Key points


Most projects require some sort of budget for them to become a reality—applying for grants early on can help move your initiative forward. In terms of where you can get grants, it depends. It's harder to get large amounts of funding if you're not a registered non-profit or charity, but not impossible.

As a non-registered organization, we were able to get $3000 of funding from our municipality and $1000 through my university program. Even if there aren't any public grants available at your municipality, I encourage you to reach out and explain the situation. That is how we were able to get our funding for BID. If you're a student, you may be able to get some experience/research funding as well!

Banff Isn't Disposable: Project Brief

Here is an example of a project brief I sent to the town to get our funding. For more formal applications, there is usually a set of questions you have to answer in addition to providing an overview for the project.

There were two more grants I applied for which got declined. This is the reality of applying to grants. Try to have a contingency plan for if you don't get the funding, and or make sure you apply to more than one!

<aside> ℹ️ Now that we have the boring part over with, let's get to the nitty gritty and design something! Go to STEP #7: Design the program.

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