Our Funding

The Indigenous Innovation Initiative’s Gender Equality Program through Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship funds bold and transformative projects led by First Nations, Métis, or Inuit female, Two Spirit, queer, trans, non-binary, or gender-diverse persons in Canada.

During our open funding calls, Indigenous innovators can apply for seed funding of $100,000 to $250,000 CAD to support the development and testing of their bold ideas. Indigenous innovators are businesses, organizations, social enterprises, or groups that are developing innovative products, programs, or services. Indigenous social innovators offer sustainable solutions to address the challenges they see in their communities.

For the most recent funding round, we identified four main investment priority areas: land story, food sovereignty, tech, and wellness. This program is made possible through the generous support of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WaGE).

We are currently not accepting applications for the Gender Equality Program. Please check this page to stay up-to-date on the latest funding developments.

Investment Priority Areas

  • Land Story

    Land story (environmental sustainability): solutions that directly address or mitigate climate change.

  • Food sovereignty

    Food sovereignty (agriculture): solutions that help address food security, including supply chains, food production and food access.

  • Tech

    Tech (digital access and data sovereignty): tech innovations that increase digital access or data sovereignty for Indigenous communities.

  • Wellness

    Wellness: solutions that address the mental health and well-being of people using an Indigenous approach. We are particularly inviting projects that focus on youth mental health.

Requests for Proposals

In 2023, the Indigenous Innovation Initiative issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for seed and transition-to-scale funding. The RFP outlined the program scope and eligibility, the application and review processes, the evaluation criteria, and application instructions. This information will help interested applicants submit a proposal for funding from the Indigenous Innovation Initiative.

This request for proposals has closed. Please visit our innovators page to learn more about the Round 2 innovators.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Indigenous innovation?

Indigenous innovation is a new program, product, orservice that is developed, designed, and/or led by an Indigenous person which supports the resurgence of Indigenous culture, systems, and/or economies, and aims to maintain the existence and wellbeing of all our relations. It is a necessary tool to allow Indigenous Peoples to uphold their responsibility to all their relations, particularly as caretakers for the planet and its inhabitants. We recognize Indigenous innovation as not exclusively something new, but something that can be based on Indigenous cultural, traditional and/or ancestral knowledges, worldviews, and practices and applied to a new situation or context.

Please find the FAQs here.

How much funding can I apply for?

You can apply for up to $125,000 for a funding period of up to 12 months (one year) for the Seed program.

If you are applying for Transition to Scale funding, you can apply for up to $300,000 for a period of 18 months. If you need more than this amount, you may have to bring in other funders to cover the remaining amount.

Please find the FAQs here.

What can I use the funding for?

Successful applicants will sign a Grant Agreement with Grand Challenges Canada outlining all the activities that can or cannot be funded using this grant. This funding cannot be used to purchase land or office space for you to work on or in.

Please find the FAQs here.