WHAT KINDS OF PROJECTS DO YOU FUND?

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MAZON funds food projects across Canada, including food banks, shelters, community gardens, meals on wheels projects, school nutrition programs, and more. Each year, we support about 200 programs across the country with grants to help them serve better, healthier food to more people.

 

We have 4 major streams of funding: Grocery Grants (for the purchase of food), Garden Grants (to support community garden programs), Gear Grants (for the purchase of equipment and infrastructure at food aid programs) and Advocacy Grants (to support advocacy work that advances Canadian food security). Right now, only Grocery Grants are accepting applications.

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To receive a Grocery Grant, your organization must meet all the following criteria:

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• Feed mostly food-insecure people 
• Request funds only for the purchase of food (not salary, rent, equipment, etc.)

• Be incorporated with the CRA as either a charity, a not-for-profit, a registered corporation OR maintain a "flow-through" partnership with an organization incorporated as one of the above.

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HOW DOES MAZON DECIDE WHICH ORGANIZATIONS WILL RECEIVE FUNDING? 

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MAZON’s allocations are decided by an experienced volunteer committee. Our process aims to include people with all kinds of backgrounds and experiences: non-profit managers, policy-makers, front-line poverty-relief workers, dieticians, and people with lived experience of food insecurity.

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When making funding decisions between eligible applicants, we prioritize organizations that: 

 

• Are small and in need

• Have a lot of volunteers

• Operate in rural localities, in a Nutrition North catchment area, or are one of the few sources of food aid in their community.

• Support specific marginalized and/or highly vulnerable populations

• Promote sustainability through food rescue operations
• Help clients in other ways besides giving them food

• Maintain decision-making structures that are accountable to clients.

• Have leadership that share lived experience with clients, or are themselves former clients.
• Give clients support ending their food insecurity (helping them secure access to permanent housing, employment, EI, etc)

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We do not prioritize Jewish organizations over non-Jewish organizations. 

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HOW MUCH CAN I REQUEST?

 

If your application is successful, the minimum grant amount you will receive is $2,000.
For most applicants, the maximum amount you can apply for is $5,000.
In 2021, the average grant in this category was around $3,100. We are anticipating a similar average this year.

 

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WHAT ARE MY CHANCES OF GETTING FUNDING?

 

In past years,  70%-85% of applicants received some amount of funding.
Most are funded in part - only a small percentage receive 100% of what they request.​ 

 

The exact acceptance rate in any given year depends on the total number of applications we receive. Mazon usually supports around 200 organizations out of 250 applicants.

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DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION NEED TO BE JEWISH TO APPLY?

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No! Food projects DO NOT need to be Jewish to receive grants from MAZON Canada.

 

We’re proud to support any and all people in need on behalf of our Jewish community. We prioritize organizations that support specific minority populations, are small and in need, or are otherwise doing critical work in underserved communities. We know that many marginalized groups have specific nutritional, cultural or access needs and face specific barriers to food security - and we're proud to help!
 

When Canadians go hungry, the Jewish community cares!

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I DON'T HAVE AN EXACT NUMBER FOR THE ANSWER TO QUESTION X. CAN I ESTIMATE?

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Estimating is okay! We don't need exact answers for most questions.  The only numbers that need to be exact are ones you’re required to track as a CRA-registered organization anyway, like your revenue.

For example: We support both very big and very small organizations. If you’re not sure if you help 550 or 600 people a year, a guess of 575 will still help us understand whether you’re big or small compared to organizations that serve 50 people a year, or 5000.

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THINGS ARE REALLY DIFFERENT FOR MY ORGANIZATION THIS YEAR, AND OUR ANNUAL NUMBERS DON'T REFLECT THAT. HOW CAN I EXPLAIN MY SITUATION?

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We try to leave room for long-form answers throughout the application where you can explain a complex situation if you'd like. If you feel there's unique circumstances we should know about, you can email us at info@mazoncanada.ca or call us at 416.783.7554.

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AM I EXPECTED TO REPORT ON MY RESULTS? WHAT IS THE TIMELINE FOR REPORTING?

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We will expect a brief Impact Report roughly 9-12 months after the grant is issued.

To see what we’ve expected in the past, last year’s Impact Report form is available HERE.