2023. Birchcliff Bluffs was selected as the grant recipient. The application deadline for 2024 is June 14th.
The Winston and Merle Roach Camp Leadership Fund: Supporting Black Youth Leadership in United Church Camping
Winston and Merle Roach were church leaders in East Toronto. They took active roles within their Eastminster United Church community of faith, in regional and national church bodies and in community based social ministries for 50 years. They raised a family of two girls and two boys in their Riverdale home. They welcomed to Canada, sheltered under their wings, and helped settle extended family and friends from Jamaican and the Caribbean diaspora. In fact, their community included hundreds of others: members of their congregation, Winston’s students, Merle’s clients, Mico Alumni, and the beneficiaries of their extensive community service.
Along with many other causes, Winston and Merle were annual supporters of the Camping Opportunities Fund which provides subsidies to families needing help to send their children to a United Church camping program.
In 2020, after their parents’ passing, Winston and Merle’s children established a fund to memorialize their parents’ commitment to the church’s care of neighbours and to continue their lifelong advocacy for Black Ontarians’ equitable access to opportunities, services and experiences enjoyed by mainstream society. They also wanted children of the diaspora to experience and appreciate outdoor camping traditions. They established The Winston and Merle Roach Camp Leadership Fund at The Toronto United Church Council in order to encourage the hiring of Black youth as staff of the church’s camps. The fund will encourage change within a system established primarily to serve the White community. It will also help the camps build a strong team of youthful Black role models that will not only benefit the next generation of campers but will benefit the next generation of community leaders and stewards of the land. Thus, benefiting us all.
The next round of Roach Fund grants will take place in 2024. Camps in Shining Waters Region will be eligible to apply. For more information, download the flyer and application form.
Toronto Southeast Presbytery Major Capital Fund
Communities of faith associated with the former Toronto Southeast Presbytery on September 19th, 2017 may be eligible for grant funding to enable them to engage in urgent capital work when regular loan arrangements are not affordable. Grant funding may also be available for the staffing and start-up costs of new ministry initiatives.
For more information contact Ron Ewart, Executive Director (ron@tucc.ca) at 905-771-5124 / 1-800-235-882
