I sometimes have students who are gung-ho to get a grant, any grant. They will inquire where to go to get the most money, the most quickly. I ask them what it is they are seeking to fund exactly, and they have no idea. This approach is not likely to succeed, for several reasons. First, grants exist for a purpose. The idea behind them is that the government wants to encourage positive social changes, such as job creation or home ownership,

TORONTO – Premier Kathleen Wynne is promising $2.5 billion in grants to businesses over the next decade aimed at attracting and keeping companies in Ontario, a move the Progressive Conservatives denounced as corporate welfare.

Congratulations–you got a grant! Now is it a one-time grant, or is it renewable? And if it’s renewable, what do you have to do to receive the next round of funding? Each allotment of grant money has its own set of conditions. One of these addresses what happens when the funding period has elapsed. One of the possibilities is that it may be one-time funding, and that you aren’t eligible to reapply in future funding cycles.

Are you looking for a job or need skills training? If you are unemployed or would like to transition into a different career, the Canadian government offers a number of programs to help you succeed. You can get help deciding on a career, finding a part-time or full-time job, upgrading your skills through training and education, or even learning how to run your own business.

There are numerous ways that you can beat the high cost of tuition. Two of the main ones are scholarships and educational grants. I sometimes get questions about what the difference is between them, as well as what all the other types of educational grants are, such as fellowships, subsidies, work study programs, and more. What they have in common is that any free money that

The Needs Assessment is a crucial part of your grant proposal because that’s where you make the case that there’s a legitimate reason that you’re asking for grant money. As I often point out, grant money exists to bridge the gap between a need and a solution (or at least to lessen the need that exists). The job of the person writing the grant proposal is to explain that a need really does exist and provide evidence of it.

Driving can be an expensive proposition, with fuel prices being so high. You may have thought about switching over to a more fuel-efficient vehicle, maybe even a hybrid or an electric car. The big question, though, is whether your gas savings will offset the cost of your new vehicle. Your decision may be made a little easier when there is a government grant that will help subsidize your new car.

Canada and Alberta student loans require a paper application for the first year, but online in subsequent years. Photo: University of Alberta. $748 million in Canada and Alberta student loans and grants were given out in 2012, and even more is expected to be allocated this year.

The people and organizations that provide grants and funding don’t like throwing their money away any more than you do. They want to know that they’re getting their money’s worth and that they’ve chosen the most deserving recipients. So how can they tell how well their grants and funding are working? The measuring stick for how much value has been derived from the funding is the

I get a lot of questions about government grant proposals, and I’ve reviewed a fair number of them. I’ve seen some instances where people want to make a grand political statement as part of their government grant request or making the basis of their funding request kind of a pushback against some public policy that they don’t agree with.

Does your power bill make feel like fainting? Some homeowners who were in a similar situation have made the jump to converting their home power to renewable energy resources, either fully or partially. Aside from saving a lot of money, you can feel good about being responsible with your energy usage. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, you can probably see how conserving natural resources and money can benefit us all.

Another article, A Good Grant Proposal Tells a Story, describes the benefits of creating an interesting narrative in your grant proposal. Briefly, you get a grant more easily if your proposal tells a story. Most of us are not born storytellers, so we need to learn the elements of a good story, the order to present them, the purpose of each, and how to convey them all in the most effective way.

Canada dishes out some of the most extreme climate conditions on the planet, so we certainly have an incentive to get the whole housing and energy efficiency thing right. Energy efficiency grants are often available to help.

What do you do if you find yourself in need of legal help in Canada, but are unable to afford legal services? This may apply to criminal charges, but also to housing issues, employment law, disability issues, and other civil issues. Although we like to think that we’ll never encounter any legal issues, it can happen to any of us. The Canadian government wants to help ensure that all Canadians have access to legal representation, regardless of

Valuable information from guest contributor Bankrate: 9 ways to spot personal loan scams According to Bankrate: Consumers lost a total …

In July, 2014, thirteen young Canadian entrepreneurs attended the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance (G20 YEA) Summit in Sydney, Australia. Rebecca Palmer, a Barrie, Ontario-based serial entrepreneur and founder of the Triigo Project, wrote this firsthand report of the key issues and initiatives that resulted.

“Our mission was to encourage the G20, B20 leaders, and the United Nations, to adopt strategies that facilitate youth entrepreneurship as a solution to high youth unemployment rates – 13.6 per cent in Canada – and reduce youth employment below 10 per cent globally by 2030.

You’ll sometimes encounter government grant applications or proposals that need to be very detailed, with a long list of requirements from the funders that you, as an applicant must fulfill. This can be especially true for government grants because of the government’s penchant for bureaucracy. Before I go on, though, I just want to point out that the long, involved grant

Jackpot! You received notice that you have already qualified for a grant, one that you didn’t even apply for. A company that you’re not familiar with is selflessly notifying people that the government wants to give them grants they didn’t even ask for. The reasons given that you qualify for this grant may vary from “because you’re a taxpayer” to “as a citizen, you’re entitled to….”