Financial Workbook Instructions – Resilient Communities Fund

• The costs listed in the Financial Workbook should clearly align with your project activities and be reasonable to carry out.
• Only include eligible project costs to be covered by OTF. 
• Ask only for what you need, because OTF funds full request amounts and we want to fund as many applications as possible. 
• Only project activities that take place in Ontario are eligible for OTF funding. 

Refer to OTF’s Eligibility Policy for more information.  

How much can you apply for? 

• Applicants can apply for a minimum of $10,000, and up to $200,000, with a maximum of $100,000 per year. 
• Grant term length can be from 6 to 24 months. 

What can you apply for?

• Direct Personnel Costs
• Direct Non-Personnel Costs
  • Purchased services
  • Workshops, meetings, convening
  • Supplies and materials
  • Travel
  • Evaluation (max. 10% of OTF grant budget)
  • Non-fixed equipment and/or technological infrastructure (max. $150,000 of OTF grant budget)
• Overhead and Administration Costs (max. 15% of OTF grant budget)

For a full description of eligible costs with examples, review the sample OTF Grant Budget Table.

What costs are ineligible? 

Ineligible costs include: 

• Core Funding: As a project funder, OTF cannot provide core funding or operating grants for current operations. However, you can ask for funds to support overhead and administrative costs that are directly associated with your project (to a maximum of 15% of the total OTF Grant Budget).
• Costs or activities already incurred:
  • If your project activities have been delivered or
  • If your project activities are currently being delivered
• Taxes, such as GST and HST, for which the recipient is eligible for a tax rebate, and all other costs eligible for rebates. 
• Contingency costs
• Renovations
• Fundraising Costs: OTF does not fund general fundraising drives or capital campaigns, core funding or ongoing expenses related to fundraising. For example, ongoing fundraising or marketing costs incurred by organizations year over year, are not eligible.

If you include ineligible costs, your grant application will be declined. For a description of additional ineligible costs, review OTF’s Eligibility Policy.

Requirements for quotes or estimates

For each good and/or service valued above $10,000, OTF requires that a minimum of one quote or estimate be uploaded with the grant application. However, OTF prefers to receive two or more quotes or estimates to help your organization establish accurate budget amounts and demonstrate the best value for money. 

• Multiple sub-contracts with a supplier on the same project will be considered as a cumulative total. This means if the total of these goods and/or services exceeds $10,000, a minimum of one quote or estimate (preferably two or more, from different suppliers) needs to be uploaded.
• All documentation needs to be prepared by a professional or third party and must be obtained within 6 months prior to the application deadline.

You will need to upload your quotes in your application.  

OTF grant budget notes

• Budget notes are required up to a maximum of 100 words - be clear about your funding needs by providing a breakdown of the costs for which you are seeking OTF funding.
• Budget notes should apply only to the identified costs.

Sample OTF grant budget table with examples