A total of $750,000 is available for the Mental Health and Climate Change Community Action Grants, with $250,000 for general applicants and $500,000 for Indigenous-led initiatives. Through this, we expect to fund roughly six to seven Larger Grants (two general and four Indigenous-led) and fifteen to seventeen Smaller Grants (five general and ten Indigenous-led). These numbers may be adjusted based on funding amount requests and applicant interest. Additionally, funds may be slightly reallocated between the granting streams based on grant interest and needs. 

We encourage you to contact the MHCCA team if you have application questions, require support, or would like to explore options to make this process more accessible. Throughout the application process, we will also host virtual grant information sessions for questions and discussion on June 24th, July 8th, and September 16th. If you are interested in evaluation support, we encourage you to explore our evaluation toolkit here. Additionally, you are encouraged to share in your application if there are any connections, information, or other support that we might be able to provide to further your project. You will have the opportunity to write about this in an optional question in the application form and your responses to this question will not impact whether or not your project is selected. Your responses to this question will help us to know how we can support your project if you receive funds!

The Small Grants will be reviewed primarily on a first-come basis for projects that meet all criteria. Additionally, the overall diversity of projects may be considered when allocating grants for both streams, with the review committee holding final discretion. For the Large Grants, proposals will be evaluated and scored based on criteria (listed below). These scores will then be shared with the final review committee who will discuss and finalize project selections.  

In addition to the core eligibility requirements above, applications that demonstrate the following will be prioritized:

• Grounded in community needs and responsive to the population(s) they intend to serve;

• Aware of and tending to emotional safety, cultural context, and potential climate-related trauma;

• Integrating cultural safety, accessibility, justice, equity, and inclusion;

• Realistic and clearly described within the proposal; and

• Aligned with one or more of the guiding principles (listed below).

Additionally, the Large Grants will also consider if the applying organization demonstrates that they are: 

• Positioned to develop and deliver the project; and

• Prepared with a clear approach to reflecting on outcomes and learning from the project.

The ten principles listed below represent evidence-based, community-informed strategies for addressing climate-related mental health challenges: 

1. Cultivate Accurate Climate Knowledge: Support understandings of the realities of climate change in accessible and relevant ways, based in Indigenous knowledge and science, to build awareness that empowers action.

2. Embrace Climate Realities with Emotional Diversity: Recognize the range of climate emotions and support healthy expression and navigation of this emotional spectrum, deepening and expanding resilience.

3. Inspire Optimism for the Future: Cultivate hope, uplift visions of positive futures, nurture confidence in how to make a difference, and foster belief in possibilities to make a difference.

4. Strengthen Social Connections: Encourage the development of meaningful relationships with others to face climate challenges collectively.

5. Enhance Connection to Nature: Support and deepen connections with the natural world to improve well-being, connection, and stewardship.

6. Expand Emotional Resilience and Coping Skills: Cultivate a variety of  strategies for emotional regulation, coping, and mindfulness to support navigation of diverse challenges and climate impacts with greater confidence and stability.

7. Champion Climate Justice: Ensure equity and justice are at the heart of climate and mental health work. Advocate for fairness and equity, recognizing the importance of decolonization and justice in approaches to well-being.

8. Integrate a Trauma-Informed and Culturally Safe Approach: Apply principles of cultural safety and trauma-informed practice, respect cultural contexts, address inequities and power imbalances, apply a lens of intersectionality, recognize the inequitable and potentially traumatic impacts of climate change, and support comprehensive safety and well-being. 

9. Defer to and Uplift Community-Led Adaptation: Emphasize community agency in adapting to climate impacts, support community power and capacity, and build local leadership and self-determination in climate action and resilience. Center community-led approaches (e.g. participatory approaches) and emphasize the importance of lived experience and expertise.

10. Adopt a Collective Responsibility Approach: Promote collective action, care, and responsibility for community well-being, reinforcing that no one has to face climate challenges alone.

While no single project is expected to cover all principles, projects that incorporate one or more of these principles will be prioritized.

Application forms will open in early Summer, 2026. These forms will invite you to share a summary of your project idea and plans, including who will be involved, what the timeline will be, what your requested budget is, how your project will address climate change and mental wellbeing, and how you will integrate the guiding principles. You will also be required to share contact information and basic information about your organization. If your project is sponsored by a partner organization, contact information for your sponsor will be required and a letter of support may be requested at a later date during applicant review.

Please see the templates at the following links to see what questions are asked on the Small Grant application form and the Large Grant application form.

We ask all funded projects to participate in project reporting or evaluations purpose-fit for their particular activites. These report requirements are flexible, will vary based on project size, and can include an array of evaluation methods — such as qualitative, quantitative, participatory, story-based, and culturally grounded methods. You will be invited to reflect on a potential approach in your application and applicants are encouraged to use our evaluation framework development tool (https://evaluation.mhcca.ca/) to help them think through their evaluation approach.

Your evaluation approach will be an opportunity for you to share what you did, any outcomes or stories, and lessons learned. This will help us to celebrate your success and gather insights for future programs. We will provide additional guidance for this if you receive funding.

We also plan to organize a virtual gathering to share stories, outcomes, and lessons learned, where you will be invited to share more about your project. Participation is encouraged — we hope it will be a chance to celebrate your accomplishments, reflect on key learnings, and inspire others!

Reporting is not intended to be an onerous process, and we will provide further details and resources on evaluation to funded project teams. Our team can also support you as needed. Please reach out if you have any questions!

When you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email to the primary email address you provided. After the review process, all applicants will be notified of application outcomes over email by early winter, 2027. 

We expect projects to have at least 12 months to be implemented, between February 2027 - April 2028. We aim to make decisions in late fall, 2026 and distribute funds by February 2027 so projects can have the maximum amount of time to be implemented. We request that final reporting and learning reflections be completed by the end of May, 2028. If projects require more time to be completed, please let us know!  

We take an expansive approach to understanding climate action and mental health. 

Mental health does not require a clinical approach and climate action can take many forms. We recognize that a variety of interventions can support climate resilience and well-being, including revitalizing language and culture, land-based programming, processing climate emotions through conversations, building community, creating art, taking local action, and more. 

We recognize that climate change, mental health, and well-being are directly impacted by broader systems and structures. Addressing these links can be an important part of climate action and well-being as well. 

Community expertise is welcomed and we invite you to reflect on what climate action, mental health, and resilience mean to you. In your application, you will be invited to articulate how your project is related to this intersection of mental health and climate change. Please use this space to clarify these links so we can understand how you are approaching this intersection of climate and well-being.

We welcome applications from everyone who is interested in taking action at the intersection of climate change and well-being! Whether you are a first-time grant applicant or seasoned organizer, we welcome your application. Community knowledge is a valued form of expertise and you do not need formal grant-writing experience to apply. We look forward to hearing your ideas! 

Yes, you can still apply for a grant even if you are not a registered organization. We hope to support grassroots initiatives through this program as well!

If you are not a registered organization, you will need to connect with a registered organization or qualified donee to sponsor your application in order to receive funds. For instance, you might collaborate with a local non-profit (e.g. a neighbourhood house), your First Nation or Band, a larger charity, or a registered provincial organization (e.g. Métis Nation BC Chartered Communities could be sponsored by Métis Nation British Columbia). 

On your application, you will be asked to include contact information for your contact at the sponsoring organization. During application review, we may reach out to the sponsor organization, your contact, or request a letter of support from that organization. If your project is awarded a grant, the funds will be transferred to the sponsoring organization to support the project as outlined in your application.  

Please contact us if you have any questions!

We encourage organizations with collaborative projects to apply together through one application. If your project includes multiple partners, you will be invited to list key partners in your application. While we welcome applications from all organizations, applicants should note that the overall diversity of initiatives will be considered in funding allocation and very similar project submissions are unlikely to be awarded multiple grants.

You can apply once to the Large Grant stream and once to the Small Grant stream as a lead applicant. If your project is Indigenous-led, it will be considered for the funds specified for Indigenous-led projects as well as the general funding pool. Please note that if your project is successful for a Large Grant, you will not be eligible to also receive a Small Grant. 

If you are sponsoring another grassroots organization, that does not count towards the one application per stream limit. You can sponsor multiple as many other applications as you have the capacity to support. 

Yes, you are welcome to combine this with other existing supports. Please specify this in your application and indicate how these funds will contribute to your project. 

Applicants must be either a registered organization in Canada, such as a registered non-profit or charity, or recognized as a qualified donee by the government of Canada. Qualified donees include First Nations and registered municipalities. Please see the list here for more information on groups that are considered qualified donees, and contact us if you have additional questions. 

Yes! We welcome applications from youth, student organizations, and any groups that meet the core eligibility above. We look forward to hearing your ideas! 

If you are part of a student organization or other grassroots initiative that is not a registered non-profit, then you will need to find a sponsor organization. Talking to your larger student organization (e.g. student union) or school is probably the best place to start for this, although other youth-centered organizations might also be able to support.

Please see the FAQ above about sponsorship and contact us if you have any questions! 

Please reach out to us at team@mhcca.ca if you are working for a provincial organization and interested in these grants. 

All applications will be reviewed in fall, 2026 after the application deadline on October 1st. All applicants will be notified of final decisions one way or another in January/February 2027. 

For the Large Grant stream, there is no advantage to applying early and all applications will be ranked and reviewed by an interdisciplinary review committee. 

For the Small Grant stream, applications will be considered in the order in which they are received against granting criteria. These applications are still reviewed for overall quality and alignment with all the criteria listed above. Additionally, project diversity, region, equity, and potential impact will be considered against the overall funding portfolio to ensure equitable distribution of funds. The intention of this is to move away from a competition focused model in grant review, while still addressing overall funding equity and distribution.

Please contact us at team@mhcca.ca or attend our virtual grant information sessions. We look forward to hearing about your ideas and we are happy to help as we can.